Neighbors and Chickens

Before we put up our fence, our chickens got their fair share of interest from the neighbors.

• Our closest neighbor always asked when we were going to kill and eat them. 
• The young girls from down the street would stick their heads out the window screeching "chicken, chicken, chicken" as their family hurtled around the corner.
• When they visited their grandparents, two young boys would come by and offer to clean the coop and collect eggs and ask a lot of questions about chicken biology.

With the fence the girls aren't so visible, but the curiosity remains. The girls still screech around the corner and the boys will try to peer over the woodpile. I wonder what would happen if one day one of the hens was missing, swiped from our yard. Would our neighbors rally in support to find her? Would there be outrage? Snickers?

In this article from the New York Times, this very thing happened to a family in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.  With all the opportunities to get depressed about the state of mankind, this story restored some of my faith in humanity. Check it out, even if you don't have chickens of your own, but especially if you do.