Bumpy Chicken Trails OR Chicken Track Trails in Trouble

For those of you who are fortunate enough to have an e-mail subscription to the newsletter from BackYard Chickens, you may have noticed that there are over 20 linkable references to cities across the country that are hearing increasing noise from owners of backyard chickens...within city limits - cities that have codes against these quiet, friendly, egg-producing animals.

I just wrote an e-mail to a reporter of such an article from Salem, OR. My points are simple - even easy to understand for city council members (who seem as a rule, to have hearing difficulties when in the vicinity of citizen's opinions with which their may personally differ). Government anyone?

Keep in mind please, that dogs are everywhere! And certainly allowed in cities (to my continuing chagrin).

Dogs are not usually a quiet animal; they can bark incessantly. Hens quietly cluck.

Dogs can and occasionally do, bite people - which on rare occasion, can be lethal. A hen can try to peck you if she is setting on a clutch.

Dogs have a genetic feud with restraint; they are challenged by fencing of any kind, digging under, climbing over or simply leaping them. Hens (with an occasional necessary wing-clip), respect their fences.

Dog poo is more repulsive to me than a year-old chicken coop! And cities don't 'crow' too much about it, interestingly enough. Hen coops are easily cleaned - AND - hen poo is a welcome addition to a compost pile as well as a great fertilizer for gardens, trees, etc. Haven't seen much dog poo on anyone's Azaleas lately...

Dogs give a lot of Love; point taken. Hens...give Love too...and eggs.

Dogs don't seem to have a hankering for grasshoppers and other insects that plague back-yards gardeners. Insects are a hen's caviar!

When dogs die, (I lost 2 lifelong pets last year and still deal with the painful loss), they go to doggie heaven. When hens die, they can pass through the dinner table, first.

The price of food at my grocery stores has doubled, generally speaking; how are the prices at yours? An increasing number of people are turning to their 'backyards' to supplement their decreasing buying power. In addition, considering the detriments of eating increasing amounts of 'high fructose corn syrup', 'monosodium glutamate' and other unpronounceable chemicals added to store-bought foods, I look longer and harder at my 'backyard' lately, to feed me in a cheaper, healthier manner. Plus, I can use the exercise!

Nature may have her temper tantrums and bad moods, but overall, she provides for all our needs from medicinal herbs to edible wild plants to animals that can add protein to our diets. Nature is all around us, ready to support us in this life we live.

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about having a couple hens in your backyard? Please leave us a comment.

As always, Nature prevails.