Why did the chicken cross the road?
Apparently to irritate their neighbours.
It may be a passing fad, or it could be the next great frontier in agriculture, but urban farming is all the rage these days and more are growing their own food and raising livestock, particularly chickens, in their own backyards … even in Westlock.
It’s a cool idea to play farmer and live a quasi-sustainable country lifestyle while living in town, but raising barnyard birds is definitely not for everyone, particularly the less neighbourly amongst us.
Westlock town council reviewed and discussed a letter at its Sept. 10 meeting from a concerned citizen regarding her neighbour’s free-range chickens which are becoming a nuisance as they are allowed to roam freely throughout her yard and the neighbourhood, consuming gardens and flowers to their hearts’ content and leaving their contaminated droppings wherever they please.
There are apparently numerous residents raising chickens within town limits and until now, the need for municipal regulations to govern the practice has been largely unnecessary. For the most part, these are responsible and considerate urban farmers who are keen to keep the peace with their neighbours, as this is the first problem we’ve heard about.
“When they don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbour, they put us in a situation like this where we have to enact some sort of rules that we can enforce. It’s called community standards,” said mayor Ralph Leriger.
Currently, there are few repercussions for the owners of the roaming cluckers because there is no bylaw on the books, but that is likely going to change soon.
That’s OK though. Perhaps council should banish the birds from town altogether as they are hardly the innocent, cute creatures some believe them to be.
They’re filthy; they carry parasites and diseases. They smell bad. They’re noisy. Their brains are far too small to follow even the simplest of commands and under the right circumstances they will de-feather and cannibalize one another and even eat their own eggs.
Their one redeeming quality however, is that they’re delicious when roasted, fried or barbecued.
