News and Events:

Monday night was my first night in the Port St. Lucie City Council chambers and I am sad to say that my faith in local government was dealt a sharp blow within its walls. On the agenda was whether or not to repeal City Ordinance 92.05(C) which prohibits the keeping of "farm animals" as defined by City Ordinance 92.01. Being a Fort Pierce resident, the law doesn't affect me directly, but as a lifelong St. Lucie County resident, I had hoped that a change in PSL's ill-minded law would inspire Fort Pierce to repeal its own, similar law. I have watched as my county has transformed from an idyllic rural setting that smelled of orange blossoms and pinestraw into a foolish experiment of overdevelopment; and the smell now? I'll get to that in a minute.

So, I took a trip to Japan in 2009 and was impressed with the social commitment of everyone who had more than 10 square feet of arable land to keep a victory garden or rice plot. I had hoped that I would get to witness a resurgence of agricultural committment and character back here in my own beloved SLC. Alas, I was witness to the same sort of narrow-minded and self-centered legislation that has led our country into its worst economic state since the Great Depression.

So the biggest complaints against chickens seem to be: the smell, the noise, increased predatory activity, and the imminent decline in property values. Well, having raised a couple chickens and being close friends(and in some cases neighbors) with people who have raised chickens, I can tell you that all of these arguments are absurd, ill-informed, or just outright lies. The fact that any credence was given to these arguments is a testament to how little agricultural experience the City Council members - and citizens who bought into those lies - have.

Firstly, it's true that the smell of chickens, as with any animal (including humans) can get pretty ripe if you have too many of them in too small a space. Knowing that, we shouldn't have to revisit what PSL smells like now as compared to twenty years ago. But this issue becomes a non-issue if you limit the number of chickens allowed in a given area of greenspace.

Secondly, while I will concede that roosters are probably the greatest nuisance, next to loud music, that any neighbor can inflict upon another neighbor, hens are pretty unobtrusive. When they are not making a very dulcet and melodic clucking noise, hens are ninja quiet - way more quiet than your typical chihuahua, parrot, or tomcat. My neighbor kept 15 hens 30 feet from my bedroom window for almost a month before I realized they were there, and I'm not an unobservant person; they're just that quiet.

Thirdly, for those who are new to this previously rural section of the country: raccoons, opossum, alligators, and bobcats are indigenous to this locale and have been here since long before the developers who built your house destroyed their habitat. They're learning how to survive amongst us, and will be here whether there are chickens or not. But, the point is made that chickens are a tasty treat to these feral natives, and a solidly built coop is a must; otherwise you'll be cleaning up feathers and chicken parts. I'd recommend a coop design that is moveable - so you don't burn up your lawn (chicken feces is considered "hot"; another good reason to limit the number of chickens in a given area) - and easy to secure up against the house or into the ground using tie downs in the event of a hurricane.

And lastly, for those who still cling to the puerile argument that their property values will drop if their neighbors have chickens, newsflash: your property values have dropped because everybody and their cousin thought they could make a fortune in the South Florida real estate market. The ability to raise a few egg-providers on a 1/4 acre lot can only make it more appealing to those of us who recognize the value of keeping an animal that not only eats anything organic but turns that waste into a viable food product. The benefits of keeping chickens are too numerous to detail, but in short: they eat anything organic, they produce fertilizer, they make better tasting eggs than any store bought eggs, and while I wouldn't they say they had as much personality as a dog or cat, they're pretty cool life forms.

Considering the current state of the economy and the looming energy crisis, local legislation that encourages self-sufficiency and small-scale agriculture is the quickest way to improve our standard of living. Monday night, the NIMNBYs (Not In My Neighbors' Back Yard'ers) had their way in council chambers not because any of their arguments were valid - their arguments were fraught with inconsistencies and a demonstrable lack of knowledge - but because the city council members were too lazy to draft an amendment to the ordinance that would keep urban-minded neighbors appeased and rural minded neighbors in delicious, backyard grown eggs.