An Urban chicken or backyard chicken is a chicken kept in a city.
The primary reasons for keeping chickens are the food and income made by selling the eggs and meat. Other reasons include use in ceremonies and as gifts.[1]
Keeping chickens in an urban environment is associated with the “Urban Agriculture Movement”, which is the growing practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around (peri-urban), a village, town or city.[2] According to National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service[3] and experts in backyard agriculture,[4] there are a host of personal benefits associated with Urban Agriculture and keeping chickens in one’s own backyard.
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Keeping livestock in cities has been common throughout history and is still practised in many parts of the world. For example, 50,000 pigs were being kept in Manhattan in 1859. But local ordinances were created to limit this, owing to the noise and smell nuisance, and these were only relaxed in time of war when the urban populace was encouraged to provide food for themselves.[5]
Urban relief gardens played an important role in sustaining large populations of Americans during economic depressions.[6] War gardens played an important role in the nation-wide effort to help win both World War I and World War II.[6] These victory gardens made gardening a patriot activity and introduced gardening as an activity for everyone, not just those too poor to buy their own food.[7] Later, in the late 1960s and 1970s, community gardening started to make a comeback as a hobby. Organic gardening, urban animal husbandry, and community farms became popular and many cities around the country started community gardening programs for their residents.[7]
In Canada and the USA, the raising of chickens in urban surroundings is increasingly popular. For example, in Madison, Wisconsin, citizens formed a group called the Chicken Underground, overturned a ban upon domestic chickens and there are now 81 registered owners.[5] A film titled Mad City Chickens was made about their campaign.[8]
Policies toward keeping chickens will vary by country, county, or city in which you live.[9] Other cities with urban chicken programs and activists include Halifax, New York, Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Vancouver.[8]
In the UK, the keeping of chickens is growing popularity and as many as 200,000 households are estimated to do this.[10] Sales of the fashionable Eglu hen house increased ten-fold between 2004 and 2009.[11]
Commercial egg production has been associated with salmonella and other disease outbreaks in the United States.[12] Poor sanitation and crowded hen houses have been blamed. Expansion of the poultry industry, fueled by an increased demand for poultry products,[13] has created a demand for high throughout poultry and egg production.[12] The resulting increased poultry population density and the rearing of different types of incompatible poultry species in close proximity have presented major disease challenges.[13] Studies have shown that small scale, backyard chicken keeping/egg production reduces these potential disease risks.[14]
According to Mench et al.,[15] although changes in commercial egg production systems are being driven largely by animal welfare concerns, it is clear that other aspects of such changes must be considered to ensure sustainable egg production. Sustainability is a complex topic, and there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a sustainable agricultural system for animal production. However, elements of sustainability include economics, environmental effects, human health and safety, and social values in addition to animal welfare. Backyard egg production has been suggested as a solution to sustainable, healthy food supply for families.[16]
There are some common concerns associated with the practice of raising chickens in the city, specifically noise, odor, attraction of predators/pests, property values, and health. Most chicken owners say that these myths and misconceptions about chickens and their behavior are central to issues surrounding passage of city ordinances and regulations necessary for the keeping of urban chickens[17]:
In some areas, roosters are banned, and only hens are allowed, and in limited numbers, to prevent problems with noise. Hens are relatively quiet as compared to pet dogs, though hens often vocalize after an egg is laid for a few minutes. The noise level during this squawking period has been measured at around 63 decibels, or about the level of two people talking. Other than post-laying squawking, normal hen sounds are not audible at 25 feet (7.6 m).
In Columbia, South Carolina it was argued that a leaf blowers were far louder than chickens, that dogs produce more waste than chickens do, so neither of those concerns were a valid reason to keep a ban on them. They passed a measure to allow people to have up to four hens in their backyard.[18]
Bird flu and salmonella are the two biggest concerns some health experts worry about causing illness to people. The risk for catching bird flu is low, according to Mark Slifka, Ph. D. Infectious Disease Expert with Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR. He states this is especially true if the hens are kept in a closed environment, since they wouldn’t be exposed to other birds.
Salmonella is mostly associated with undercooked chicken meat. People who have weak immune systems, such as the elderly, very small children, and those with various medical conditions, are most at risk. By thoroughly washing your hands after handling a chicken or going into a hen house, you can eliminate all threats of catching this disease.
Avian influenza, commonly referred to as "bird flu" is spread through contact with the feces of contaminated migratory birds. Since these infected wild birds are currently only in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, there is no possible chance of it spreading to chickens elsewhere.[19]
Odor concerns can be addressed by limiting the number of chickens that a household can own. Unlike large commercial operations, where thousands of chickens are kept in close quarters and thus build up enough ammonia to create a powerful odor, small backyard operations are no worse than having a dog.
The average dog produces 12 ounces of solid waste per day. The average chicken produces 1.5 ounces per day.
Predators and rodents are already living in urban areas. Wild bird feeders, pet food, gardens, fish ponds, bird baths, trash waiting to be collected all attract raccoons, foxes, rodents and flies. Most modern chicken pens are designed to keep predators away.[17]
One of the arguments against allowing backyard hens is that chickens kept within city limits will cause a reduction in property values. There are numerous cities across the country that allow backyard hens. Real estate figures show that property values have been unaffected by the passing of ordinances related to the keeping of urban hens.[20]