Green pets, green protein – just what the doctor ordered – cute & healthy all in one (Photo via The Economist)
Backyard chickens are taking America by storm. There is a huge reported surge in chickens across the US. People want to eat local and organic and the hens are helping. So what’s happening in Toronto is mirroring a major trend all across North America. In fact it’s so huge that chicken suppliers can’t even keep up. If the Economist is reporting on this, it’s definitely not something to laugh at.
Keeping poultry in cities: Checking out the chicks | The Economist: “ONE day Judith Haller was watching television and saw that Martha Stewart had chickens. ‘I was very envious that she had her own chicken manure,’ she recalls. So last year, she got a couple of chickens on behalf of her vegetable garden. They proved to be industrious providers and pleasant companions. Now there are 13 hens pecking around the yard. And Ms Haller has become an advocate for a hot movement: backyard chickens. In April, as part of Austin’s first Funky Chicken Coop Tour, she hosted 637 visitors.”
What I personally found funny was the concerns of some health experts. They say America needs a better way to track animals yet diseases like SARS and swine flu are coming out of factory farms with hundreds of thousands (likely millions) of animals living in filthy conditions worldwide. And they’re concerned about backyard chickens in a few thousand households right now? Dealing with antibiotic resistant super bugs in sewage sludge sprayed on farmers fields would be a bigger priority (particularly Northumberland).
Resources
Rise of the Chickens: An Egg Salvation: What’s the story on Toronto chickens?
Toronto Chicken: the Web site of Toronto Chicken a la carte
City of Toronto Bylaw: apparently pigeons and rabbits are allowed?
Toronto Chicken Flies Under the Radar
Backyard chickens on the rise – Los Angeles Times: “Reporting from Madison, Wis. — Jen Lynch and her family live in the heart of the city but roll out of bed to the sound of clucking chickens.
Their day starts with cleaning coops, scooping out feed and hunting for eggs for morning omelets. Eight families in a three-block radius and an estimated 150 families citywide do the same.
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