The chicken and egg debate has come to North Battleford. Not the debate about which came first, but the contentious issue of urban chickens.
Amateur agriculturalists across the country have been leading a charge to allow chickens to be housed in urban backyards for the purpose of household egg production. Sounds noble enough on the surface, but I maintain anyone who covets the ability to husband chickens has never had anything to do with the fowl creatures.
Aside from the fact chickens produce tons of chicken doo doo, destroy their own habitat and are often cannibalistic, there is one other issue that tots up a strike against their introduction into an urban setting.
I am likely stereotyping, but I’m probably not too far off the mark in assuming those who desire urban chickens are animal rights supporters. They want their eggs to come from a humanely housed bird who is practically a member of the family.
But here’s a fact they may not have researched. The average life span of a laying hen is about five years, according to one online source. They can live longer, but after three years of age their egg output drops to 65 per cent of peak production. So what does an animal activist do with a hen that is no longer earning her keep? It’s my guess the hen isn’t going to end up in the soup pot. There is considerable mess and bother involved in butchering a chicken. It’s a task I’m betting most animal rights supporters would shy away from.
So then what? Will the chicken owner take the bird to the vet and have her put down? Leave her scratching around in the back yard until she dies of old age? Or will the local animal shelter find itself running a home for superannuated hens?
