Chickens - Debunking Myths
Chicken, bah caw, cluck cluck cluck. I really gotta work on my intros. So as I was looking at my calendar and trying to figure out the next topic I realized I seem to have created a pattern of a research topic and then a personal entry. A tribute to what’s going on in my life. I had originally planned on writing about a hike I took for my anniversary but then I remembered I’m feeling super frustrated with my city right now. We’re currently trying to get our ordinances updated to allow residents to own chickens on their property. Truthfully I’m not even sure that I want to own chickens but I couldn’t care less if my neighbors own them and the arguments that the city have provided are so ridiculous that I’ve found myself digging my feet in and trying to help get the ordinance changed. So today, you will get (part one of) a little bit of both topics, a research topic and a look at what’s going on in my life. I’ve realized that this is going to be a very long post so I have decided to do it in two parts. The first part will be discussing common arguments against chickens. The second part will be the benefits of allowing chickens. Good luck to us both!
Chicken Ordinance
Have you ever tried to validate a reason to own a pet? It seems actually pretty difficult. Usually you only have to convince your parents or your partner to let you own a pet. Have you ever tried changing a law? It is exceptionally difficult. Or at least that has been my experience. What do you do, you start off with the basics. I want chickens because they’re cute, they make great companions, and they’re low maintenance. I promise to take good care of them. I don’t believe you, prove it. While you’re at it prove to me that all of these other things aren’t true. In my town we have an ordinance, “It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any horse, mule, sheep, goat, cattle, hogs, other domesticated animal or fowl, chickens, ducks, snakes over six feet in length, or other life threatening reptiles, within the City.” There has been a group of people trying to change this ordinance since 2012 that I know of. We have finally gotten to the point that our city has agreed to put an advisory referendum on the April ballot to see how “the general public” feels about it. Even if the community voted overwhelmingly that they want to allow ownership of chickens we still wouldn’t be able to own chickens the council would have to vote further on it and write a new ordinance. The council has decided that writing a new ordinance would be too difficult. They will only be willing to rewrite the ordinance if people vote overwhelmingly yes AND they are able to come up with a net neutral budgetary change to the ordinance. Now it has been argued numerous times that the easiest way to change the ordinance is to simply remove the word chickens from the ordinance or to change it from chickens to roosters, but I don’t know politics and it’s really complicated and super expensive. Or so our council argues. I could complain forever about the annoyance of illogical thought processes involved over the past several years but it wouldn’t do any good. Instead let’s try to address some of the common reasons given for not allowing chickens and some of the benefits of owning chickens.
Chickens and Disease
A common reason stated for not allowing chickens is that they carry disease and increase the risk of salmonella in the community. They will even site outbreaks of salmonella as proof of this concept, there is even a reference to the CDC to prove this statement. Is this true? This falls under the yes and no category. Let’s take a closer look at salmonella first. What is salmonella? According to MayoClinic, Salmonella is a bacterial disease that affects your intestinal tract. Salmonella is spread through contaminated food and other surfaces. You can help prevent the spread of salmonella by completely and thoroughly cooking your food, using proper refrigeration and freezing protocols, and washing your hands. So how do you get contaminated food and surfaces? Salmonella lives in the intestines of people, animals and birds. Contamination comes through contact with contaminated fecal materials. In a small setting this can be easily prevented with hand washing. Just as you should wash your hands after cleaning up after your other pets you should wash your hands after handling and cleaning up after chickens. Avoid touching your face and other surfaces until you have washed your hands. In a world that is currently dealing with a pandemic this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. We should already be in the habit of washing our hands frequently and not touching our faces. According to the CDC, it is extremely rare for salmonella to be transmitted from person to person and is almost always a result of unwashed hands. You can get salmonella from a variety of food sources including beef, chicken, eggs, fruit, sprouts, vegetables, nut butters, frozen pot pies, water and so on. So, can chickens carry salmonella and increase risk to the community? Chickens can carry salmonella however with proper hand washing and handling it highly unlikely to increase individual risk of salmonella, let alone increase community risk. Another disease that people bring up is the avian flu, however, studies have shown that small flocks actually decrease the chances of avian flu spreading. Again, we find that chickens do not increase the chances of disease being spread.
Chickens are Noisy
Another common complaint is that chickens are noisy and will annoy neighbors and the general public. Is this true? Many sources say the same thing, that while the volume changes depending on the breed, for the most part chickens are approximately 60-70 decibels, while a rooster crowing is approximately 90 decibels. But seriously, come on, what does 60-70 decibels mean? Is that loud? Is it quiet? Don’t use your science jargon on me. (Ok, maybe those are just my thoughts.) The quietest sound that most people can hear is 0 decibels. Noises that are considered safe for human hearing are up to 70 decibels. For reference the sound of someone breathing is 10 decibels and normal conversation is 60 decibels. Noises in the 70-85 range may be annoying to hear but are still relatively safe. A washing machine is approximately 70 decibels. After 85 decibels you have to be concerned about possible hearing damage depending on the length of time exposed. A motorcycle is approximately 95 decibels, while firecrackers are 140-150 decibels. For reference, a barking dog is approximately 100 decibels. So are chickens noisy? As usual it depends on your definition, but keep in mind most people do not need special permission to adopt a dog which barks louder even than a rooster. I would say that the noise a chicken makes should not be a valid reason to prohibit them.
Aren’t Chickens Messy
(Guys this is getting really long and I haven’t even gotten a chance to talk about the benefits of chickens.) So this next category of complaints I will put down as the assumption that chicken owners are irresponsible. Common complaints are that chickens are messy, chickens have been breed irresponsibly leading to chicken mills and breeds that lay unnatural amounts of eggs each year and don’t have as long of a life expectancy and finally that if you want chickens you should live on a farm. Chickens are just as messy as any other pet. On average a dog poops about 4 pounds a week. (Obviously this depends greatly on the breed of dog.) On average a flock of 6 chickens poops about 11 pounds a week. So, 11 pounds is more than 4 but there are two very big differences, one is that there are 6 chickens and 1 dog. Two, chicken poop is actually a really great fertilizer. We expect dog owners to pick up after their dogs; we can expect chicken owners to clean up after their chickens. Chickens being messy as reason to not allow chickens assumes that all chicken owners are irresponsible and don’t clean up after their birds.
Chickens Mills
Chickens are created in chicken mills and breed irresponsibly to produce large amounts of eggs. First, again, there is the assumption that every chicken owner is going to purchase from these mills or these breeds that produce tons of eggs. Rather than punish the chicken owner shouldn’t the breeders be punished just like in a puppy mill situation. Also, the more responsible chicken owners there are the more supply there is for ethically raised and breed chickens.
Maybe You Should Live On Farm
Finally if you want chickens you should live on a farm. I have many issues with this one. First, I would argue that it should never be the position of a city to recommend that their residents live somewhere else. Also, many farms are within city limits. Then you have to define what qualifies as a farm and that can be an even slipperier slope than changing an ordinance to allow chickens. Third, chickens don’t actually require a lot of space to survive and thrive. It is recommended that chickens have access about 15 square feet, 2-3 feet in a coop and 8-10 feet outside, if you have room for more even better. A kennel for a dog, according to Perdue, is anywhere between 8 square feet and 24 square feet. And that is just for their kennel space. Again we find that a chicken requires less than a dog does however we don’t have ordinances banning dogs.
Here is where I will end this first part of the chicken ordinance debate. So I have to know, where do you stand on this subject? Did I change your mind at all while reading this? Do you feel there are any arguments that I failed to convince you of. For those of you invested in my community battle to allow chicken ownership I will update this post with changes as they happen.
As always, stay positive and much love
Additional Resources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/salmonella/symptoms-causes/syc-20355329
https://www.cdc.gov/training/SIC_CaseStudy/Infection_Salmonella_ptversion.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/salmonella-food.html