Atlantic Beach Florida Needs Your Help

Hi Julie - I am your former next door neighbor. We would have been fine with your chickens and in fact, were thinking of getting some ourselves. Ours would have been in the back yard and I bet nobody would have squwaked. Our tenants living next door seem to care less about the presence of your chickens. In fact, I can imagine anyone on the block complaining.

As fate had it, we relocated to Albuquerque and got 3 chickens here. One turned into a rooster and now has a pleasant life on a farm. Our remaining two are quite pleasant, low maintenance, funny and gentle creatures that our kids really enjoy. They do not smell and are not loud. You have to have a large number of chickens before you get a smell. We change the coop bedding only about 3 times a year and compost the old material. (Most of the unpleasant animal related smell in our area is from people not picking up dog poop on trails and by the road).

The chickens free range in our back yard and eat a huge amount of bugs(which would have really, really come in handy in Florida). I think that roach abatement is a major plus for chickens in Florida.

Feral chickens are not an issue. We clip our chickens wings and so they stay in the yard. If they left, coyotes would make a quick meal of them. In your area, racoons, dogs or foxes would take them out ASAP.

Avian flu is not an issue although I would recommend feeding chickens inside a coop to avoid them mixing with wild birds and catching other parasites or diseases. For the same reasons, I would keep wild bird feeding stations away from where chickens roam. Many avian flu cases have involved people exposed to huge numbers of birds ie poultry processing workers or living with large numbers of bird. I don't see you and Tom moving into your coop or inviting the chickens inside.

Keeping the feed inside the coop would also keep away rats from the feed. Everyone who has ever lived near a palm tree knows about rats. Of course all of the people who feed their cats and dogs outside or who leave out chow for raccoons also attract rats. So I wouldn't single out chickens as a specific culprit.

Roosters are aggressive and loud so most communities outlaw them. It is obvious when a fowl is a rooster so it's easy to boot the rooster and leave the chickens. The roosters are usually given to someone with a more rural situation (or, if you're carnivorous enough)put in a pot.

The 50 feet set back requirement is a joke in Atlantic Beach. Most of the lots are too narrow for that. Check with other cities. For instance, 15 feet is required in Fort Collins. I dont know what the ABQ set back is but I dont think anyone is paying any attention to one if it exists.

Chickens are not a legal issue in ABQ I believe that we are OK up to 15 chickens plus a rooster. Sort of excessive but this is a community tied in to agricultural roots. Other neighbors have emus and llammas etc so needless to say, our 2 chickens raise no eyebrows. However, many, many not so agricultural small cities have OK'd 3-6 urban chickens. The buy local and organic thing is big. Also, despite the seaside palaces, some of the people in Atlantic Beach live on the fringe of poverty. Chickens are totally cheap and could represent an economic advantage.

We truly miss the beach, the butterflies and the laid back life of Atlantic Beach (but not the political climate or the roaches). Best of luck with your chickens. I hope that they can stay. Sarah Barksdale, MD

I also live in jax and I am sure they are worried about what happened in St Aug. It was in the local news about feral chickens running around and the roosters keeping the citizens up. Of course if you go down there to get some free chickens you can not find them. Good Luck

I wish you luck. We are here in Jax too, but not your area. We have "feral" chickens up by our dentists, but they are left from some hold out houses along San Jose Blvd. when the guys house was burned down. I think the NM person has a point of animals eating them up pretty quick. I didnt hear about a problem in St. Auggie though. It must have had something to do with tourists.

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