by Lara Jackson

Created on: October 03, 2010

In recent years, in rural and even urban yards across the US, there has been a surge in popularity of the once nearly forgotten backyard chicken.  To those in the know, this is a case of the general population finally seeing the light.  Others are left scratching their heads even as they watch the chickens scratch in the dirt.  What, exactly, is the appeal of keeping chickens?

Of course, keeping chickens is hardly new.  The best evidence suggests chickens were domesticated about 8,000 years ago, in Asia.  They spread worldwide and were a staple of most civilizations that have developed since.  Chickens were a common sight in the US from the Mayflower right through two world wars.  But with the growth of the middle class, keeping chickens began to seem, well, low-class, something only country bumpkins would do.  Once all but a necessity even in urban yards, communities across the US began to pass ordinances banning chickens.  With the rise in factory farming pushing the prices of eggs and meat down, keeping one's own chickens became not only frowned upon by the neighbors, but less economically necessary as well.

That is, until recently.  Two factors have come together to draw America back to the backyard chicken, but they come down to the same issue: sustainability.  Although factory farming offers low prices in the grocery store, more and more people are recognizing the hidden costs factory farming brings to the environment and our health, as well as the animals involved.  In the long run, factory farming is unsustainable.  And with the recession, more families are looking to increase their own self-sustainability, and are beginning to see the value of growing and raising their own food.  Not only cost-effective, self-sustainability can reap additional rewards.  The value difference between spending an hour in the garden or an hour watching cable TV is not just about saving pennies.

Why chickens, though?  As livestock goes, chickens are among the simplest, and can be kept on the smallest scale.  A few square feet of coop and a small pen will keep two or three hens happy.  And chickens require little more than a once-daily trip to the coop to feed, water, and gather eggs.  Even that can be skipped if you plan ahead, unlike milking a cow.  Yet chickens can also provide some of the greatest rewards of all livestock.

There are, of course, the eggs.  It only takes

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