This document provides information about keeping chickens in urban areas. It discusses the legal requirements for keeping chickens in St. Petersburg and Gulfport, Florida. It also provides extensive details on applying permaculture principles to an urban chicken flock, including inputs, outputs, shelter requirements, varieties of chickens, health and disease issues, predators, and reference resources. The document aims to educate urban chicken owners on sustainability and community.

1. Welcometo the Re-coop Initiative

2. Gulfport Growing Greener Annabelle Butterfly Acknowledgements:

3. About us Interests Permaculture Sustainability Community 12 months of change Where we live Historic Kenwood Experience Spanish game fowl 3 years with city chickens Eric and Anna Scott

4. St. Petersburg Chicken owners are required to receive written permission of property owners living within 100 feet of your property. Chicken owners are to keep permission letters on hand to present to code enforcement officials if required. Chickens are to be contained within owners property Coops and run areas are to be kept clean and free of offensive odors NO ROOSTERS ALLOWED!!!! City Chickens…Is it Legal????

5. Gulfport Permission of neighbors is not required Chickens are to be contained within owners property Chickens are to be kept in the back yard of the property Coops and run areas are to be kept clean and free of offensive odors NO ROOSTERS ALLOWED!!!! City Chickens…Is it Legal????

6. CITY (Chickens In The Yard) Chickens http://www.salemchickens.com/index.html Advocacy Groups

7. Applying Permaculture to City Chickens Permaculture: Effective and efficient systems that maximize productivity by viewing systems as a whole The application of Permaculture principals will require you analyze and maximize the use of “inputs and outputs”

8. Meat (quality) Eggs (quality , sell/trade, crafts, shell tea, compost) Feathers (crafts, compost) Manure (tea, compost) Tilling (tractors, garden prep/cleanup) Bug/Weed Control(breaks life cycle) Compost Processing (efficient system) Heat (green houses) Enjoyment (pets) What are Outputs???

9. Food Store (layer mash, scratch, snacks rice flax) Grown (greens, luffa, moringa, kenaf, nettle, reverse tractor) Foraged (spanish needle, purslane, clover) Compost (kitchen scraps) Bug bucket Grazing (creates holes, trims plants) Water Rainwater What are Inputs???

10. Shelter Roost (off ground) Run (covered or monitored) Nestbox (private) Nesting Material (straw, pine, rosemary, mugwort, tobacco, pine/cedar shavings) Shade (cover, plants, chicken pool) What are Inputs???

11. Grit Crushed oyster shell Dust/Open Ground DE Daily maintenance Food & water check Egg collecting Chicken Friends What are Inputs???

12. Baby Chicks Purchased from hatchery Hatched from incubator Shipped to your home Minimum purchase 12 chicks (sometimes sexed incorrectly!) Purchased locally/hatched by hen Healthier Reinforcement from interaction with mother/siblings Needs Heat source till 8weeks old Starter feed till laying age Safe space Observation for health issues (pasty butt) Life Cycle of Chickens

13. Switch food to layer pellets or crumbles This will provide the necessary nutrients for egg production Will begin laying at around 6 months of age Laying will taper off around 3 years of age A good layer breed with produce 1 egg about every 26 hours 5-8 year lifespan Safe and private nesting box(s) Hens

14. Shell color varies /does not impact quality Economical source of protein Bloom protects egg from germs Can keep for 6 weeks fresh, 1 year if shelled and frozen Fertile eggs are not more nutritious Fresh eggs are hard to peel you can accelerate maturity at room temp Eggs

15. Cloudiness of white is carbon dioxide that has not had time to escape Yellow or green cast indicates riboflavin Blood spots safe to eat occur during development White stringy stuff is chalazae and is edible keeps yolk centered More on Eggs

16. Leaders and protectors of the flock Are not necessary for hens to lay eggs **Are not allowed in city limits** Are considered nuisance animals by municipalities subjecting owners to code enforcement actions or fines Can be aggressive Roosters

17. 45 lb year per hen Moist 2N-2P-1K, Dry 5N, 3P, 2K (Nitro-leaf, Phos-fruit/flower, K(Potassium) roots, resist disease works with P developing fruit) Tea ¾ pillow case in garbage can of water 3 weeks (dilute for young/tender plants) Compost – will burn young, tender plants if fresh Manure….The Good Stuff

18. Egg layers (Leghorns, RIR, Wyandottes, Orpingtons) Meat (Plymouth Rocks, Cornish) Dual duty (RIR, Orpingtons, Ameracaunas, Plythmouth Rocks) Citified (Orpingtons, RIR, Plymouth Rocks, Ameracaunas) Varieties of Chickens for City Flock

19. 4 sq ft per chicken Safe from predators Easy to clean Access to eggs Ventilation – heat/cool Mobile? Shelter Requirements

20. Changed/check daily Off ground to prevent contamination/pest prevention Covered Food & Water

21. Convenient to check & clean Shade Water source Neighbors Interaction with pets Other functions (vertical grow space/garden prep) Assessment of Yard

22. Fowl pox Carried by mosquitoes. Chickens can be inoculated. Lice/mites Diatomaceous earth Pyrethrin shampoo Clean bedding/nesting materials Egg bound Warm bath Lubrication – KY jelly Breaking last resort – can lead to infection Disease & Health Issues

23. Vent Gleet – yeast infection Isolate hen and feed yogurt West Nile virus Avian flu Egg/meat safety during treatment Disease & Health Issues

24. Hawks, owls Provide ample indoor roost space Enclose top of run with poultry netting Dogs and coyotes Run areas can be protected by sinking fence material 12”underground. Cats Raccoons Opossums Snakes (young chicks and eggs) Predators

25. http://www.codegreencommunity.org/group/city-chickens http://www.backyardchickens.com/ http://urbanchickens.org/ Reference Websites

26. http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/ http://www.hobbyfarms.com/chickens-magazine/default.aspx Reference Magazines

27. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens Gaia’s Garden SeppHolzer’s Permaculture The Permaculture Garden Reference Books

28. Q&A Chicken swap harvest Chicken harvest as a community event Chicken sitters Group purchases/sharings Gas saving shopping Shared outputs/inputs Unwanted manure Sharing scraps City Chicken Community

29. Veterinarians Bayshore 381-3900 Feed/supply Park 5775 Park Blvd Largo 210 W Bay Local breeders Fowl Mom 585-1110 SANDIM@AOL.COM City Chicken Community

30. Is it legal? Purpose? Eggs, meat, pet How will I handle surplus? Chicks or Hens? What if you get a rooster? How Many? How will I feed them? Water source and location to coop? What type of Shelter? Mobile or fixed? What will the neighbors think? Where will the coop be Chicken Check

31. Who will chicken sit? What will happen when they stop producing eggs? Can I afford feed, nesting materials and maintenance? Will children be involved? Will other pets get along with the chickens? Do I have time to check them everyday? Chicken Check Continued

32. Permaculture Gaia’s Guardians permaculture study group Gulfport Growing Greener Transition Pinellas Follow our Blog http://www.codegreencommunity.org/profile/Anna Coming soon website and book Get Involved

33. Coop Building with Recycled Materials And Community Harvesting Follow Up Presentations