Comments on: Southwest Lansing residents say “no” to neighborhood city chicken raising

By: Wes Thorp

Wes Thorp — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:37:06 +0000

Kris-thanks for the links. Thanks for helping to bring a lot of us up to speed on a new facet of city living. I will check them out. Wes

By: Kris

Kris — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:04:51 +0000

Wes,
Yes, I do live in Lansing, near Ingham Medical. If anyone is interested, I have a few websites that might help out a little. The first is http://www.meetup.com/LansingBackyardPoultry/. This website consists of local residents (and some non-local) that chat online about their experiences with their own backyard hens. Its great for questions and concerns. They also hold meetings to discuss things like coop designs, chickens for sale, 4-H and much more. Another would be backyardchickens.com. That site has SO much info about anything and everything. Its very helpful. And last but not least, home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html. This will give you a general idea of laws in your area. Chickens are definitely not for everyone, but if we can find ways to make it work, I say give it a try!!

By: Wes Thorp

Wes Thorp — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:09:32 +0000

Kris-thanks for the comment. It’s helpful in understanding this new area of urban agriculture. I’m curious. Do you live in the city? Wes

By: Kris

Kris — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:20:55 +0000

I have 5 hens in Lansing. I clean my coop once a week. It does NOT smell. I noticed mice at first, so I bought new containers for the feed and put wire under the coop = no more mice! My chickens are hens, not roosters, and they make no more noise than the birds in the trees. I know city residents that have multiple cats that roam the neighborhood, spraying everywhere…now thats a nuisance! By allowing residents to have their own chickens, they are able to provide food for themselves, teach children valuable lessons and create compost material for gardens (which will also help feed them). Just because you are uneducated about keeping chickens and you think its a bad idea, it doesnt mean everyone else feels the same. Just my opinion. I personally would rather know where my food comes from. My child had a friend over and they gathered eggs together. This child said “eggs dont come from chickens…they come from kroger!” What?! Lets get back to reality people.

By: Rebecca Hall

Rebecca Hall — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:47:10 +0000

Chickens if housed correctly draw in less raccoons or other varmits than the neighbors leaving their trash out. As far as odor and noise, small coops of 5 or less have very little odor, and hens make less noise than dogs.

By: Rob South

Rob South — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:47:11 +0000

Thanks Wes.

By: sosaidme

sosaidme — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:38:44 +0000

Chickens will draw in raccoons and other varmits; we do have the occassional fox in Lansing.