Urban Chicken Farmer Research

Urban Chicken Farmer

Eli B, Jessie R, Jessica R. 

Mutual Beliefs: 

• Sustainability
• Recycling
• Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Understanding where the food comes from
• Eating locally

Competition: 

• Egg Sizes
• Chicken Sizes
• Breeds

In The Community: Low-income families raise chickens as a source of sustainable, healthy food. They see the chickens as a route to better nutrition. This is also a way that families can reconnect with where the food on the table comes from.

Politics / Common Goal: They tend to be politically active because of the ever changing political and community stance of the practice of having chickens in an urban environment. For example they have actively taken part in persuading the local city legislation in Madison, Wis. into not approving a ban on chickens outright but rather ban just the source of the noise: roosters.

Controversy: Roosters are banned for the noise that they create. Cockfighting is a concern.

Practice: Chickens are considered the gateway animal for urban farming. 

Sources / Citations:


New York Times - A Chicken on Every Plot, a Coop in Every Backyard
Back Yard Chickens.com How to raise chicks in the city
Urban Chickens.org