Urban Chickens

It's official: the chicken came before the egg. At least that's the finding of British researchers at Sheffield University. But here in Portland, Ore., we've known for years what comes first: the coop. Portland ordinances allow residents to keep three chickens (or ducks or rabbits or pygmy...

There's an even better chicken joke than the one about a certain fowl crossing the road, and it begins with Jennifer Murtoff of Oak Park, Ill. printing up 150 business cards that identified her as an Urban Chicken Consultant. True, Murtoff grew up something of a farm girl in south central...

Perhaps keeping backyard chickens in a down economy is analogous to the way sales of candy and beer spike up in a recession; when financial stresses loom, we do what makes us feel good.A New York Times article remarks on both the data reflecting the spike in chicken keeping (hatcheries say this is...