Something To Crow About

Online forum encourages, assists rookie chicken owners

Dana Smith didn't really like chickens growing up. Her family owned a few, and it was her duty to collect the eggs. She sold them for a dollar a dozen, often to the elderly neighbor down the street.

Fast forward to the present, when Henrietta and Frannie roam the Fayetteville backyard of Smith and her husband, Scott.

Web Watch

F.L.O.C.K.:

Fayetteville League of Chicken Keepers

Search for “Fayetteville League of Chicken Keepers” on Facebook.

Fast Facts

Chicken Pickin’

Want a chicken (or two)? Here’s what’s allowed.

Fayetteville allows as many as four fowl (chickens, ducks or geese) at homes within the city limits, provided that the birds receive adequate feed, have access to a roost or coop and are 25 feet away or more from any residential structure on an adjacent lot. Wings must be clipped to keep them from flying. Homeowners with larger lots can keep more chickens, with an additional animal allowed per 1,250 square feet of lot space over a 5,000-square-foot threshold. Up to 20 chickens can be kept, but never a rooster — those are specifically prohibited.

Rogers’ ordinance on urban chickens is similar — up to four chickens are permitted per single-family dwelling. They too must stay 25 feet away from the nearest neighbor’s residence. A city-issued permit is required to keep chickens, as is an annual fee.

Bentonville allows four chickens as well.

In addition to outlawing roosters, all three cities also ban the outdoor slaughter of the chickens.

Springdale does not permit residential chickens.

Source: Staff report

Smith, the sustainability coordinator for the Fayetteville Public School District, mentioned chickens once within earshot of her sister. At her sibling's urging, she soon got a coop and a couple of hens. They now wander around at their leisure, eating bugs and plants and whatever else gets near their beaks.

Her husband, also initially hesitant, has come around to the birds as well.

"It's more than just the eggs. They are our pets," Smith said.

And a source of much discussion. When Smith first obtained chickens, she found little in the way of local resources. She then borrowed an idea from Charlottesville, Va., which boasts the Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers, and started the Fayetteville League of Chicken Keepers -- or F.L.O.C.K. for short. The group exists on the social networking site Facebook as a way to connect with other local chicken owners. About 70 are signed up for the two to three updates posted each week.

"They (chickens) are relatively easy, low-maintenance animals, but you're going to have questions," Smith said.

Questions include how to keep foxes and stray dogs outside the chicken pens. Or where to buy feed. The group is also used as a forum for sharing strange chicken-related articles. One such example showed a reflective vest that fits around chickens. It may not answer any age-old questions, but the product should make the bird's nighttime crossings safer.

To start the group, Smith invited folks she knew owned chickens. They invited other friends, and it soon created a forum that's not limited to chicken owners or those who live inside the city of Fayetteville.

Among those who participate are Luke and Natalie Freeman, who own Freckled Hen Farm just outside the Fayetteville city limits. It's a good thing, too -- they double the in-city maximum of 20 fowls.

The same kind of questions Smith asked when she first got her chickens were those the Freemans asked when they got their first backyard chickens before moving to the farm.

"It was a real need in the community," Natalie Freeman said of F.L.O.C.K.

The Freemans started with a few hens, feeding them scraps from their own dinner of the night before. They now have developed an operation that produces about two dozen eggs on a good day and supports a customer base which relies on the farm-fresh eggs. It's a great lesson in sustainability -- and also in knowing where food comes from, Freeman said.

"It's a great fit for any lifestyle, and it provides an amazing resource," she said.

Smith ends up giving a lot of eggs away. And eating a lot of frittatas -- between Henrietta and Frannie, they're dropping about a dozen eggs a week.

She likes chickens now. And if Henrietta and Frannie would just stay out of Smith's backyard blueberry bush and stick to underground grubs, she'd like them even more.

NAN Life on 06/18/2014

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