BACKYARD CHICKENS

            A friend contacted me last week for talking points to go before his town council asking for backyard chicken relief.  This is such a crazy American issue.  In Great Britain, everyone by right can have backyard chickens. Those rights were enshrined in British law as a result of wars and realizing that ultimate food security begins in the home and as proximate as possible.  Those Brits have seen food vulnerability up close.  Perhaps America's time for that will come. 

             Until then, we soldier on with all sorts of local zoning restrictions.  Here is my list and I hope if any of you are facing these issues or know someone who is, you'll pass it along to them as grist for the mill:

 Here are my points:

 1.  Chickens (without roosters) are far quieter than dogs.

 2.  Chickens don’t chase or bite.  In many ways, they’re better pets.

 3.  One dog generates more manure than 11 chickens, and dog manure is nasty.

 4.  Biodiversity is good in any ecosystem.  For example, chickens eat ticks, which reduces Lyme’s.

 5.  Nutrition is one of the keys to better immune systems; homegrown eggs are far superior nutritionally than industrial factory farmed supermarket eggs.  Ultimately, this is a health issue and society should want people healthier.

 6.  Chickens are the ultimate recycler, turning kitchen scraps and garden waste into beautiful, nutritious eggs, keeping these waste products out of the landfill and stinky fly-infested trash cans.

 7.  In the New York Times bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond documents the ascendancy of cultures living proximate to domestic livestock.  Visceral connection to our ecological umbilical is foundational to immune vibrancy.  Finland now promotes urbanites to touch bags of farm soil to keep their children healthy.  The science is clear.

 8.  Children with chores tend to grow up to be responsible adults.  Participating in needful life activities versus screen time is what ultimately gives children a sense of wonder and affirmation.  Gathering eggs and tending a flock of chicken is one of the most child-friendly chores imaginable.

  9.  Backyard chickens are pets just as much as a dog or cat; animals are animals.   Segregating into useful and non-useful is elitist and prejudicial to the animal kingdom.

  10.  Ultimate food security comes from imbedding production proximate to where we live.  Supply chain issues and inflation are jeopardizing dietary requirements.   What could be more socially just than insuring food security?

 If you know someone who opposes backyard chickens, what is their major argument?