Crying fowl

Title of a Letter to the Editor in a recent issue of the Local Rag:

“City should encourage people to keep chickens”

Now, the Local Rag is not known for its dedication to thorough proof-reading so I fully expected that a word or two was mistakenly left off the end of that title. Something like “in the freezer.” Nevertheless, with a teaser title like that who isn’t going to read on to find out more??

A Ms. Skinner writes:

"I read that our city [editorial note: “City” is a stretch. We’re a town at most. Enclave might be even better.] is considering the banning of backyard chicken keeping. Is that wise?

According to Natural Home Magazine [annual subscription is $15], the municipality of Diest in Flanders, Belgium, gave 2,000 households three chickens each, because in one month, one chicken can consume approximately nine pounds of kitchen scraps. In return households get eggs and garden fertilizer.

Officials in Diest see the chickens as a solution to the problem of recycling biodegradable trash, which costs the town about $600,000 per year.

Instead of moving towards not allowing any chickens, our city should promote the opposite, that every household keep just [just? JUST?] three hens in their back yards. There are simple chicken coops that allow even a city dweller to keep hens easily. So everyone should have some chickens in their yard."

Ok, so I’ve revealed previously that I’m not terribly green. I don’t compost, I don’t serve my cat organic kibble, and my idea of "fair trade clothing" is donating acid wash jeans to the Goodwill and buying a corduroy jacket while I’m there. So I am really having a hard time getting behind this idea of being a den mother to coop of hungry chickens.

Plucky as she may be, Ms. Skinner seems not to realize that if city dwellers wanted chickens – or more importantly, neighbors with chickens – they would be dwelling in the boonies, not within the city limits.

Also, if you know anyone who has ever raised chickens, you know that the egg benefit is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Much like people who grow zucchini, neighbors quickly learn to avoid neighbors with chickens: “Do you want any eggs? Here let me give you some eggs. Just three dozen. Really, they are so lovely. I especially like these spotted ones. Now you just let me know when you need more. I’ll stop by tomorrow and replace whatever you’ve used. Don’t you just love quiche?”

One of the more amusing aspects of the Letters to the Editor is that one letter will often spurn another and soon a whole conversation is going on in the Letters section for weeks on end. I can't wait to see what sort of flap Ms. Skinner has started!