Children and Chickens -what are we teaching?

[ValleyHatchery]

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_25589128/kentfield-girl-9-fights-save-chickens-amid-homeowners

The link above will give more detail about the case which prompted this query.

We've all seen this story before, in the legal forum. Family has pet chickens for years, suddenly a neighbor is offended, and the next thing you know, everyone is in court...over a pet chicken. Again.

Aside from the legal arguments and strategies this family might take, I'd like to focus instead on what this is teaching our children about ourselves and how we interact with our community and balance that with the responsibility we take on when we accept a pet into our lives.

Do you find people are more hesitant to accept a do or die attitude toward a chicken as opposed to a dog or cat?

What do you think these children (and those like them) are learning in the way of life lessons on balancing their responsibilities as pet owners and members of a larger community.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the matter. Thanks for reading and commenting.

 

[b.hromada]

I, personally, think its awful. I had a problem here where I live, with my elderly neighbor calling animal control on me, about 5 years ago. It has since stopped. He now doesn't mind them. Its a good thing, as I wouldn't give up my girls. I just love my chickens! I don't understand what the big deal is anyway??

 

[cafarmgirl]

I think a good lesson to teach our kids in instances like this is that there are always going to be rules in every aspect of our lives and we may not always like or agree with them but that doesn't mean that we should buck the rules and hope we don't get caught. A better way is to teach them how to challenge and change rules when it is possible and reasonable to do so. In this particular instance I feel blame can be laid all around, except of course the little girl who stands to loose the most in my opinion.

Since they do indeed live in an HOA, and we all know HOA's have long lists of rules over just about everything, I wish her parents had checked into all of this and maybe been able to modify this rule BEFORE getting the chickens and getting into this situation. I hope it works out for them and they get to keep their birds. Lots of stress involved for everyone and lots of $$$ given to lawyers in the meantime.

 

[ValleyHatchery]

Finding balance isn't always easy. Of course, the more you know before you get ankle deep in chicken scratch is always going to be a plus in your favor. A friend of mine had a pig as a pet. She has also experienced a much wider "shock" affect in her neighborhood, much more so than a few chickens of mine. Still, traditional pets are much easier to integrate into the community (by way of acceptance at least) Hopefully though, as more people begin to think Green Living, we may just see a new rise in America's most popular pet.

 

[newfoundland]

I have an answer to this constant sniping by neighbours who take it into their heads to complain over the most ludicrous issues. Make litigation so prohibitively expensive that no one in their right mind would even consider going to court over these trivialities. Then maybe people would have the common sense to talk through the issues like adults and come to agreements that both sides were satisfied with.

 

[ValleyHatchery]

Here's a success story: http://northernstar.info/from_ap/illinois/article_a8b45ce2-0f15-53ba-b4f5-7afb184f471c.html?mode=jqm

Good to know there are places where chickens are gaining ground as respectable assets in green living.