It's a cockfight in Dearborn

One hundred years ago, chickens in Dearborn may have been a common sight. But now? The ordinance in the charter still allow chickens, and some people still have them. Yet the city is pushing back. It could be a cockfight in Dearborn 'cause the residents want to keep their chickens.

Excerpt:

Akbari is not alone in her love of fresh eggs from backyard pet poultry. Hens are popping up in the yards of urban homes in Michigan cities and across our country. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti allow them. Lansing recently approved the same, allowing up to five hens in the city, and even Royal Oak permits residents to have backyard poultry.

Having hens has become the ultimate symbol in being "green" these days. Hens produce eggs, take care of kitchen leftovers and add manure to compost piles. Poultry also are great at controlling cockroaches, grubs, tomato horn worms or just about any other pest you don't want in your yard or garden, according to poultry experts.

An article last fall in the Washington Post said this about urban residents and fowl: "raising backyard poultry has suddenly become as chic as growing your own vegetables. It's all part of the back-to-the-land movement whose proponents want to save on grocery bills, take control of their food supply and reduce the carbon footprint of industrial agriculture."

Read the entire article here.