Few flocking to urban chicken programs
WINTER GARDEN — Jessica Stone was among the early birds who signed up when Winter Garden started its backyard chicken program last year.
“I think everybody should have the opportunity to have a backyard chicken program,” she said as hens clucked around her. “It’s a neat opportunity for the kids to care for a little bit different animal than they’re used to and we can see where some of our food comes from with eggs.”
Communities across Central Florida — including Orlando and Maitland — have allowed socalled urban chickens as a way for residents to produce their own food, part of the local-farming trend known as the “locovore” movement. But it may not be all it’s been cracked up to be.
People haven’t flocked to the programs, and Orange County’s pilot program hasn’t taken flight
yet.
The Orange County Animal Services’ advisory board has recommended that commissioners reject an ordinance to allow chickens in non-agricultural areas. The panel worried the birds would lure bears, coyotes and other predators into neighborhoods.
County commissioners nonetheless are set to review a version of the proposal Sept. 12 that was tweaked in response to those concerns.
“We already have a nuisance coyote problem,” said Paul Wean, who chairs the animal services advisory board. “Do we really want to make it worse?”
Local communities that have opted to allow urban chickens say they’ve received few complaints, if any, but they also haven’t seen many applicants seeking permits for backyard henhouses.
Seminole County launched a two-year pilot program in June 2016, allowing for up to 100 permits on a first-come, first-served basis. So far, only 12 have been claimed, officials said. Winter Garden has issued three permits of a maximum 25 since last spring.
Maitland made its urban chicken program permanent in 2015 after an 18-month pilot. There are seven homes with permits, though another recently applied, said Dan Matthys, the city’s community development director. Maitland’s rules allow up to 50 permits.
“I don’t know if I’m shocked,” he said. “I think it’s something that people wanted and it’s a good idea, it’s just going to take a while to catch on.”
After four years of testing, Orlando made its chicken program permanent in October, increasing the permit cap from 75 to 100. So far, about 70 permits have been issued, said Chief Planner Jason Burton, who has overseen the program.
“It’s not like chickens are running amok in the city,” he said.
Lake County is more poultry-permissive, allowing chickens without a permit. Lake enforces a fivechicken maximum per yard, one more than Orlando’s limit. Local counties and cities generally prohibit keeping roosters and slaughtering the birds at home.
Burton credited Orlando’s success to the lengthy pilot, as well as a requirement that anyone seeking a permit take a class in poultry-rearing through the University of Florida, which teaches at-home farmers how to feed, care for and house chickens.
Seminole County also requires the two-hour class, as did the recent draft of Orange County’s ordinance. Wean, however, said he doubted many would adhere strictly to the rules afterward.
Neither neighbors nor predators have so far been a problem for the Stones’ flock, which are kept in a large, tidy coop that can’t be seen behind the fence of their home.
A family friend, Nicole Garcia, 14, who lives across the street, keeps a chicken named Piglet in their coop.
“When they were little [chicks] we were worried and concerned about predators a little bit, but we kept them inside and under a lamp when they were young,” Stone said, explaining that the outdoor coop has a roof and welded wire anchored to the ground.
Not everyone in the family loves chickens.
“Dad is not a chicken fan,” Emily, 8, said of her father, Wayne.
When the family asked him to clean the coop, he replied, “Fire up the grill. Drumsticks for dinner.”
Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who keeps chickens herself, said the key to protecting against predators is a sturdy, wellmade coop. The city’s ordinance requires that coops be “completely secured” and tied down.
“I’ve seen some paw prints on my coop before, but I’ve never had anything get in,” she said.
Some critics also worry backyard chickens will be abandoned — or eaten — after they stop producing eggs. Chicken lifespans vary, with most living three to seven years but only laying eggs reliably for about two or three, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
While some farms will accept donated spent hens, Orange County Animal Services will not.
Sheehan gave two of her initial three-hen flock to a friend who has a farm when they stopped producing, but she kept the most-domesticated bird, Bleep, as a pet.
“Once you’re kind of in the chicken circle, you can find ways to adopt them out,” she said.
Terri Schafer, who resides in west Orange, is eagerly awaiting the county’s blessing to raise chickens. She grows tomatoes and cucumbers in a backyard garden and would like a coop for a few hens.
“I think more people should be more involved with what they’re eating,” she said.
If Orange County commissioners endorse the tweaked chicken ordinance, the soonest the board could adopt it would be late October. But no timetable is set.
Sandra Trussell, who sells starter chickens at her Apopka store, A Fowl Business, said the trend has provided a small bump to her shop, where she also doles out advice to fledgling flock owners.
“There is not very much information that people can readily get about things like, ‘What do I do if my chicken gets sick,’” she said. “Some people don’t realize a hen can lay an egg without a rooster.”
Trussell, who has 300 birds on a farm west of Apopka, said hen-raising isn’t just about food — it’s about education and family.
“They become pets,” she said. “If you talk to many of these people, they love their chickens. They love the whole experience of it. They love what it teaches their children. They love the fresh eggs, which are so superior to anything you can get at the grocery store.”