Are chickens protected in Key West?

The city of Key West protects the chickens — you can’t just grab one and make it into your Sunday dinner — but it did hire an official Chicken Catcher in 2004 in an attempt to reduce the population without killing any birds.

Why can’t you feed the chickens in Key West?

The Key West Wildlife Center and the city have before asked people not to feed the wild birds, saying it’s not good for the chickens because food left on the ground can spoil quickly.

Where do the chickens in Key West sleep?

Key West roosters are the most photographed inhabitants of Key West. A rooster is a male chicken and the term “rooster” originated in the United States. It could come from the fact that most chickens “roost” in trees to sleep at night.

What breed of chickens are in Key West?

gypsy chickens
Key West has a lot of off-beat charms, but one of my favorites has always been the chickens, dubbed gypsy chickens by locals. The feral fowl that frequent the streets and alleys of Key West seem like the perfect metaphor for Key West -– historic, colorful, sort of wild, a little noisy and occasionally annoying.

How many chickens are in Key West?

The wildlife center doesn’t have an estimate of how many chickens call Key West home. But in 2020, they took in about 1,800 chickens. Overall, about 70 percent of the chickens in the center survived. The center sees about 1,500 each year.

How many chickens live in Key West?

Why are so many chickens in Key West?

The chickens found in Key West are descendants of the jungle fowl that was originally found throughout the Caribbean, including Cuba. Early settlers in Key West had a normal relationship with their chickens, keeping them in coups and using them for food.

Why does Key West smell so bad?

That ubiquitous smell is decaying sargassum, islands of floating, brown sea algae that is piling up along the beaches of Key West, the Florida peninsula, Mexico and other Caribbean islands. Happens every summer when the winds and currents come from the south.

Why is there a lot of roosters in Key West?

Key West chickens that roam the streets are descendants of jungle fowl that originated in Cuba and the Caribbean islands. These birds were brought here by our island ancestors and used as food. Many of these birds escaped their enclosures or were just released when cockfighting became illegal.

Why does Key West smell bad?

That ubiquitous smell is decaying sargassum, islands of floating, brown sea algae that is piling up along the beaches of Key West, the Florida peninsula, Mexico and other Caribbean islands. Used to be the sargassum and the smell went away when the winds shifted. This summer we’ve gone from smell to stench.