By Steven Piper
Editorial Intern
Do not be fooled by the City of Signal Hill’s urban environment. Farm animals, like chickens, are indeed allowed. In fact, as long as the proper regulations are observed, residents may own up to 20 hens, which translates into approximately 20 eggs a day. The average chicken will lay one egg a day or every other day.
Kim Peterson, owner of Mrs. Doolittle’s Pet-Sitting Service, answers frequently asked questions about what it takes to become a legal, urban chicken owner in a hand-out she drafted called Bixby Knolls Backyard Chicken Basics. The document summarizes Long Beach’s chicken codes succinctly: no chickens closer than 50 feet from a residence (if one chicken, then 20 feet); no roosters (male chickens); no letting chickens run free; appropriately sized coops; no dirty coops; no allowing chickens to go without food or water for more than 12 hours; no wing locking; and no artificial coloring of feathers.
Potential Signal Hill chicken enthusiasts should familiarize themselves with Long Beach’s codes regarding the ownership of fowl (any domesticated bird kept for its eggs or flesh), since Signal Hill has adopted that city’s rules regarding the ownership and maintenance of hens. The regulations can be found in Title 6 of the municipal code on longbeach.gov under “city services.”
Under the “Chicken 101″ section of Peterson’s info sheet, readers learn chicken lingo, such as “a chick is a baby chicken, a pullet is a teenage-female chicken, and a hen is an adult-female chicken.” Long Beach and Signal Hill residents are not allowed to own roosters because no crowing fowl are permitted. The sheet covers other basics by addressing: where to keep chickens; where to get chickens, feed, and supplies; what to feed them; and what to do if they get sick.
Long Beach resident Kathy Procopio is an enthusiast who has four hens of her own, and she says three neighbors on her street also have chickens. “You know how some people put their vegetables in their neighbors’ mailboxes?” Procopio asked. “I’m like that, but I’m always giving eggs away.” Procopio said that, during the summer months, she gets an egg a day from her feathered friends. “We can’t even keep up with them.”
She said that, when she got her chicks, she had to keep them indoors under a heating lamp. The only suitable place she could find in her house was her bathtub, which made for interesting living dynamics. “I would open the bathroom door, and they’re in the shower and on the toilet,” Procopio said. “Mostly we keep them because they are so fun.”
Heather Morrison, another Long Beach resident and hen owner, has four chicks that she got from Green Lab Urban Farm, located at Long Beach Boulevard and Willow Street. With a seven-year-old son and an eight-year-old daughter, Morrison said she thought it was important that her kids know where their food comes from. “We’re just raising them for the eggs,” Morrison said. “It has the bonus of being educational for the kids.”
Morrison said that, in addition to being a nutritious and free source of food, urban chickens make “green” sense too. The unusual pets are a sustainable and renewable way of providing food for oneself.
The Green Lab Urban Farm is iconic of the pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle. The farm is one of the Long Beach Community Action Partnership’s youth programs. Within a standard city lot, and with some help from the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network, an urban farmyard has been created that features planting areas, a vertical garden, a bee and butterfly garden, a monarch weigh station, composting bins, and, of course, a coop that can house 20 hens.
Another urban farm is being constructed at 15th Street and Long Beach Boulevard, which is in Councilmember Robert Garcia’s 1st district. New City School will be working the farm, which will provide educational opportunities for students and the surrounding community. “Produce from the farm will be bought and sold on site, and community residents will be able to work on the farm and enjoy this natural sanctuary in the heart of an urban environment,” Garcia said. The project was organized from a partnership between the Long Beach Housing Development Company and the New City School.
More Information
communityofgardens.com
