Chickens invade neighborhood
A band of poultry roams the neighborhood, crowing at 2 a.m., tearing up yards and pooping all over the place.
By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published January 8, 2006
OLDSMAR - When she moved into West Oldsmar, Margie Miller thought the roosters roaming the streets were cute and quaint.
If a chorus of clucking and cock-a-doodle-do-ing came at the crack of dawn, Miller, 42, wouldn't care.
But the birds don't wait for Miller's alarm to go off at 5:30 a.m.
They don't wait for the sun to rise.
The cocks start crowing at 2 or 3 a.m. and can go for hours.
It's no longer cute.
It's not quaint.
Sometimes, when she's picking up the morning paper, Miller will clap her hands or shake the newspaper at the four fowl that roost in her tree on Shore Boulevard.
They scatter.
But they always come back.
Her boyfriend has unprintable names for the unwanted pets but Miller won't name them.
"I don't want to get attached to any of them," she said.
Neighbors estimate about 75 of the birds have taken over this stretch of unincorporated Pinellas in West Oldsmar, as abundant (and as quick on their feet) as squirrels.
Miller has asked the city to help but officials say it's not their problem.
"All they need to do is annex in the city and I'll take care of their chickens," said Oldsmar Mayor Jerry Beverland.
Last year, West Oldsmar residents voted not to be annexed by the city for the fourth time in 40 years.
Miller has also asked the county for help but because the roosters haven't attacked anyone, the county won't step in, said Dr. Welch Agnew, assistant director for veterinary services for Pinellas County Animal Services.
"We're not, at this juncture, in the chicken-trapping business," Agnew said.
Sandy Blanco, 49, moved to Shore Boulevard in 1995, before there were chickens.
Now, she said, the chickens are everywhere. They tear up yards, rip up vines, jump on cars and pluck fruit off trees.
"They poop," she said. "They poop everywhere."
The birds arrived just a few years after she moved in, Blanco said. So far, no one has 'fessed up to bringing the birds to the neighborhood.
The only option residents have is to hire trappers or catch the birds themselves.
Blanco said a Plant City couple have offered to take the noise nuisance to their 10-acre lot, where they raise chickens, geese and duck.
The couple have already retrieved five birds from Blanco's yard, but she said there are a dozen left.
Sending them to Plant City seems like the best option.
"I've been to hell and back with these chickens," Blanco said.
[Last modified January 8, 2006, 01:10:25]
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