Are chickens really sustainable in urban homesteading?
It should come as no surprise that there is an increased interest in sustainable urban/suburban living. Those of us lucky enough to have a patch of land under our control are looking for ways to grow at least a bit of our own food. Many are discovering that chickens can be a wonderful addition to the backyard farm. Not only do they lay tasty home-grown eggs, but the birds do an admirable job of keeping insect populations down.
This increased interest in urban chicken wrangling has also given rise to a couple interesting ways of demonstrating how far removed we urban dwellers have become from our food chain.
In an urban setting, one is generally limited to keeping hens in limited quantities. Ads for free roosters can frequently be found on ad forums such as Craigs List with the stipulation that the birds "are not for eating and must be pets". Similarly, many people with hens that are past their laying prime want to replace the birds with younger egg layers and place their retired birds in "forever homes" where they can live out the rest of their lives in a chicken haven.
How sustainable is it when birds we can't have or that have passed their prime must be placed in "forever homes"? It is a lovely idea, but what will happen when those "forever homes" fill up with unwanted roosters and elderly hens? Chickens can live ten years and longer, while their egg-laying potential is highest their first two years or so. Although there are folks who love having a flock of chickens for the pure aesthetics, is it realistic to think there will always be homes willing to take roosters and retired hens and feed them for the rest of their long lives?
In many places, chickens that are not able to fulfill their role in the egg-laying flock are stew-pot bound. It seems to me this is a much more sustainable method of keeping chickens. It DOES add an element that many of us urban dwellers may not yet be ready to accept, and that is death as part of the food chain. I think deep down all of us meat eaters realize that our meat once was living, but we never actually saw the animal before it became dinner. It may be a difficult paradigm to overcome, but for urban chicken keeping to be more sustainable, I think this issue will need to be addressed by every new owner.
This increased interest in urban chicken wrangling has also given rise to a couple interesting ways of demonstrating how far removed we urban dwellers have become from our food chain.
In an urban setting, one is generally limited to keeping hens in limited quantities. Ads for free roosters can frequently be found on ad forums such as Craigs List with the stipulation that the birds "are not for eating and must be pets". Similarly, many people with hens that are past their laying prime want to replace the birds with younger egg layers and place their retired birds in "forever homes" where they can live out the rest of their lives in a chicken haven.
How sustainable is it when birds we can't have or that have passed their prime must be placed in "forever homes"? It is a lovely idea, but what will happen when those "forever homes" fill up with unwanted roosters and elderly hens? Chickens can live ten years and longer, while their egg-laying potential is highest their first two years or so. Although there are folks who love having a flock of chickens for the pure aesthetics, is it realistic to think there will always be homes willing to take roosters and retired hens and feed them for the rest of their long lives?
In many places, chickens that are not able to fulfill their role in the egg-laying flock are stew-pot bound. It seems to me this is a much more sustainable method of keeping chickens. It DOES add an element that many of us urban dwellers may not yet be ready to accept, and that is death as part of the food chain. I think deep down all of us meat eaters realize that our meat once was living, but we never actually saw the animal before it became dinner. It may be a difficult paradigm to overcome, but for urban chicken keeping to be more sustainable, I think this issue will need to be addressed by every new owner.
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