Anybody out there want some chickens?

May 29, 2007 by
Filed under: Greenpoint Magic 

Because if you do, go on down to Noble Street and help yourself.

Chickens

I saw these chickens pacing about on Noble Street just east of West Street yesterday afternoon. After a little research, I learned that their apparent “home” belongs to 72 West LLC. This corporate entity, in turn, is headed by Greenpoint’s favorite citizen, the one and only Josh Guttman. I didn’t realize he was diversifying his holdings to include live chickens. Good for him.

In all seriousness, I could smell these foul-ass fowl all the way from Java Street. Those of you who have the misfortune of living near one of our city’s lovely “live poultry” establishments can attest to the stench I am talking about. It’s not unlike horse shit, only worse.

My curiousity piqued, I did a little poking around the Department of Health’s web site today to learn more about how these businesses are regulated. Here is what I found:

Health Code Subsection 161.19 Keeping of live poultry and rabbits

(a) No person shall keep a live rooster, duck, goose or turkey in a built-up portion of the City.

(b) A person who holds a permit to keep for sale or sell live rabbits or poultry shall keep them in coops and runways and prevent them from being at large. Coops shall be whitewashed or otherwise treated in a manner approved by the Department at least once a year and at such other times as the Department may direct in order to keep them clean. Coops, runways and the surrounding area shall be kept clean.

Here’s my two cents:

  1. Why are there chickens on Noble Street?
  2. Who is allowing them to wander about?
  3. Do these people even have a permit to keep chickens here? If they do, they don’t seem to be following the above regulations.
  4. Anyone up for some KFC? I’m buying!*

Miss Heather
*Just kidding, I’m a vegetarian.

Comments

12 Comments on Anybody out there want some chickens?

  1. Xris (Flatbush Gardener) on Wed, 30th May 2007 5:39 am
  2. Ah, but section a) says nothing about chickens, only roosters.

    But at large, not so much. If they reach the sidewalk, I say they’re fair game, so to speak.

  3. missheather on Wed, 30th May 2007 6:55 am
  4. You can’t really tell due to its poor condition, but that IS the sidewalk.

  5. knotslaning on Wed, 30th May 2007 12:32 pm
  6. At least they are not tied up in chicken coops. Have you ever seen a chicken coop, very disturbing.

  7. missheather on Wed, 30th May 2007 12:38 pm
  8. There was a truck loaded with tiny plastic coops (filled with not so tiny chickens) parked in front of this building. It was seriously disturbing. If you look hard enough, you’ll notice the chicken at the far left has been picked at by its (former?) neighbors.

  9. missheather on Wed, 30th May 2007 1:10 pm
  10. Hey Xris, here’s a rooster for ya:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfeinstein/517005033/

  11. knotslaning on Thu, 31st May 2007 8:20 am
  12. All I have to say is POOR, POOR, POOR chickens. When will we ever learn that eating animals is cruel and torturous. I’m sorry little chicken but you are in my thoughts most days! I guess having live farm animals in Greenpoint just proves how disgusting the meat industry really is (sure destroys the romantic idealism of farm fresh). Anyway, where are these animals doing their business and what are they eating? Despite my love and admiration for this hood if I ate chicken I sure wouldn’t want it to come from a GP warehouse.

  13. greenpointer on Thu, 31st May 2007 8:30 am
  14. There is a chicken slaughter place right where the chickens were on Noble Street. Usually in the AM you can see them working there. It also has the same lovely smell as the one on Greenpoint Ave. During the recent Hasidic Jew party down on West the chicken truck was not allowed to go down the street and had to sit full of cages and wait until the party ended.

  15. missheather on Thu, 31st May 2007 8:42 am
  16. If you want to have some real fun, knock around this area and take pictures. Two dudes in a white pick-up truck will follow you— that’s what happened to me, anyway.

  17. DanHimself on Sat, 2nd Jun 2007 9:33 pm
  18. Alright here is some information for you:

    I happen to know the poultry distributor at that location and I will let you in on a little info…

    1) Fully licensed
    2) Has a very state of the art coop washer. They are inspected every week.
    3) Before the birds go out for delivery, if the weather is hot, they remove some birds from the coops and put them in new ones so they don’t just die of heat exhaustion. Some get away, and they spare some of them from going on delivery for slaughter. Those chickens in the picture actually are fed cracked corn that they also distribute and go inside the building when told to do so (Or chased)3.
    4) Probably one of if not the cleanest distributors you may ever find. Plays by the rules and cleans as thorough as possible for prevention of Avian Influenza. Cleaning is done daily, not yearly…. and for thousands of birds moving in and out of that building, I’d say it’s pretty clean and tidy.
    5) You might be vegan, but there are millions that aren’t… and to distribute chickens in a clean, safe manner for the “other millions of people in New York” I’d say is a OK in my book.
    6) I ask you this, if you didn’t have a restroom and went on your floor about 50 times a day, and so did 10,000 of your relatives on the same floor, and you cleaned it up to the best of your ability, don’t you think it would still have somewhat of a stench?

    Don’t get me wrong, there are retail slaughterhouses, and wholesale distributors that don’t clean thoroughly but there are inspectors on their asses everyday making sure that they are. These distributors are big businesses and have to cater to the people of New York, to keep them safe from Avian Influenza and other PTD’s (poultry transmitted diseases)lol.

    Also, the poultry that has missing feathers on its behind is an Old Heavy Fowl. They are used for a long time to lay those great eggs everyone loves to eat, and when they don’t produce enough eggs, they are sold to distributors, who then sell them to markets to sell to customers for human consumption. They lose feathers from being old. A Fowl is an old chicken, there are many different types.

    It takes A LOT of work to keep this place as clean as it is and I think you should understand the operation before you jump the gun and go RAMBO on this company.

    Also, the chickens are brought daily from the Farms in Pennsylvania. They are grown for human consumption. When a chicken gets hungry, it WILL eat or pick at a live or dead chicken.

    Just trying to inform you guys on a little bit. Thanks!

  19. deathgod99 on Sun, 3rd Jun 2007 4:13 pm
  20. Maybe you should start underestanding all the work done to keep this place clean. Hey, why don’t you try?

  21. deathgod99 on Sun, 3rd Jun 2007 4:25 pm
  22. try understanding what the do to keep it clean

  23. missheather on Sun, 3rd Jun 2007 4:39 pm
  24. Dear “Deathgod99” (nice name and I say this with all sincerity, btw), I have read the comment “Danhimself” posted. If what he says is true (and I mean no disrespect whatsoever to “Dan” when I say the this, I simply do not believe anything 100% unless I have prima facie evidence to back it up) perhaps they do keep the place “clean”? I can only hope so.

    Nonetheless, it still does not explain why there were chickens walking on Noble Street or (to use DOH parlance) “at large”. No matter how you cut it, this is a violation of health code.

    Period.

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