CLUCK celebrates first anniversary of city chickens and plans county strategy

One year after final passage of the changes to Sarasota city ordinances to once again allow chickens, CLUCK supporters will gather commemorate our success and re-dedicate ourselves to a campaign to relax restrictions in the unincorporated county (and North Port). 

Black-skinned Chickens Shed Light on Evolution

With all the talk about genetic engineering and controversy regarding evolution, it is appropriate to ask what light chickens may shed on the question of how organisms change through time. A great place to witness species change is with domestic animals since people have been selecting for various traits for thousands of years, in the case of chickens about 8,000 years.

Pinellas Says Yes to Backyard Poultry

The County Commission of the most densely-populated county in the state okayed backyard chickens last night. Commissioners who govern the unincorporated portions of the County voted 5-2 to allow backyard chickens after a 18 month campaign spearheaded by Lisa McBride, founder of Pinellas Citizens for Backyard Poultry, and many 4-H supporters. The change affects approximately 280,000 people who do not live in one of the two dozen municipalities in Pinellas County. This covers a little more than one third of the land area of the county. Chickens are already allowed in five of the 24 cities (Belleair, Dunedin, Gulfport, Largo and St. Petersburg).

An Email from McBride contained the following paragraph:

Pinellas Poultry Decision December 20th, Hillsborough Petition Now Online

According to a Suzette Porter story appearing on TBNWeekly.com, unincorporated Pinellas County may be on the verge of allowing four backyard hens. Chickens are already allowed in Belleair, Dunedin, Gulfport, Largo and St. Petersburg. The arguments for and against seemed remarkably similar to what was heard in the City of Sarasota and the proposed rules (four hens, no roosters, single family residential areas only) seems generally similar to Sarasota's. See the website for Pinellas County Citizens for Backyard Poultry.


Here's a letter from organizer Lisa McBride

Dear Pinellas Backyard Chicken Advocates,

We need your help! We need letters and phone calls to all of the commissioners THIS WEEK even if you have already done so in the past. The final hearing and vote to legalize backyard chickens in our county will be held next Tuesday, December 20^th at 6:30 PM. We also need you and all of friends who support the new ordinance to show up at that meeting.  

Anyone who wishes to can speak at the hearing for up to 3 minutes. All you have to do is get to the meeting early enough and fill out a blue card and then you will be called upon to speak during the hearing.

Commissioners Latvala, Roche & Welch have expressed support for the proposed ordinance. Seel, Morroni & Bostock are currently in opposition because the Code Enforcement Department staffing has been greatly reduced and they do not want to add additional workload to that department.

My best estimate of number of additional calls to Code Enforcement as a result of this change would be 23 calls (based on data from, St. Pete, Dunedin, Largo Gulfport & Belleair). If it costs the county $75 for each call, the cost to enforce the new backyard chicken ordinance will be less than $2000. Compare that with a cost of approximately $4 million dollars to run the Animal Services Department which is a department charged with management of issues related to domestic animals, i.e. dogs and cats, and the cost to enforce this new ordinance seems trivial. Especially when you consider that the chickens can yield a family a net savings of $400 a year when the cost to own a dog per year is $1100-$ 3500 dogs and the cost to own a cat is      $1070 per year.

I’ve attached a copy of our last Powerpoint as well as the proposed ordinance to give you information for letters.

Thank you for your support,

Lisa McBride.

In other regional chicken news, Hillsborough County Citizens for Backyard Poultry now has an online petition.

CLUCK blog records 35,000 pageviews in less than a year

When the first Sarasota CLUCK blog posting went up on June 11 2009, it was assumed it would simply be vehicle for advocacy of passage of a local City of Sarasota backyard chicken ordinance.  Then, nearly a year and half later, on December 18th 2010, the blog recorded its 5,000th pageview (averaging 9 pageviews a day) and the ordinance was passed just a few months later on February 7th, 2011. Now, exactly fifty-one weeks after hitting 5,000, CLUCK has recorded its 40,000th pageview, an average of nearly 100 (97.49) pageviews a day, which is a ten-fold increase. That means the vast majority of pageviews have occurred after passage of the ordinance. This posting is a summary of some of the dimensions of this success. 

The most viewed post, (out of 187 posts) with over 1,800 pageviews is Sarasota CLUCK's Top 25 Funky Chicken Facts. Posted in mid-January, this posting (now with 30 funky facts) lists interesting, and sometimes nearly unbelievable, information about chickens and includes links to sources, a feature virtually all other chicken fact sites lack.

The second most popular, with nearly 1,400 pageviews is an annotated version of the City Ordinance. This document includes both the official language of the ordinance, and an accessible interpretation of what each section means and the intent behind it.

The third most popular, with about 1,200 pageviews is a discussion of treadle feeders, which are feeders that chickens activate to access food by standing on treadle. 

Other noteworthy posts include the Are You Ready for Backyard Chickens Quiz, which has over 550 pageviews and the reprint of the Backyard Poultry magazine article based on the Sarasota experience, which has been averaging six views per day and is expected to become one of the more popular posts. 


No doubt about it -- December 2011 has been a big month for local CLUCK: hitting 40,000 pageviews, an article published in Backyard Poultry Magazine and the first meeting of Manatee CLUCK. 


And clearly the blog has evolved from just a one-time, campaign-driven, local-focus resource to a site accessed all over the country and planet (over 2,000 pageviews from United Kingdom and Russia combined).


But one goal remains unmet, and that is relaxing restrictions on backyard chickens in unincorporated Sarasota County. That is a big target for the coming year. If you are interested in changing the county rules, please write to us at SarasotaCLUCK@ gmail.com or join the Facebook Group. 

Manatee County Chicken Advocates Meet Tonight- Dec 7th

Manatee CLUCK plans a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight, December 7 at the 

Central Library, 1301 Barcarrota Blvd. W., Bradenton.

The tentative agenda includes a review of current status in Manatee County on backyard chickens, a summary of issues of urban backyard chickens, lessons learned from the successful Sarasota CLUCK campaign in the City of Sarasota, committee tasks assignments for Manatee CLUCK, and scheduling a next meeting.

For more information about keeping urban chickens, call 941-232-3090, or consult the website:

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manatee-Cluck/200716266632260

Sarasota CLUCK Campaign gets National Attention in Backyard Poultry Magazine

The December 2011/January2012 Issue of Backyard Poultry features an article based on the lessons learned from the 18 month campaign to legalize backyard hens in the City of Sarasota. The article, One Dozen Tips to Legalize Chickens in Your Community, summarizes some of the successful strategies and setbacks experienced during the campaign. Backyard Poultry has now placed an online version on its website so that backyard chicken supporters will be able to access the tips for free without having to buy the magazine or find Sarasota CLUCK.

The One Dozen Tips Article is Based on the Experience in the City of Sarasota

The article features photographs by local artist Jean Blackburn. Two of the three photographs include Sarah the Buff Brahma (seen below). Sarah has already been featured in SRQ Magazine and in an earlier posting.

And one new (British) book characterizes Brahmas as "magnificently large, good natured and docile hens that make an excellent pet, as it is extremely ease to tame if handled gently". If you are looking for a mid-sized coffee table book for a chicken lover, consider The Illustrated Guide to Chickens by Celia Lewis. Beautiful watercolors accompany descriptions of 100 different breeds (and there is a forward by the Prince of Wales).

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There are several meanings of the word chicken and one is cowardly. We're not sure how cows feel about that, but shortly after the posting above went live, CLUCK received the following critical and anonymous email message and comment regarding the Backyard Poultry article: 

The first paragraph has an error. The vote was not 5-0 to legalize backyard hens, but 4-0. One commissioner was absent due to illness. Another mis-fact from CLUCK! 

It is true that the first unanimous vote was 4-0, but the second reading on the consent agenda (February 7th) was recorded as follows:

SCREEN SHOT OF CITY COMMISSION MINUTES DOCUMENTING
A 5-0 VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE ORDINANCE

So CLUCK stands by the article that the final vote to adopt was 5-0 and encourages those who take issue with chickens to have the courage of their convictions to identify themselves.