“Cooped Up in Seattle” is an urban 4-H club in Seattle focusing on the farm arts, with project areas in poultry, rabbits, sewing. We are starting up our new 4-H year and we invite new and returning members to join us! We welcome kids ages 5 – 18, parents, volunteer leaders and members of the community. Our next meeting:
Saturday, October 5, 10am – 12noon
Wallingford Senior Center at the Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle WAHere are some things you can learn to do in 4-H:
- Learn about caring for your animal (our club focuses on chickens and rabbits)
- Learn to sew, cook, preserve foods, and plant a garden
- Keep a record book
- Show your animals or crafts at the County and State Fairs
- Give a public presentation
- Make new friends
- Run a club fundraiser
- Be a club officer (treasurer, secretary, vice president, or even president)
- Earn ribbons and awards
- Teach other kids what you know
For more information, see our Facebook page at or contact Ju Namkung at [email protected].
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Hate to be a downer here…..but…Really? I think that Urbanism is something to be celebrated and embraced. Gardens are quiet and and don’t smell. Wonderful I grow tomatoes….. but Chickens and Rabbits belong in nice 5 acre lot in North Bend. Grateful none of my neighbors have chickens (yet). Why stop at chickens maybe some goats, maybe some small horses. Come on.
Why would you care whether your neighbors have chickens or rabbits?
Have to disagree, Trev, I love my neighbor’s chickens.The soothing sound of their clucking helps drown out the constant white noise of I-5. Chickens are also great for gobbling up bad bugs.
I’ll bite Wallyhood! I had neighbors that kept chickens poorly. We had a household infestation of chicken mites as a result. Took months to resolve. We also had rats the size of raccoons hanging from the tree branches by the dozen. I am a gardener and beekeeper, and not opposed to the concept of city chickens. They weren’t overly noisy and they generally weren’t a nuisance. But they have go to be kept properly or they really do cause problems for the neighbors. There is exactly 6 feet between the north wall of our house and the south wall of theirs. In such close quarters, you do tend to care! [As a note, the situation resolved amicably, with the neighbors realizing that the chickens took more care than they could give. They found a new home and we are all still friends].
Why? They are noisy and smelly and most people don’t have a clue about them and they need much more space, it is not really fair to the Chicken. Lots of fun things we can do in a small yard, but Chickens, livestock, Bee hives all belong in rural settings. If you have the spare time to raise livestock in your Seattle backyard perhaps something like volunteering to help at a school or park group would be better use of creative energy.
Or volunteering with kids! 4-H is a youth organization whose mission is youth development. Although its roots are in farming, 4-H is not limited to agriculture, and includes a wide range of project areas. Our club happens to cover chickens, rabbits, sewing and gardening because that is where our members’ interests lie. And in the livestock project areas, one of our aims is to teach kids how to raise their animals responsibly, for the good of the animals, the owners and their neighbors.
As mentioned in the post above, if you have a kid who might be interested OR if you are an adult who has something to share, please come to our meeting.
Nice to see you’re still around Cooped Up – your patience in responding thoughtfully and intelligently to an ignorant commenter is to be commended. There are all sorts of community gardens that are incorporating small animals and beekeeping into the garden lifecycle – the newly remodeled Mercer Court apartments at the UW features an urban farm that is managed and maintained by UW Farm club and the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden at 24th Ave S that has resident poultry and rabbits are excellent examples.