Don't Raise Your Chickens Here!

Don't tell me I can't be a chicken farmer. Yet many wanna be chicken farmers that live in the city are being told just that. Needless to say these fiercely independent people who want to raise chickens because it shows just how self reliant they are and can support themselves. Government intervention only makes these do-it-yourselfers more defiant. Many of these would be chicken farmers also show their self-reliance by raising produce like Sophie Hahn of North Berkeley.

Sophie Hahn wants to share the abundance from her residential produce plot and offset some costs she incurs maintaining her edible garden.But Hahn ran into problems with the city last year trying to get her idea off the ground. "I had no idea it would be so complicated," she says. "It’s actually easier in Berkeley to have a pot collective than to have a vegetable collective," a frustrated Hahn told a New York Times in August.

During the April 8 Planning and Zoning meeting in St. Peters, 13-year-old Nick Anderson asked to be allowed to raise hens as part of a 4-H project after he worked to hatch eggs as part of a home-school project. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 8-2 to recommend denial of the request.

It Can Be Done

Stories like these can be found throughout the U.S. but their problems can be overcome. Check local laws and regulations. It may be illegal for you to own chickens in your city, so call the local animal control office or your local municipality and ask what the laws are in your area. More and more ordinances are available online as well, so it's worth doing a search. Roosters are perceived as noisy, they usually tend to fall under your city's noise/nuisance ordinances. While hens are normally very quiet, they may still be subject to nuisance ordinances. Check the city code before you get your birds. Some cities limit the number of chickens you can have on a given amount of land. Especially in areas that were recently rural or have a strong farming culture, no law or license may be required to keep chickens. If chickens are illegal in your area all is not lost. Many people have managed to get pro-chicken ordinances passed, such as Madison, WI and Ann Arbor MI.

Join The Urban Chicken Movement

Join the "urban chicken movement" and raise your own backyard flock. Chickens are both fun and useful to keep. Don't expect to keep a breeding flock with noisy roosters, but your hens will earn their keep and provide enjoyment by laying eggs for you. Chickens can provide you with healthy, home grown eggs and meat, quality nitrogen-rich fertilizer  companionship and pest control. Perhaps surprisingly, a reasonable number of chickens can adapt very well to the constraints of an urban environment. It is even possible to keep chickens indoors through the use of diapers.

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My Chickens Name Is Fido

Chickens can be very friendly, entertaining and quite trainable as a pet. What hamster can pay his way with eggs and pest control  for your garden. Chickens can easily be tamed and trained, even as adults, with positive reinforcements and food rewards. They will come running when they think you might have a treat, learn to eat out of your hand and some may even allow you to stroke them. If you talk to them, treat them well and handle them gently you'll have faithful followers. For a truly bonded pet that will seek out your company, follow you around the yard and nestle in your lap for a nap you may want to hand-raise a baby chick. Raising a baby chick is fun and easy. They are precocial birds, which means that they are able to walk and eat on their own soon after hatching.

They'll  Eat Just About Everything

I love chickens. Hens, that is. Roosters are too noisy, but hens just quietly cluck and peck the ground, and nobody even knows they are there. They eat flies and other insects for you, keeping to a minimum the annoying flying things in your yard. They also eat your vegetable scraps, lowering your volume of garbage. And, eventually, they give you eggs. Lots of them.

Chickens love to be held by their human masters. They’re soft, cuddly, and will fall asleep in your arms. You sure won't feel lonely when you have chickens as pets. And, you'll get that same relaxed and contented feeling of security you had when you fell asleep with your cat or dog as a little kid. Only, I don't know anyone who actually sleeps with their pet chicken.

Each One Is Different

Pet chickens are not as odd as they seem and those who have kept them rave about their qualities and attributes. Chickens have distinct and interesting personalities. In a flock they quickly establish a social order and watching this evolve in a group of growing fowl is highly entertaining. Raised with love and tenderness, they'll be only too happy for you to be at the top of their 'pecking order'.