Not every town allows it, not every home has the room, not every household has the resources, etc, etc, etc.
Pretty much the same as anywhere, really.
Fwiw, depending on the number of conditions chickens you have a “small” coop isn’t realistic.
You can’t keep chickens in the coop 24/7. Well, I guess you can, but you’d be an asshole if you did. They need light and air and exercise and mental activity, and you don’t get that in a coop.
So, you need enough space for them too. A decent sized yard can provide that.
Oh, wait, now the chickens are eaten by a neighbor’s dog; oh well!
Build a chicken run. Solves the roaming problems.
But now, snakes and small predators can get to your chickens because they can’t run away.
But, if you just fence in your yard, there’s still predator access in different ways.
I get the impression that folks really don’t know how much wild animal life there is in the US, even in cities. Like, I used to live in a fairly big city, and we still got raccoons in the garbage, and coyotes occasionally rolling through the streets.
In my town, we’re on the edge of farmlands and mountains. We don’t get the big critters like bear and cougars, but you better believe we have foxes and coyote, and feral dogs, and snakes and hawks, and the list can go on
Just in the last month my rooster has been in three fights with other animals that got inside our fence. And we aren’t outside of town. Before we had chickens? Never saw a coyote inside the fence, or a feral dog. Foxes were rare. And easy to keep out because they only came in when the fence got damaged; they weren’t trying to get in.
We also didn’t have as many mice trying to move in (which you deal with on the edge of farmlands anyway, but it was less) to get their food.
Chickens ain’t exactly a casual decision is what I’m getting at.
Maybe wherever you are, the towns are far enough off from that kind of stuff, and you can just let them roam all over with little or no risk, I dunno. But you can’t do that everywhere here for sure.
Also, if you didn’t already have chickens before the bird flu started hitting, they aren’t cheap now. Even breeds that aren’t considered great layers have gone up in price. Our pet hen was less than ten bucks, and she’s a fancy breed. The same bird would be twice that now, from the same breeder, and that’s in less than two years.
Not every town allows it, not every home has the room, not every household has the resources, etc, etc, etc.
Pretty much the same as anywhere, really.
Fwiw, depending on the number of conditions chickens you have a “small” coop isn’t realistic.
You can’t keep chickens in the coop 24/7. Well, I guess you can, but you’d be an asshole if you did. They need light and air and exercise and mental activity, and you don’t get that in a coop.
So, you need enough space for them too. A decent sized yard can provide that.
Oh, wait, now the chickens are eaten by a neighbor’s dog; oh well!
Build a chicken run. Solves the roaming problems.
But now, snakes and small predators can get to your chickens because they can’t run away.
But, if you just fence in your yard, there’s still predator access in different ways.
I get the impression that folks really don’t know how much wild animal life there is in the US, even in cities. Like, I used to live in a fairly big city, and we still got raccoons in the garbage, and coyotes occasionally rolling through the streets.
In my town, we’re on the edge of farmlands and mountains. We don’t get the big critters like bear and cougars, but you better believe we have foxes and coyote, and feral dogs, and snakes and hawks, and the list can go on
Just in the last month my rooster has been in three fights with other animals that got inside our fence. And we aren’t outside of town. Before we had chickens? Never saw a coyote inside the fence, or a feral dog. Foxes were rare. And easy to keep out because they only came in when the fence got damaged; they weren’t trying to get in.
We also didn’t have as many mice trying to move in (which you deal with on the edge of farmlands anyway, but it was less) to get their food.
Chickens ain’t exactly a casual decision is what I’m getting at.
Maybe wherever you are, the towns are far enough off from that kind of stuff, and you can just let them roam all over with little or no risk, I dunno. But you can’t do that everywhere here for sure.
Also, if you didn’t already have chickens before the bird flu started hitting, they aren’t cheap now. Even breeds that aren’t considered great layers have gone up in price. Our pet hen was less than ten bucks, and she’s a fancy breed. The same bird would be twice that now, from the same breeder, and that’s in less than two years.