Trend: Keeping Chickens As Pets

Meet the latest in trendy pets: the urban chicken. Photo: 22280677@N07/Flickr

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, keeping chickens as pets in urban and suburban settings is the newest trend in our nation's effort to "go green".

"In cities across the United States, raising backyard poultry has suddenly become as chic as growing your own vegetables. It's all part of the back-to-the-land movement whose proponents want to save on grocery bills, take control of their food supply and reduce the carbon footprint of industrial agrilculture."

Pet chickens produce eggs, naturally fertilize backyard gardens and can even be relatively entertaining to watch scratch, peck and cluck around.

Adopting poultry has its benefits, but there are some regulations you need to follow if you want to play Old MacDonald. Most cities demand that chickens cannot be slaughtered for meat, they must be enclosed and roosters, though handy for a wake-up call, are strictly prohibited.

But despite regulations and complete bans in some places like the District of Columbia, chickens continue to "cross the road" from barnyard staples to backyard-roaming feathered friends.

"Chickens are America's cool new pet," Dave Belanger, publisher of Backyard Poultry, told the Washington Post. And with good reason! What other pet can help you make a fresh omelette or some delicious French toast?

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Tags: chicken as pet, ChickenAsPet, pet chicken, PetChicken, urban chicken, UrbanChicken