iStockphoto
Raccoons, rats, and pigeons are just some of the wild animals you might find yourself dealing with if you live in a city. However, some people who reside in Sacramento are grappling with a fairly unexpected nuisance in their neighborhood courtesy of the approximately 100 chickens that have managed to invade it.
The vast majority of the chickens in the United States reside on the farms that collect their eggs and process the birds responsible for the most popular meat in the country.
However, it’s become increasingly common to spot them outside of rural environments over the past decade or so. In 2018, so-called “backyard chickens” could be found behind around 5.8 million homes across America, but that number had spiked to more than 15 million by the end of 2020 after they became the poultry equivalent of sourdough during the pandemic.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many places that ban aspiring homesteaders from keeping chickens, but most jurisdictions have laws in place that govern how many you can have on your property (in addition to bans on roosters to keep the population in check) and rules concerning the coops where they typically reside.
That includes Sacramento, California, where the city is catching heat for declining to help out some residents who say their area has been overrun by wild birds.
People who live in a neighborhood in Sacramento are getting fed up with the approximately 100 chickens that have set up shop there
According to Sacramento zoning laws, most people who live in California’s capital city are allowed to “keep one egg-laying chicken or duck per 1,000 square-feet of parcel area or 200 square-feet of rear yard area,” with “roosters or crowing fowl are allowed on lots greater than 10,000 square-feet.”
However, according to KCRA, some people who live in the vicinity of Boxwood Street in the Old North Sacramento area have found themselves dealing with some unwanted visitors in the form of the mob of chickens that have managed to gain a foothold (or should I say talonhold?) in the area.
Nobody knows where the chickens can trace their origins, but residents say there are nearly 100 of them roaming homes and yards that are being dug up and pooped on on a regular basis. The number has steadily grown with the help of the roosters that have also become a bit of a nuisance, as one person who spoke with the outlet says they routinely start crowing at around 2 A.M. while making it difficult to sleep.
One man said he and his neighbors have spent six months trying to get the city to address the issue, but officials have declined to swoop in while citing “a large and ever-replenishing number of higher priority calls,” adding:
“There is substantial time involved to catch or trap chickens, and although we wish we could assist, triaging higher priority calls does not make this possible at this time given our current staffing levels”
The people who’ve been impacted are hoping they may be able to find a benevolent chicken rescuer who’s willing to step up and find them a new home, so if you happen to be in the market for 100 chickens and are willing to make the trek to Sacramento, you have a fantastic lead to work with.