On The Barnyard Stigma Of Urban Chickens | Chicken Runs And Houses
On The Barnyard Stigma Of Urban Chickens
The story lede caught my eye, though, as I feel it hits the main stumbling block to legalizing chickens dead-on (emphasis mine): "Sacramento leaders have spent a generation trying to shed the citys cow-town stigma. Now they are facing a movement that wants to turn the capital into chicken city." One simply cant underestimate peoples desire to prove theyre no longer farm folk, even in a city as big as Sacramento, the capital of California, with a population of over 437,000.
Chickens, for better or worse, still strongly represent the rural roots that many moved into the city to escape. In any story of the urban chicken movement, look at the opposition quotes of anyone over the age of 50 and youll see them recounting the days when they used have to take care of (nasty, pesky, stinky) chickens on the farm and why the [expletive] would anyone want to do that to their backyard willingly?
More to the point, simply take a look at the municipal codes pertaining to urban chickens and more likely than not, chickens are lumped in with all other manner of barnyard creatures (goats, sheep, cows, horses, etc) whove been banned within city limits.
So, the quest to legalize urban chickens isnt just a logical one. If it were, thered be no contest. When you compare the attributes of chickens and dogs, you have to wonder why the dirtier, smellier, messier, furry one is legal everywhere.
The challenge in legalizing chickens in your backyard is one of convincing city councils that different animals have different attributes and cant all be conveniently lumped into a single banned category. And mentally separating chickens from their barnyard brethren isnt an easy thing to do with anyone whos marking progress based on physical distance between city center and the nearest pile of manure.
But it can be done, and the list of places that are doing it keeps growing. Wont you add your own?
Photo credit Overdaforest on Flickr
On The Barnyard Stigma Of Urban Chickens
