Why You Should Keep Backyard Chickens

Many urban homeowners increasingly desire to keep small flocks of chickens in their backyards, and with good cause. There is no reason every family in this country that can run a flock of chickens in their backyard should not. This perfectly logical and reasonable habit—backyard chicken farming—has been buried under a great deal of hipster elitism (from many of the backyard chicken farmers themselves) and sneering derision (from their critics). Please try to ignore these detractors. If you can play host to backyard chickens, you should.

It is, in many urban localities, easier said than done. This normal and praiseworthy practice, which has been gaining ground in many cities across the country, has come under fire from both pearl-clutching busybodies and incompetent health inspectors and animal welfare agents, all of whom are under the impression that backyard chicken farming is both frightening and dangerous.

These are lies—it is neither—although it is tough to get many of the busybodies and public officials to see this, particularly when the latter stands to make money off the lies.

Cue the Chicken Nazis

In my hometown of Richmond, Virginia, for instance, to set up a chicken flock, one must (1) apply for a $60 permit (which expires annually), (2) submit to a background check, (3) submit to an on-site inspection of one’s premises, (4) agree to randomized inspections in the future, (5) build your coop at least 15 feet from any dwelling, at the rear of your property, with a fence around it (with slats no greater than two inches apart), and (6) limit yourself to four chickens total.

This is absurd political theater. It is regulatory folderol written by people who have not even the faintest idea what they are regulating.

Backyard chickens require none of these complex bylaws. There are ways to screw up backyard chicken farming, but not in any way that a randomized inspection by a clueless animal welfare officer could preempt. Animal husbandry is overwhelmingly an actualized vocation. It demands both careful attention and a kind of sylvan intimacy, neither of which can be found on the clipboard of some stiff from the city government or in the perfectly ridiculous zoning regulations that mandate the explicit placement of your backyard coop.

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