VISITING AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE JULY 2009 Fair
Oaks Chickens Forwarded By John Michels Fair Oaks, Sacramento County San Juan Capistrano has its swallows. Rome has its starlings. Fair Oaks has chickens.
Few places so prize and protect their feral fowl as this quiet outpost amid the
bustling suburbia of eastern Sacramento County.
The
town's wild poultry - reputedly dating back three decades to the original
free-range rooster and three hens - now number more than 200, according to one
unofficial census. Chickens
have the run of Plaza Park, the grassy downtown square. They squawk, beg for
scraps and roost on playground equipment or century-old storefronts.
They
jaywalk with abandon, halting rush-hour traffic. Cocks and pullets alike strut
into nearby neighborhoods, rooting among knobby oaks to cluck and
cock-a-doodle-doo. This
being America, locals hold a festival each fall to celebrate the chicken. It's
one of the few times humans vastly outnumber the barnyard birds on the streets
of Fair Oaks. "We
adore them," said Sandy Lidstone, a longtime resident. "They're an
integral part of the village."
One
dearly departed hen is remembered for nesting on the laps of customers lounging
outside the Stockman bar. Another had the habit of laying an egg nearly every
day in a planter box. A loyal patron would retrieve it and crack it into his
beer, bartender Judy Jackson said.
Jackson
bubbled with civic pride over a short article in People magazine about the Fair
Oaks flock: "Our chickens are known nationally."
Not
everybody feels such fondness. Some residents complain about predawn wake-up
calls by roosters, chicken droppings on storefront sidewalks and tales of mean
birds pestering toddlers at the playground. To them, the pecking order is out of
whack.
"They're
pretty rogue," said Christa Oberth, a lifelong Fair Oaks resident.
"It's not particularly quaint and charming when they start crowing at 3 in
the morning."
While
attending a friend's wedding reception at Slocum House, the town's most
celebrated eatery, Oberth watched with both mirth and dismay as a big rooster
jumped onto a table, sending champagne glasses flying.
"Oh
my God, they're everyplace," said Steve Abbott, a retired high school
English teacher. "Some people think it's cute, that the chickens add to the
semi-rural appeal. I think it's disgusting."
Over
the years, Abbott repeatedly lobbied Sacramento County health and animal control
officials to stem the poultry proliferation, mostly to no avail.
At
times, he took matters into his own hands, capturing a few marauding birds with
a fishing net. He once threatened to go to court over a boisterous banty rooster
harbored by a neighbor.
Ultimately,
his patience spent, Abbott sold his home of 40 years and moved one town over. He
cites Fair Oaks' chicken proliferation as his No. 3 reason for the move (behind
wanting a one-story house and fewer lawn-care responsibilities).
As
folks tell it, the first birds arrived with Hugh Gorman, an artist who moved to
Fair Oaks in 1977 with his four chickens.
At
first, Gorman recalls, he fielded pleas to keep his flock cooped up. But
ultimately, Gorman relented to his free-spirit sensibilities and released the
foursome.
Each
year, a new flotilla of fuzzy yellow chicks could be seen scurrying after their
mothers. Other chickens joined the mix, Gorman said, among them post-Easter
escapees from a local feed store and barnyard rejects dumped at the town limits.
Now,
the chickens are a functional part of the Fair Oaks ethos and ecosystem, Gorman
said. They eat bugs and provide entertainment, distracting residents from their
worries about recession and slumping 401(k)s.
Even
the community tragedy of the rare hen that falls victim to an errant motorist,
he said, is a circle-of-life moment.
"They're self-replacing speed bumps," Gorman said. "You run them over and they grow new ones."
This
article appeared on page B - 14 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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