Here’s a report from the Atlantic about some Canadian’s who are bucking the law for the sake of their health and/or their pocketbook! Well, I suppose I can’t say why they’re doing it. But I know why I would!
First of all, as fellow Canadian Meghan points out (in this excellent little blog post), good eggs are incredibly healthful. Second, most commercial eggs pop out of sick, deformed, mal-nourished hens, so their nutritional content is all but non-existent. Third, those pitiful hens are indeed poorly treated. And finally, happy eggs from happy hens (well-treated and pastured) are expensive and tedious to acquire! I make a special trip to a farmers market in another municipality for my pastured eggs!
So in order to save money but get happy eggs from happy pastured hens, I would indeed consider raising my own chickens in my own backyard!
Unfortunately, my apartment building doesn’t even allow me to have cats right now.
But would I do it if it meant breaking the law? Golly. I can’t even see that bridge yet. Would you?
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/12/14/ns-halifax-chickens.html
Some people have been trying to get their coops approved in the city!
My friends the Beerhorsts are doing that in Michigan. You might like to look at this post – such a huge difference in the color of the eggs from their chickens vs. store-bought free range ones!
http://studiobeerhorst.com/blog/2009/11/17/see-the-difference/#comments