Chicago may ban chickens as pets

According to a report on cbs2chicago, the City Council will vote on a proposal to ban chickens, a former barnyard denizen that is pecking its way into cities across the country as part of a growing organic food trend among young professionals and other urban dwellers.

According to owners of chicken throughout the city, the birds are great pets and they provide tasty, nutritious and organic eggs for the household. They argue that there is no comparison with eggs bought from the supermarket – they know exactly what goes into the chickens because they are the ones feeding them. The eggs are far fresher and taste better, they say.

There are concerns, however, that the chickens are attracting rodents. It is believed that chicken are let out into the yard and that mice are feeding off of the poop from the birds. Concerns are also raised regarding parasites the birds might carry, and the fear that the birds are a possible risk of bird flu transmission. It is reported that the city has received over 700 complaints about pet chickens, mostly concerning the noise roosters make in the early hours of the morning.

Although there are no firm statistics on the number of city chickens, they’re becoming so popular that Backyard Poultry magazine was relaunched a couple of years ago after halting publication in the 1980s. Additionally, sales of designer chicken coops have also increased steadily.