Hi everyone! My name is Laura
I am trying to see if it would be at all possible to get some research done to help with the cause of finally changing some old arse rules San Diego has which cause major restrictions and problems to us urban sustainable pet chicken owners! Please bare with me on this as I am not really 100% certain how I will gather details. Here is information I am trying to gather from all San Diegans for now:
1. Get information on how many Chickens you currently own (Number of Hens, Pullets, Chicks, and adult Roos if any)
2. District you live at (you can find your district here: http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/ )
3. If there is any sort of "air polution" in your area what exactly are they? (i.e. aircraft, dogs, wild game, birds, city life, dwellers etc)
4. Are you willing to help the cause for changing old legislature by investing a little of your time and efforts into this research project by following some research guidelines to be decided as the project expands?
I understand that some of you will have almost no interest in changing the law if you already are legal in your area or district but I do hope you will still lend us a hand for those of us who simply cannot change our ways of living simply to be able to own pet chickens (who also produce for our enjoyment) Here is an idea of what I would be proposing for research.
* Due to the limited resources I have to accomplish this research project I am relying on the goodwill and honestly of everyone who will allow themselves to volunteer into this project *
I am going to buy an accurate Sound Level Meter (or Decibel Meter) I might purchase 2 of them so that we have a basis for making averages etc. But for now 1 accurate one is probably good enough. I have a small digital camera that I can loan out for the cause and will have to be transferred from person to person for use of video recording of results. I will also come up with a Spread Sheet that we can all use to edit and enter our research data into.
I would like it if those of you who have adult chickens would volunteer some time (doesn't matter how many chickens but 3-5 is ideal) and spend some time to gather the following information using the decibel meter:
During the Course of 3 days using both the Decibel Meter and with the help of a friend OR if you are handy you can do this yourself, use the video camera to record the decibel meter and What it is you are recording:
A. Record a decibel rating for your local ambiance sounds (like cars passing near your home as far away from your chickens as possible) take this reading down and enter wether it was Morning, Noon, or Night (write down time as well)
B. Record the sound and a decibel rating of your chickens up close and personal for about two minutes (regular clucking and regular chicken noises, undisturbed) you do this by holding the meter near your group of chickens.
C. Step back about 15 feet and record the decibel rating of your chickens again from that distance (same as above)
D. Step back another 10 feet (25 feet away if you can) and repeat the process.
E. Time to scare the chickens -_- (this part is not completely necessary but I figure at least 1 rating of this from 15-25 feet away would suffice) we need a sound rating of chickens who have been spooked as a worst case scenario sooo if someone can spook the chickens while you take a decibel rating as well (poor chickens) that would be useful, just make sure you mention this in the recording "spooked chickens" and try and get this from the three distances: Up close, 15 feet, and 25 feet
F. Please repeat the process Morning, Afternoon, and Night just so there is data for all times of day sort of (time of day also should be accounted for)
G. If you have a rooster please also try and isolate your rooster by recording his crowing decibel rating for reference purposes (I am doubtful anyone would approve of a rooster in a small place lol but at least the data is there)
once you have all these recordings you can enter your numerical findings (the peak loudness) of each research item into a spread sheet, (you can repeat the process for three days to help us get an average but this is not necessary) then you are done with your research for us!
NOTE: if there are noisy creatures that exceed the noisiness of the chickens please state that when recording IF those creatures are interfering with your research and maybe try and get a isolated decibel reading of those creatures just so we can use this data to point out how much noisier some other creatures can be which are local to San Diego.
You will then give the decibel meter to the next Volunteer so they can use it for the same exact "research" you can either meet up with the volunteer to exchange the video camera and Meter or the volunteer can pick it up from you or if you really want to mail it to them, then do so but make sure you send it certified to prevent loss of valuable research information)
we will gather all this data and come up with an average decibel rating for chickens in order to use these numbers to help us with our fight to legalize chickens all over SD
I am trying to get the noise level ratings for chickens so that we have a case to prove (maybe that chickens are no more noisier than other city sounds) Rooster noises would just be used so that people actually know we did go there... also I want to compare the noise a rooster makes to annoying yippy or bark happy dogs.
If I can come up with a prettier looking thread with a better explanation then I will do so but the gist of it goes:
I can only afford one or two decibel meters, and I have a digital camera I can loan around, there will be a spread sheet to gather info.
After we get a full list of volunteers and their wearabouts we will contact each other via IM or email to come up with a schedule for research,
for example if we have people in Escondido, Poway, Rancho Penasquitos, Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Serra Mesa, all the way down to Chula Vista etc then we will find out the proper way to exchange our research equipment (decibel meter and camera) to each other locally until it has traveled all over San Diego to all Chicken Owner Volunteers and helped us gather information from everywhere, the data will be recorded on a spread sheet accessible to such people via google that way we can all log in and record our findings. After the final person has entered their results I can then use this data to come up with a comparison graph, decibel ratings for all sorts of city sounds etc and make a case for our meetings whenever we are presented with the noise level issues. I understand exchanging these two items (the meter and the camera) can become risky since it will change hands various times but I trust we are all mature enough to handle electronics
and I do trust people I will not hold anyone liable if something breaks haha it's all for the good of research, plus I think I will have to trust that when space runs low on a digital camera the data can be burned onto a disk and memory card wiped after that and then re-used.
I know this sound super crazy... but if we all collaborate I think we can do it!
Let me know your feedback! Thanks everyone!
1. Get information on how many Chickens you currently own (Number of Hens, Pullets, Chicks, and adult Roos if any)
2. District you live at (you can find your district here: http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/ )
3. If there is any sort of "air polution" in your area what exactly are they? (i.e. aircraft, dogs, wild game, birds, city life, dwellers etc)
4. Are you willing to help the cause for changing old legislature by investing a little of your time and efforts into this research project by following some research guidelines to be decided as the project expands?
I understand that some of you will have almost no interest in changing the law if you already are legal in your area or district but I do hope you will still lend us a hand for those of us who simply cannot change our ways of living simply to be able to own pet chickens (who also produce for our enjoyment) Here is an idea of what I would be proposing for research.
* Due to the limited resources I have to accomplish this research project I am relying on the goodwill and honestly of everyone who will allow themselves to volunteer into this project *
I am going to buy an accurate Sound Level Meter (or Decibel Meter) I might purchase 2 of them so that we have a basis for making averages etc. But for now 1 accurate one is probably good enough. I have a small digital camera that I can loan out for the cause and will have to be transferred from person to person for use of video recording of results. I will also come up with a Spread Sheet that we can all use to edit and enter our research data into.
I would like it if those of you who have adult chickens would volunteer some time (doesn't matter how many chickens but 3-5 is ideal) and spend some time to gather the following information using the decibel meter:
During the Course of 3 days using both the Decibel Meter and with the help of a friend OR if you are handy you can do this yourself, use the video camera to record the decibel meter and What it is you are recording:
A. Record a decibel rating for your local ambiance sounds (like cars passing near your home as far away from your chickens as possible) take this reading down and enter wether it was Morning, Noon, or Night (write down time as well)
B. Record the sound and a decibel rating of your chickens up close and personal for about two minutes (regular clucking and regular chicken noises, undisturbed) you do this by holding the meter near your group of chickens.
C. Step back about 15 feet and record the decibel rating of your chickens again from that distance (same as above)
D. Step back another 10 feet (25 feet away if you can) and repeat the process.
E. Time to scare the chickens -_- (this part is not completely necessary but I figure at least 1 rating of this from 15-25 feet away would suffice) we need a sound rating of chickens who have been spooked as a worst case scenario sooo if someone can spook the chickens while you take a decibel rating as well (poor chickens) that would be useful, just make sure you mention this in the recording "spooked chickens" and try and get this from the three distances: Up close, 15 feet, and 25 feet
F. Please repeat the process Morning, Afternoon, and Night just so there is data for all times of day sort of (time of day also should be accounted for)
G. If you have a rooster please also try and isolate your rooster by recording his crowing decibel rating for reference purposes (I am doubtful anyone would approve of a rooster in a small place lol but at least the data is there)
once you have all these recordings you can enter your numerical findings (the peak loudness) of each research item into a spread sheet, (you can repeat the process for three days to help us get an average but this is not necessary) then you are done with your research for us!
NOTE: if there are noisy creatures that exceed the noisiness of the chickens please state that when recording IF those creatures are interfering with your research and maybe try and get a isolated decibel reading of those creatures just so we can use this data to point out how much noisier some other creatures can be which are local to San Diego.
You will then give the decibel meter to the next Volunteer so they can use it for the same exact "research" you can either meet up with the volunteer to exchange the video camera and Meter or the volunteer can pick it up from you or if you really want to mail it to them, then do so but make sure you send it certified to prevent loss of valuable research information)
we will gather all this data and come up with an average decibel rating for chickens in order to use these numbers to help us with our fight to legalize chickens all over SD
I am trying to get the noise level ratings for chickens so that we have a case to prove (maybe that chickens are no more noisier than other city sounds) Rooster noises would just be used so that people actually know we did go there... also I want to compare the noise a rooster makes to annoying yippy or bark happy dogs.
If I can come up with a prettier looking thread with a better explanation then I will do so but the gist of it goes:
I can only afford one or two decibel meters, and I have a digital camera I can loan around, there will be a spread sheet to gather info.
After we get a full list of volunteers and their wearabouts we will contact each other via IM or email to come up with a schedule for research,
for example if we have people in Escondido, Poway, Rancho Penasquitos, Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Serra Mesa, all the way down to Chula Vista etc then we will find out the proper way to exchange our research equipment (decibel meter and camera) to each other locally until it has traveled all over San Diego to all Chicken Owner Volunteers and helped us gather information from everywhere, the data will be recorded on a spread sheet accessible to such people via google that way we can all log in and record our findings. After the final person has entered their results I can then use this data to come up with a comparison graph, decibel ratings for all sorts of city sounds etc and make a case for our meetings whenever we are presented with the noise level issues. I understand exchanging these two items (the meter and the camera) can become risky since it will change hands various times but I trust we are all mature enough to handle electronics
and I do trust people I will not hold anyone liable if something breaks haha it's all for the good of research, plus I think I will have to trust that when space runs low on a digital camera the data can be burned onto a disk and memory card wiped after that and then re-used. I know this sound super crazy... but if we all collaborate I think we can do it!
Let me know your feedback! Thanks everyone!
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. We have traffic (mostly autos but jets too), yappy dogs, & feral parrots as the biggest noise offenders on our block in Point Loma. Are you thinking of limiting the # of birds according to lot size or noise level or ? of the neighborhood? Just wondering as 25 full sized birds on a tiny lot might raise some opposition. Let me know your thoughts on proceeding, kudos for initiating the project!
