If avian influenza eventually evolves to infect humans, experts fear that backyard chickens will be vectors of the disease. Government officials have threatened to ban free-range chickens in cities in Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, where bird flu has spread in the past. Governments around the world are also concerned that wild fowl will infect backyard chickens, leading to calls for similar bans in the Canadian province of British Columbia and in Australia.But several public health officials argue that homegrown poultry are not a disease threat if the chickens are properly maintained. “Make sure the roof of the pen has a solid cover to protect birds from fecal matter that may drop from birds flying overhead,” said University of California at Davis poultry specialist Francine Bradley in a statement released in 2005, at the peak of avian flu concerns. “We always tell people, don’t let anyone near your birds who doesn’t need to be there [due to fears of people carrying the virus].”
Sustainable farming advocates insist that backyard chickens are less of a concern than factory-farmed poultry, which the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production has said poses serious risks of transmitting animal-borne diseases to human populations, especially due to the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance.
“When it comes to bird flu, diverse small-scale poultry farming is the solution, not the problem,” the international sustainable agriculture organization GRAIN concluded in a 2006 report.
For urban poultry farmers, a more relevant health issue is whether the chickens, which many owners consider to be pets, can survive urban wildlife, even in New York City. “It’s awful how often flocks are decimated by raccoons or hawks or possums,” said Owen Taylor, who runs the City Farms livestock program, an extension of the sustainable food organization Just Food.
As the backyard chicken movement spreads, urban farmers are finding new ways of experiencing city living, whether their chickens are pets or dinner. “Raising chickens on a backyard stoop, especially if you have children, is agreeable,” Smit said. “How you convince the kids you’ll cut its neck and eat it is another thing.”
