A few years ago, my wife and I were reading an online guide to frugality, because we wanted to save up some money to put towards spontaneous, fun stuff like electricity and our home loan. As you may have expected, most of the tips were only marginally useful (“steal ketchup packets from Wendy’s”). However, one tip was entitled, “Raise a Chicken.” This was intriguing.

The intrigue ended in the very first sentence of the tip: “You will need to be OK with gutting a chicken.”

The “Raise a Chicken” tip was written for people who live in large cities, and was basically a little guide on keeping a chicken locked in a small cage in your apartment, feeding it, containing the mess, and getting some eggs from the whole deal. And also, gutting the chicken to be fried, roasted, grilled, and eaten.

Despite the quasi-grisly aspects of the idea, my wife Shannon didn’t think it was so bad. She’d read about people keeping chickens in their backyard for cheap eggs and, believe it or not, as pets. Quirky, clucky, cute, feathery pets. And the backyards of Eau Claire could afford a significantly more spacious place for a chicken to live than an apartment cage. Why not?

I’ll tell you why not: chicken crap. Crap is my universal argument against bringing any kind of animal into the house. If it craps larger or more frequently than the two cats we already own, it’s a no-go. Any animal that somehow passes the crap test can be argued against simply by mumbling, “Huh. That sounds like something.” Then I swiftly leave the room for at least 10 minutes and walk back in with ice cream or a box of Swiss Cake Rolls. I’ve kept the house hamster-free for over a year this way.

But this chicken thing keeps coming up, and raising backyard (or “urban”) chickens is gaining in acceptance and popularity across the country. There’s a whole magazine about it. I’m not sure if it’s a full-fledged movement, but it’s getting kind of trendy – especially among people who are truly serious about eating local. Between the egg production and, ahem, occasional Sunday dinner, the animals provide a regular source of cheap protein.

    Despite growing popularity, in most places, backyard chickens are still considered weird. Or they’re just downright illegal.

A few weeks ago, Shorewood (a suburb of Milwaukee) grabbed a few headlines around the state for shooting down the proposal for a residential backyard chicken pilot program – where a few people would be allowed to keep chickens, just to see how it went. But the city said most of their residential lots are too small to keep poultry, and they were afraid of “social issues” between neighbors. I think the story mostly got picked up because the entire proposal was sparked by a letter to the Shorewood City Council from a 9-year-old girl.

Backyard chickens are legal in cities like Madison and Green Bay, but what about here? After some quick phone calls, some digging through online ordinances, and a couple of chuckles from our local city clerks, this is what I found out:

Eau Claire: Illegal!
    Altoona: Illegal!
    Chippewa Falls: Legal if they are quiet and stay in your yard!
    Menomonie: Legal only if your home is on land zoned for agriculture (which amounts to a few neighborhoods), or if you live on at least five acres and obtain special permission!

The more I read about it (i.e. chicken breeds, coop designs, training chickens to do tricks) the more I like the idea. I know if you get the right breed of chicken, noise is not a factor. And the mess can be easily controlled. They’re a lot like dogs in that way. Dogs that lay eggs.

I know I’ve seen a few underground (not literally) backyard chicken coops around Eau Claire, and the nice man I talked with from the Chippewa Falls police department says there are a number of people over there keeping live poultry. So there’s definitely some local desire. I’m not sure we should storm city hall, but I’m really disappointed that it’s illegal where I live. It seems like we could create some regulations (no roosters, etc.) and licensing fees and make this happen. It seems like a good idea.

That’s right, Shannon, I agree with you. Chickens sound awesome.