'She's a people person': Urban chicken inspires positivity in B.C. neighbourhood

Vancouver -

When he first moved to his urban neighbourhood, Barry Devonald was surprised to be welcomed by a whole flock of new neighbours.

“I thought it was a bit unusual,” Barry admits.

Until it became quite common for Barry to visit the chickens that lived down the street during his daily walks, which led to amusing talks.

“I’ll call it,” Barry says, leaning down to call over a neighbour’s fence, before imitating the bird’s sounds with a laugh.

“Bwak-bwak-bwak. And then (the chicken) says, ‘Bwak-bwak-bwak!’”

Seeing as Barry isn’t actually as fluent in chicken as he seems, we’ll let the bird’s owner introduce us.

“This is Silver Bright,” Thomas Dickau says, cradling the bird while gently stroking her black and white feathers.

“She’s almost nine years old, pretty old for a chicken.”

Thomas and his family first met Silver Bright when she was pretty young, part of a quartet of cluckers they started raising in a cardboard container inside their home.

“We got her just for fun,” Thomas says, showing pictures of his son smiling and caring for the chicks. “We thought it would be fun to have chickens.”

The poultry proved to be perfect pets. Even after they moved outside to live in a coop that Thomas built for them, the chickens would hang out with the adults while they were working in the yard and play with the children on sunny days.

“She’s a people person,” Thomas says, pointing out how Silver Bright likes spending time in the area where the fence meets the sidewalk.

“She’s hilarious. She just goes out the front and waits for people.”

And so many people — like Barry — started regularly visiting Silver Bright that Thomas built a bench on the boulevard for them to sit and spend time with the chickens.

“It’s really nice they did that,” Barry says, sitting on the bench, where he often feeds the bird.

“It’s relaxing.”

“Many parents will tell us that (visiting the chickens) is how they get their kids out of the house,” Thomas smiles. “Or it’s the main event (of their children’s) day.”

The chickens became so many folks' feathered friends that when Silver Bright’s sisters eventually passed away, people left notes of condolences on the fence, and expressed their gratitude for the meaningful moments the birds had inspired.

“(When you’re) sitting down and having a break, you notice things around in you in wonder,” Thomas smiles. “And that’s such a lovely thing.”

But even better than that, Barry says, is when those breaks on the bench with the chickens lead to a comical conversation.

“Bwak-bwak-bwak,” Barry smiles, while imitating what he says to the birds. “The average chicken would fall over laughing if they heard that.”