A friend sent me an apparently only-in-Miami article this morning with the subject “Miami as third world country!” Us South Floridians are not unused to having our country — er, I mean, region poked fun at by the rest of the US as a gaggle of kooky santería practitioners or a banana republic. But I’m taken aback: there aren’t other neighborhoods in the country where chickens roam as part of the landscape? Other cities don’t have a chicken catcher squad? Fine. But I know what a rooster sounds like, and I have heard them all over Bushwick. Add in the bodegas and the occasional person dressed completely in white, and subtract the snow — have I come full circle?
BushWickLou August 21st, 2007 at 6:15 pm
damn – no candy or cigars? My grandma (rip) was bad ass smoking cigars and telling me the wonders of agua maravilla – LOLOLOL… i miss her
jay August 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 am
Well, anyone living over by Myrtle, and Broadway and can head over to Myrtle Live Poultry, and try to figure out what that store is about!
How it would be nice to raise chicken, especially since they are so welcome in a place called Bushwick, and be able to have fresh scrambled eggs in the morning.
Jeremy August 22nd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I’m pretty sure the store is about fresh chicken.
jay August 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Does fresh chicken really taste that much better? Can you really enjoy it knowing that a few seconds ago you saw the thing feathers, and all clucking away? Or worse yet do you take it home live? Sorry to upset you with this talk Jimmy.
Jeremy August 22nd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I don’t know, I’ve never had freshly-killed chicken, but as I understand it, they process it for you right there.
jay August 22nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
What’s for dinner tonight? VEGAN
Matt August 22nd, 2007 at 5:52 pm
If I raised chickens I’d name a few of them Vegan. Then, whenever we turned one into dinner we could say: “We’re eating Vegan for dinner tonight!”
This fake Jack Handy moment, brought to you by: boredom.
turgan savas August 22nd, 2007 at 11:54 pm
that’s a new sport they’re practicing I think.
Jaybushwick August 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I hope they don’t allow minors in there during the “process”. The closest thing Bushwick has to a butcher!
Jeremy August 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 am
They do it in the back. And Bushwick has butchers.
turgan August 23rd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
http://theknownuniverse.us/index.php/archives/1893
Jamie August 24th, 2007 at 6:24 am
I posted this about four years ago:
http://theknownuniverse.us/index.php/archives/284
Since then, I’ve seen at least a half dozen chickens roaming around the streets of Bushwick and Williamsburg.
P.S.
http://theknownuniverse.us/index.php/archives/1448
Jeremy August 24th, 2007 at 9:38 am
You have!? My friend, a lifelong Manhattanite, yesterday asked me if I actually see chickens roaming, or maybe I am just hearing a caged fighting cock. I realized that no, I have never SEEN chickens in the streets like I did in Miami, where they were absolutely everywhere, and I would have to keep my dogs from killing them all the time.
jenblossom August 24th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Jeremy, there are coops in a lot of the backyards around our place, and as recently as last summer they were occupied. Haven’t seen any chickens roaming the streets, though. Yet.
Jimmy Legs August 24th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
wait, somebody’s breeding vegan chickens now?
chickens are one thing, once in Clinton Hill i saw a baby goat on a leash on Myrtle Ave and i knew he was to be someone’s dinner, and it saddened me momentarily cuz it was adorable:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmylegs/42725780/
Jamie August 24th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I used to live next door to someone with a chicken coop (In Williamsburg). The trees and bushes made it impossible to see exactly what was going on, but every morning I woke up to a rooster crowing. No kidding. As far as chickens roaming the streets, like I said, I’ve seen about five in five years, so it’s not like they are running rampant, but they seem to get away now and then. Most recently there was one “living” in the parking lot next to my current apartment for about a week. People were leaving feed for it the way they leave food for stray cats. I don;t know what finally happened to it, but I’m sure it was nothing good.