Today my friend Paola and I took a tour of various chicken coops around Seattle. It was part of Seattle Tilth’s “City Chickens Tour 2010.” For someone like me, who rescues ducks, this is like Lollapalooza!

We saw some beautiful gardens and some super cute chicken coops. Since I rescue chickens and ducks, I knew we would also see a few problems that we always see. Just as I made many mistakes when I first had ducks, we saw many coops that were not predator proof. Many use chicken wire which raccoons can reach through. Some openly foraged during the day (like we used to) and admitted they had lost chickens or ducks to eagles or raccoons. Some probably have rat problems too, because they’re feeding in pens that aren’t rat-proof. Overall, all the people were very knowledgeable about sustainable farming, bees, chickens and such. They were a great group of people and it was a fun tour.

There is a vote coming up in Seattle to increase the legal number of fowl from 3 to 8. I am not sure I am in favor of the increase for several reasons. I guess the most obvious reason is the number of discarded roosters that end up in Seattle shelters. In recent years it has averaged about 20-30 roosters. I assume they’re from people who were sold “hens” but later found out that they were not all hens as they grew up. If the limit is increased nearly 3-fold, I’m concerned that the number of discarded roosters will increase as well. Hatching and shipping chickens are also both areas for concern with animal welfare.

It’s a complicated issue, and while it is great to see more people growing their own food and sustaining their own eating choices, I would just like to ensure that animals don’t needlessly suffer as a result. I am solidly pro-chicken, but not always pro-people I guess.

There was one coop that was spectacular. It was decorated on the inside with “great chickens through history” including Big Bird and the San Diego Chicken. It’s nice to see those hens have heroes to inspire them as they nest and lay eggs. Their pen was also fully predator-proof, they had the legal number of chickens allowed, and their pen was rat proof as well. I think that was my favorite of all.

Many of the kids sold lemonade on the tours, and for those who are wondering, the average price of a cup of lemonade these days goes for 50 cents to $1.00. One kid rose about the pack with his mango lemonade. Well done, kids.

All the best to all the chickens and ducks out there in Seattle. Stay safe, and many quacks from Flapper and family.

P.S. Actually, the kids were my favorite part of the tour. There are a lot of smart, involved kids who know all about plants and chickens and can’t wait to share what they know. I especially loved the kid who kept over-sharing information (that was making him mom cringe) about how their chickens go half-way down the block sometimes. Ha ha ha. “No they don’t stay in the yard. They go FAR away ALL the way down the block.”