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Urban keeping of chickens as pets, for eggs, meat, or for eating pests is popular in urban and suburban areas. Some people sell the eggs for side income.
Keeping chickens in an urban environment is a type of urban agriculture, important in the local food movement, which is the growing practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around a village, town or city. [1] According to National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service [2] and experts in backyard agriculture, [3] there are a host of personal benefits associated with urban agriculture and keeping chickens in one's own backyard.
Additionally, there is a growing number of people (including in urban environments) who are adopting ex-commercial hens – interrupting their usual destination of the slaughterhouse when the egg farming industry no longer wants them (typically at around the age of 1.5 years). [4]
Those caring for chickens as pets may not have the expectation of eggs; some may even feed their hens' eggs back to them or even hormonally implant their hens to prevent egg-laying, which is purported to offer welfare benefits for the hens. [4] Those caring for chickens as pets may also have experience caring for disabled chickens and/or indoor chickens. [4]
Keeping livestock in cities has been common throughout history and is still practiced 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 relaxed only in times of war when the urban populace was encouraged to provide food for itself. [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 nationwide effort to help win both World War I and World War II. [6] Backyard chickens have become a common practice in the United States. [7] These victory gardens made gardening a patriotic activity and introduced gardening as an activity for everyone, not just those too poor to buy their own food.[ citation needed ] 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.[ citation needed ]
In Canada and the United States, the raising of chickens on urban, suburban, and small town residential lots has become 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] More and more cities that had previously banned urban chickens are removing old regulations or making permits easier to obtain. [9]
Policies toward keeping chickens vary by country or city. [10] Other cities with urban chicken programs and activists include Halifax, New York City, Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Vancouver. [8]
In the UK, the keeping of chickens has also grown in popularity with as many as 200,000 households involved. [11] Sales of the fashionable Eglu hen house increased ten-fold between 2004 and 2009. [12]
Commercial egg production has been associated with salmonella and other disease outbreaks in the United States. [13] Poor sanitation and crowded hen houses have contributed to these problems. Expansion of the poultry industry, fueled by an increased demand for poultry products, [14] has created a demand for high throughout poultry and egg production. [13] The resulting increased poultry population density and the rearing of incompatible poultry species in close proximity have presented major disease challenges. [14] Studies have shown that small scale, backyard chicken keeping/egg production reduces these potential disease risks. [15] Historically, avian infectious diseases were not appreciated for their ability to influence populations and were relatively neglected for their part in causing species declines. [16]
According to Mench et al., [17] 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. 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. [18]
While there are over 300 different breeds of chickens, most people choose between a select few breeds. Most chicken owners are looking for a high-producing egg layer, cold- and heat-hardy, docile, quiet, non-broody, and aesthetically pleasing chicken breed. Many commercial chickens raised in factories for white eggs are white leghorns. This breed is noisy, but has a very high production of eggs and rarely go broody, and they are not very docile, cold-hardy or aesthetically pleasing. Urban chicken owners often choose a red-sex link hybrid similar to production brown-egg producers (Isa Browns, HyLine Browns), another hybrid among the Red and Black Sex-links, or chickens known as "heritage breeds," including the Rhode Island Red, Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Brahmas, Wyandottes, etc. These breeds generally fit more of the categories that urban chicken owners are looking for. [19]
Meat chickens are different than egg-laying chickens for urban chicken owners. Chicks sold specifically as meat chickens are sometimes called broiler chickens. As with egg-laying breeds, there is a variety of meat chicken breeds. These chickens are butcher-ready in a short time period after hatching. Some breeds grow to full size in as little as 5 weeks. Other breeds grow for up to 12–14 weeks until the butcher date. Meat chickens provide urban chicken owners the ability to know where their meat is coming from, and how it was raised. [20]
Egg-laying chickens include the two groups, Bantams and Standards. Often raised as pets, Bantams are the smaller variety of chickens that require less space and feed. These smaller chickens provide smaller eggs, but still produce a large quantity of eggs. [21] Standards range from heavy to light breeds and produce the average sized eggs.
Chicken owners need to find a place to purchase chickens. Oftentimes, people purchase chickens at local feed stores, or through a hatchery. [22] Increasingly, people are adopting ex-commercial hens who would otherwise end up at the slaughterhouse. [4]
Chickens not being raised by a mother hen need assistance from their owner to survive. Chickens are raised in a brooder, which can look like a variety of things. Many individuals create their own brooder out of cardboard, plastic or wood. Different sources identify a variety of different square feet per bird needed, but a rule of thumb can be two square feet per chicken. This number can be lowered when the chick is young, but as they grow they will need at least two square feet per bird. It is important that chicken owners place their brooder in a draft-free place, yet still allow holes in the brooder for ventilation.[ citation needed ]
Chicks require a warm environment. In a brooder, this warm environment is created artificially with a heat lamp. My Pet Chicken recommends a red heat lamp, because a white heat lamp can create a harsh and uncomfortable environment for the baby chicks. During the first week of the chicks' life, a temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit is required. The temperature can be decreased by 5 degrees F. each week of the chicks life, until they reach week 6. At week 6, the birds should have enough feathers grown to be moved into their chicken coop. Checking on chicks often is important, as chicks that are too cold will huddle together to attempt to retain warmth, and chicks that are too hot will spread out in the brooder in attempts to cool down. Temperature can be adjusted accordingly by lowering and raising the heat lamp in the chick's brooder. Temperature can also be monitored by the use of a thermometer.[ citation needed ] Wooden chips are often used in the bottom of the brooder as a bedding. [22]
Chicks require different food than adult chickens. Chicks need a mash or dust food so that they are able to digest it without grit. Adult chickens are able to digest grit, which allows them to eat bigger food pellets. Purchasing chick food from a local feed store that is specifically for baby chicks will ensure that all nutritional requirements are being met. There are different types of food for different types of chicks. Chicks that are grown for egg-laying purposes require a lower protein level than chicks that are grown as a source of meat. Chicks should be fed and given water out of containers that ensure the chicks' safety, as some containers can injure the chicks or cause easy drowning. [22]
There are some common concerns associated with the practice of raising chickens in residential areas, 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:
Bird flu and salmonella are the two biggest concerns to human health. 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 under-cooked chicken meat. People who have weak immune systems, such as the elderly, young children, and those with various medical conditions, are most at risk. Proper sanitation and cooking practices lessen the threat of contracting salmonellosis. Chicken feces can also infect water sources with Salmonella. If chickens are kept an adequate distance from water sources, the risk of contaminated water sources from chicken feces is significantly reduced. 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. [23]
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 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. However, the average chicken defecates upwards of seventy times a day, compared with a dog's two or three times a day, calling into question the veracity of that argument. In 1926 in Oakland, California, the department of public health and safety issued an order to "put your roosters in a light[-]proof coop, or devise apparatus that will hold the rooster's head down so he can't crow" in response to complaints about the noise they were making. [24]
Odor concerns can be mitigated somewhat 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 produce proportionately less odor. Although in urban spaces where homes are situated right beside one another, steps must be taken to control odors. These range from regular cleaning to changing out the chicken's bedding. If not properly cared for, odors can become quite strong given close proximity to neighboring homes. The average chicken eliminates waste, on average, every fifteen to twenty minutes; a coop of nine chickens will produce approximately seven hundred (700) defecations 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. Rats, however, may be attracted to a yard in which excess chicken food remains on the ground on a regular basis. Chicken owners have found many different ways of protecting chickens from predators without significant impact on the area. [25]
One of the arguments against allowing backyard hens is that chickens kept within city limits will cause a reduction in property values.[ citation needed ] This is due in part due to the adverse affects backyard chickens can cause; be it smell or noise.
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.
The chicken is a large and round short-winged bird, domesticated from the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia around 8,000 years ago. Most chickens are raised for food, providing meat and eggs; others are kept as pets or for cockfighting.
The domestic turkey is a large fowl, one of the two species in the genus Meleagris and the same species as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago, recent research suggests a possible second domestication event in the area that is now the southwestern United States between 200 BC and 500 AD. However, all of the main domestic turkey varieties today descend from the turkey raised in central Mexico that was subsequently imported into Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century.
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons.
Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals, for at least part of the day, can roam freely outdoors, rather than being confined in an enclosure for 24 hours each day. On many farms, the outdoors ranging area is fenced, thereby technically making this an enclosure, however, free range systems usually offer the opportunity for the extensive locomotion and sunlight that is otherwise prevented by indoor housing systems. Free range may apply to meat, eggs or dairy farming.
The Rosecomb is a breed of chicken named for its distinctive comb. Rosecombs are bantam chickens, and are among those known as true bantams, meaning they are not a miniaturised version of a large fowl. Rosecombs are one of the oldest and most popular bantam breeds in showing, and thus have numerous variations within the breed. An ornamental chicken, they are poor egg layers and not suited for meat production.
In American usage, an Easter egger or Easter-egger is any hybrid or mixed-breed chicken resulting from the breeding of a bird carrying the blue egg (oocyan) gene with one that lays brown eggs. Eggs from such a bird may be any shade of blue or brown,, or occasionally pink or pale yellow. These birds do not constitute a breed, and so are not recognized by the American Poultry Association or the American Bantam Association. They may be marketed as "Americana", but are quite different from the Ameraucana, a recognized breed.
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
The California Gray is an American breed of domestic chicken. It may be also known as the "production black".
The Java is a breed of chicken originating in the United States. Despite the breed's name, a reference to the island of Java, it was developed in the U.S. from chickens of unknown Asian extraction. It is one of the oldest American chickens, forming the basis for many other breeds, but is critically endangered today. Javas are large birds with a sturdy appearance. They are hardy, and are well-suited for both meat and egg production, especially by small-scale farms, homesteads, and backyard keepers.
The Ixworth is an English breed of white domestic chicken. It is named for the village of Ixworth in Suffolk, where it was created in 1932. It was bred as fast-growing high-quality meat breed with reasonable laying abilities.
Poultry farming is a part of the United States's agricultural economy.
Cannibalism in poultry is the act of one individual of a poultry species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food. It commonly occurs in flocks of domestic hens reared for egg production, although it can also occur in domestic turkeys, pheasants and other poultry species. Poultry create a social order of dominance known as pecking order. When pressure occurs within the flock, pecking can increase in aggression and escalate to cannibalism. Cannibalism can occur as a consequence of feather pecking which has caused denuded areas and bleeding on a bird's skin. Cannibalism can cause large mortality rates within the flock and large decreases in production due to the stress it causes. Vent pecking, sometimes called 'cloacal cannibalism', is considered to be a separate form of cannibalistic pecking as this occurs in well-feathered birds and only the cloaca is targeted. There are several causes that can lead to cannibalism such as: light and overheating, crowd size, nutrition, injury/death, genetics and learned behaviour. Research has been conducted to attempt to understand why poultry engage in this behaviour, as it is not totally understood. There are known methods of control to reduce cannibalism such as crowd size control, beak trimming, light manipulation, perches, selective genetics and eyewear.
Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking. Being broody has been defined as "Being in a state of readiness to brood eggs that is characterized by cessation of laying and by marked changes in behavior and physiology". Broodiness is usually associated with female birds, although males of some bird species become broody and some non-avian animals also show broodiness.
Dwarfism in chickens is an inherited condition found in chickens consisting of a significant delayed growth, resulting in adult individuals with a distinctive small size in comparison with normal specimens of the same breed or population.
The broiler industry is the process by which broiler chickens are reared and prepared for meat consumption. Worldwide, in 2005 production was 71,851,000 tonnes. From 1985 to 2005, the broiler industry grew by 158%.
Poultry farming in Kenya is a widespread occupation. It is mostly practiced on a small-scale, and predominantly for domestic consumption.
Vanaraja is a dual-purpose chicken variety developed by the ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research in Hyderabad, India. Vanaraja is aimed a rural communities where it can be reared in backyard on natural, scavenged food with minimal supplementation. It produces eggs and meat based on rearing and feeding practices. Important features of this breed are multi-color feather pattern, immunity to disease, perform with less nutrition, grow faster and produce more eggs, produce brown eggs like local hens.
Poularde is a culinary term for a chicken that is at least 120 days old at the time of slaughter and fattened with a rich diet that delays egg production. In the past it was common to spay the chickens early in life to ensure desirable meat quality, similar to the castration of a capon.
A Dual-purpose chicken is a type of chicken that may be used in the production of both eggs and meat.