Ybor City is a historical neighborhood in Tampa , Florida . If I want to harbour out - of - town Edgar Guest , I take them to Ybor ( pronouncedEE - bore ) . With nightly retarding force show , plate - smashing Greek restaurants , literary pirate parades and Cuban cigar , Ybor is certain to please many . Another thing that makes this industrialize and amusement urban center special is its famous flock of fowl .
Ybor City: From Cigars to Chickens
Vicente Martinez - Ybor , a Cuban deportation and prominent cigar - Almighty living in Key West , founded the metropolis in 1886 . He opened its first cigar manufactory . The area pull in immigrant doer and apace became known for its cigars , producing half a million a month . According to local historians and term of enlistment guide , when the workers relocate from the Florida Keys to Ybor , so did their crybaby .
“ They were n’t always roaming the streets , though , ” tell Dylan Breese , founder of theYbor Chickens Society . “ When vacant homes begin to be razed for development , the chickens that had been well-chosen living in the backyards were force out and found ways to adjust and outlive in the streets . ”
Breese founded the bon ton in 2017 . He has know in Ybor for five geezerhood and was always toy with by seeing a chicken dart across the street or strut around the parkland . After losing his job , Breese ground comfort in caring for a family of 1 - day - old chicks and their female parent hen . Ybor Chickens Society
“ I was going through a tough sentence , and they made me blank out about it when I visited them , ” he says . “ This little family became so important to me that I started volunteering at the organization where they lived . While there , I would see people mistreating the chicken across the street , and I recognized the need for someone to step up and offer them more protection beyond the existence of [ Tampa ’s Bird Sanctuary Law ( Art . IV Sec . 14 - 176 ) ] . ”
That law , which cross all of Tampa , including Ybor , states that it is illegal to “ kill , maim or trap or otherwise chevy ” an avian coinage . There is a caveat for fowl raised for human consumption . Because backyard chickens are identified as pets and for egg product under the current code enforcement , they fall under the sanctuary regulation . So , the same sanctuary regulation that protect “ any domesticated bird , song bird , migratory Bronx cheer , wildfowl or waterbird , except birds or fowl raised in enslavement for human consumption , ” protect the chickens and bevy of peafowl that lend reference to Ybor .
Today , the city is home plate to a flock of around 150 chickens whose ancestors have resided there for nearly 150 years . Between 40 and 50 chickens have names , with a new poulet name being introduced every Monday on the Instagram account @yborchickens . When Breese appoint a chicken a name , he likes to choose a unequaled yet gentle - to - recollect statute title . For model : Casper is all white , Shaq is the tallest , and Carrot is solid orangish . Ybor Chickens Society
Ybor Chickens Society
Although the chickens have name and many will go up Breese and other companionship members , the people do n’t attempt to agree the razzing . “ We like the fact that they are n’t comfortable enough with human to allow touch , ” Breese says . “ As much as we might want to foot them up and give them a squeeze , it ’s safe for them that agency . ”
join or hold the Ybor Chickens Society signify helping to protect and preserve the chickens ’ lawful situation in this little corner of Tampa . Donations go toward feed , equipment and medical care . Signing up with email keeps a person update on volaille - theme city events and chicken adventures . “ When they have child or get a new boyfriend / girl , we let our followers know , ” Breese enjoin .
Donating your time is another way to become Byzantine with the company . “ We ’ve had a circumstances of different citizenry come to our volunteer consequence , ” he say . “ We have some regulars , but we often see a new nerve on a random Friday or Sunday . We meet at least once a week right now to get Centennial Park ready for the Ybor City Saturday Market , which we are big devotee of . ”
Portrait of an Artist
Lynn Rattray ’s introduction to the Ybor Chickens Society was the issue of an on-line lookup . She was bewitch with the poulet roaming Ybor City and desire to feel out more . Rattray ( shown below between myself on the left and Breese on the right ) is an accomplished local creative person , specializing in oil and acrylic painting . She earned bachelor ’s and master of arts degrees and is now jubilantly retired . One twenty-four hour period while taking character reference photos in Centennial Park for her paintings , she noticed a young man walk in one of the plantation owner where the hen hatch and raise their skirt . Concerned , she approached him . Kenny Coogan
“ You require to get out of that plantation owner , youthful gentleman ! ” she recalls yelling at Breese . “ Do n’t you fuck there are mamas with their baby nest in those Bush ? ” Breese explained that a chick had become separated from its mother and he was reunite them .
“ On another photo shoot in the park , I again unravel into Dylan , ” Rattray says . “ He was sitting on the boundary of a plantation owner check on the public assistance of ‘ Stevie , ’ a sweet cock who had recently become blind . Dylan had brought him a snack of chopped lettuce and sat with him for a while making sure he was safe . ”
Ybor Chickens Society
come across the level of attention for the chickens was the catalyst for her join the club , and she begin participating in the weekly Sweep ‘ n ’ Sleep park cleanups , which take home every Friday even . “ This organisation is unequaled in its honey and devotion for the welfare of Ybor ’s crybaby and nurture grace with the byplay community , ” Rattray articulate . “ Its untiring efforts are kick in to the welfare of the volaille and to the sensory faculty of residential area in Ybor . I ’m honored to be a part of that . ”Ybor Chickens Society
“ The chickens are iconic , ” says Lori Rosso , executive director of Ybor City Chamber of Commerce . “ Each one is different , in facial expression , disposition , and so on . They fetch a whim to the territory that has such a historical backbone . ”
“ We can be running around and focusing on business , but you hear those little peep from the bushes you pop out looking for the babies , ” Rosso says . “ Once you see them , you ca n’t help but be in awe . ” She add that for a mini metropolis to have chickens and their biddy running around is grounding .
Kenny Coogan
Many years ago Rattray was so tickled by the chicken personality that she wrote a political sarcasm titledThe Roostercrats vs. the Ybor City Squawkers . “ I allot each rooster in the series a political statute title ( Secretary of Health and Fowl Services ) and role in the battle for innocent - roaming right , to admit referencing the cloak-and-dagger tunnels of Ybor . Eight age later , I ’m still enthralled with painting chicken . ”
Painting Poultry in Ybor City
Earlier this yr , I joined Breese and Rattray at The Bunker for Rattray ’s art show title “ Chicken Dance … Ybor Style . ” Rattray displayed dozens of portraits each labeled with the chicken ’s name . She explained to the frequenter how to identify the hiss based on feather pattern and personality . ( See case of herpainted portraits of Ybor City ’s chickens here . ) Breese then took a group of 10 or so outside the eating house for a chicken enlistment . Kenny Coogan
“ Being able to bonk and love them through my workplace with the Ybor Chickens Society ignites my heat for representing their beauty and far-out personalities through my artistic creation , ” Rattray say . A portion of the sales agreement was donated to the Ybor Chickens Society . ( VisitRattray ’s websiteto see her upcoming chicken- and farm - related shows . )
“ When I retire four year ago from my job as a schoolhouse head , I dreamed of days filled with house painting and travel , ” Rattray enjoin . “ While that partially come to pass , I could never have imagined that I would be spending my Friday evening sweeping up after chicken in Ybor City . I ’ve never owned a chicken and Ybor City is not commodious to my habitation , but there I am most Friday wholesale , aid to keep the birds out of rushing - hour traffic and respect as , one by one , they fly up to perch in the trees for the night . The chicken immeasurably enrich the liveliness of people they encounter in our community . ”
Ybor Chickens Society
Although Breese does n’t have favorites , he does get a kicking out of the chicken named Frankenstein ( depict above right ) . “ If he ’s hanging around us , and we express mirth at something enounce , he ’ll cluck right along with us like a parrot might , ” he says . “ He ’s also pretty clumsy and will trip , which makes us laugh more than it should .
“ One of my best-loved stories , though , is about the time I thought one of my original hens [ Goldie ] had died . I deliver from a head trip outside the country and could n’t find her anywhere . A couple of calendar week last by , and I had in conclusion swallow it . One Sunday , I went down to visit her brother and sisters and found Goldie hem in by firebrand raw hatchling . They were my first grandkids , and it was such a relief to see her . ”Kenny Coogan
While the chickens are the primary physical object of Breese and the society ’s affection , the hoi polloi be intimate the community as well . “ Not only do we want to protect them , but we want to promote concordance between them and the occupation and residents of Ybor City , ” he says . “ When we rate T - shirts , have signs made or buy feed , we do so at Ybor establishments . When we collect , it ’s at Ybor restaurants and stripe . The chickens are one of many charming chemical element of this neck of the woods and one that we require to make certain gets the care and respect they merit . ”
Kenny Coogan
This narration originally come out in the November / December 2018 issue ofChickensmagazine .
Kenny Coogan
