Chickens. Vegans love to save them, carnivores love to eat them, and many folks in the great City of Albany would love the chance to raise them for eggs. Problem is, there stands a law on the books that forbids them within City limits, under the premise that they are “incompatible with City life”.
Enter the Albany Chicken Coalition. A concerned group of citizens has taken it upon themselves to change this law because, frankly, it’s just wrong. The law is built on a dated, (and false) premise. Chickens absolutely belong in cities — they have existed in them for thousands of years, and continue to thrive in cities big and small throughout the world. In the US, cities such as New York, Chicago, LA, Austin, Portland and so on allow chickens, and more cities every day are amending their legislation to follow suit.
Chickens are clean, quiet and adapt well to small spaces. They are easy and fun to care for. They eat food scraps, produce nitrogen-rich fertilizer for your garden, and give you delicious, healthy protein in the form of eggs. As anyone who has a garden knows, being a part of your food cycle is not only a deeply rewarding experience, it’s a step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. Urban agriculture contributes to food safety and food security as well as a vibrant community’s social life. It is detrimental to the health and vitalization of our cities to continue to believe in the misconception that cities should solely be consumers and not producers.
