[Massplanners] Rooster question

Tue Aug 17 13:39:13 EDT 2021

PS  Here's an excerpt from my 2011 "Zoning and Planning Law Report Awards"
published by Thomson Reuters annually for the last 26 years:

The *Let's Play Chicken Award* goes to Willard, Missouri for issuing Mr.
Mello an order to remove the 20 chickens and that very happy single rooster
within 30 days, because apparently the city ordinance only allows farm
animals to be raised on residential property of was 10 acres or larger. Mr.
Mello lives on three-quarters of an acre.

Meanwhile, two aldermen in the city are rethinking prior rejected proposals
that would have allowed three chickens and no roosters. Mr. Mello is
holding out for six chickens and no roosters. As Mr. Mello's nine-year-old
son Jacob says "The neighborhood dogs are much louder than the chickens."

This ratio of 20 chickens and one rooster brings to mind the psychology of
sex and The Coolidge Effect as described by Psychology Today:

Scientists call the tendency to tire of a mate with whom one sexually
satiates oneself, while mechanically perking up for a new one, the *Coolidge
Effect*. They have observed this phenomenon widely among mammals, including
females. Some female rodents, for example, flirt
<http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/flirting> a lot more—arching in
inviting displays—with unfamiliar partners
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3408449> than with those with which
they've already copulated. In keeping with this phenomenon, when couples
divorce <http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/divorce> because their sex
lives have gone out of sync, the formerly uninterested spouse is often
startled by a raging libido when a new lover enters the picture.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/200907/what-if-she-were-always-in-the-mood

The term was coined in 1955 by Ethologist
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethologist> Frank A. Beach
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_A._Beach> at the suggestion of a
student.  It comes from this wonderful old joke about President Coolidge,
“Cool Calvin” as we New Englanders so fondly call him from his campaign
slogan: “Keep Cool with Coolidge:”

The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an
experimental government farm. When [Mrs. Coolidge] came to the chicken yard
she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently. She asked the
attendant how often that happened and was told, “Dozens of times each day.”
Mrs. Coolidge said, “Tell that to the President when he comes by.” Upon
being told, President asked, “Same hen every time?” The reply was, “Oh, no,
Mr. President, a different hen every time.” President: “Tell that to Mrs.
Coolidge.”

Dewsbury, Donald A. (2000) "Frank A. Beach, Master Teacher," *Portraits of
Pioneers in Psychology, Volume 4,* p269-281

*What Do You Do With Evicted Chickens Award* goes to Winder City, Georgia
which took on the chickens in residential zones problem early in 2011. The
city’s initiative would allow 12 chickens per acre and has had ample public
support with 78% of respondents saying they did not object to the chickens
(the local KFC franchise was not allowed to vote). Only three people spoke
in opposition at the public hearing. Still, the planning commission
recommended denying recommended against changing the law. As city planner
Larry Lucas explained: "Ultimately, the planning and zoning commission
voted not to change the ordinance. They felt like the benefit of the few
folks who saw that this was not a major disruption to their neighborhood's
character were outweighed by the commitment of expensive would take to
enforce the ordinance."  The most recent information is that the Council
rejected the ordinance.

The much-sought-after *Micromanagement Award* goes to Hopewell Township,
New Jersey which this year adopted an ordinance that regulates when
chickens and roosters can hook up in henhouses. Roosters must first
demonstrate that they are disease free. The will be allowed in the henhouse
only 10 days a year because mature roosters are too noisy. The ordinance
actually provides if a  rooster gets a little too noisy over his latest
conquest he can be banned from the property for up to two years, so the
word around the henhouses is keep it down and be discreet.

Back to the *What Do You Do With Evicted Chickens Award, a*pparently, there
is an unintended consequence of banning chickens already kept on
residential properties – there are no shelters. In the City of Auburn,
Georgia, and Barrow County, Georgia as a whole, there is no place to put
the homeless chickens. We all know about animal rescue operations and have
seen them for dogs, cats, llamas, and rabbits but chickens?  We are pleased
to report that an Internet search of the term "chicken rescue" yields
Chicken Run Rescue - “Chicken Run Rescue is the only urban chicken rescue
of its kind…” which just goes show you there’s a website every cause.[i]
<#m_-8211011629265418109__edn1>  At Chicken Run Rescue, you can even learn
why chickens make great  companion animals:

   - Chickens are highly intelligent, gentle, vivacious individuals who
   form strong lifelong emotional bonds with each other as well as other
   species.
   - They are warm and silky and lovely to hold.
   - They are primarily ground dwelling birds who are very home and routine
   centered and can thrive in a space the size of a normal urban backyard and
   home. They can coexist happily with compatible dogs and cats and have
   similar life spans.
   - Adopting a chicken will increase compassion and reduce violence in the
   world.

PetFinder.com lists about two dozen chickens available for adoption.  Farm
Animal Shelter (http://www.farmanimalshelters.org) is an excellent resource
for all types of farm animals.

The issue of raising chickens on residential properties has become of such
national interest that of some of the leading academics in the field are
writing on the subject, including the editor of this august publication.  See
Patricia, Salkin, “Feeding the Locavores, One Chicken at a Time: Regulating
Backyard Chickens,”
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1774023

------------------------------

[i] <#m_-8211011629265418109__ednref1>
http://www.brittonclouse.com/chickenrunrescue

On Tue, Aug 17, 2021 at 1:32 PM Dwight Merriam <dwightmerriam at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Some places ban them completely, only because they make noise...see pages
> 25-26 of this publication
>
> https://business.ct.gov/-/media/DOAG/Commish_and_Gov/LivestockGuidanceBookWEB-002-FINAL.pdf
>
> Regards,
> Dwight
>
> See also:  https://rc.com/publications/upload/AgriUse_Merriam.pdf
>
> Dwight Merriam, FAICP
> dwightmerrima at gmail.com
>
> On Tue, Aug 17, 2021 at 11:15 AM Paul Dell'Aquila <psdplans at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Good morning -
>> I was wondering/hoping that someone out in MassPlanners Land had any
>> recent experiences with regulating the number of roosters a residential
>> property may have.
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Paul Dell'Aquila, AICP
>> Upton Town Planner
>> pdellaquila at uptonma.gov
>>
>> --
>> MassPlanners mailing list
>> MassPlanners at masscptc.org
>> http://masscptc.org/mailman/listinfo/massplanners_masscptc.org
>>
>
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