Chicken and Eggs: cruelty should never come first

A friend from Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield brought me a dozen eggs from her own chickens a few weeks ago.  The shells of some of the eggs were the traditional light brown but others were a lovely pale green.  The yokes inside were huge and deeply yellow,  but of course the best part was the taste: fresh, delicate, rich.

Seems like some people in Holyoke would like to start keeping chickens-- obviously not only for the taste, but also to save money and become more self-sufficient.  City Councilor Tim Purington  agreed to submit an ordinance to make it possible.  What an uproar!  Mike Plaisance covered the story in Yesterday's Springfield Republican.

Readers' comments ran the gamut from the typically prejudiced:
If they want to raise chickens let them go back to the Island.
Let's legalize cockfighting so some people will feel at home.
Maybe the roosters will wake them up in time to go to work
To the pragmatic and political:
I'd rather hear chickens than gunfire.
Hey, I thought this was America, where we have some freedom.
Yes!  More of us should be doing urban farming.

One poster, however, thought it was unfair to raise chickens in the small space required in an urban setting.

For her, and for every person who goes to the grocery store and gives not a thought to the lives of the chickens whose eggs they buy, let me share this undercover video from a Wegman egg farm in Rochester, New York. I've seen far worse.
 


And to end on a lighter note...peacemaker chickens break up a rabbit fight...