Chickens of 117 St

We didn’t catch his name but he was very friendly.

Live chickens in Harlem? Yes they exist, at least on 117 St, and they live just like the human residents do — side-by-side in a dizzying contrast of lifestyles.

The chickens at Urban Garden Center look happy and healthy, despite living underneath the noisy Metro-North tracks. They’re fawned over by passerby and I don’t think they’ll ever wind up on anyone’s plate.

We saw three outside and there might have been at least one inside.

Sadly, just two blocks away on the same street, the temporary animal residents of N&S Manhattan Live Poultry face a very different fate.