Here in Salt Lake City chickens are perfectly legal (with some guidelines) and many people are now raising a few hens in their backyards. There is a big movement here to support more sustainable agriculture by membership in food co-ops, membership in CSAs (Community Sustainable Agriculture---you buy a "subscription" at a local farm and get monthly or weekly orders), and by growing one's own food. Michael Pollan recently did a few lectures here about eating in a sustainable manner and the health benefits of such a diet. So when I read this article in a local magazine this month I was really saddened by the moronic bureaucracy that can stifle such progressive thinking.
http://www.catalystmagazine.net/specials/politics/salt-lake-county-vs.-the-little-red-hen.html
To sum it up, while raising small backyard flocks in the city is legal, in the COUNTY of Salt Lake (where properties tend to be larger than in the city) you cannot own any livestock and chickens are considered livestock by the county. This is absolute lunacy since many of the towns in the Salt Lake Valley allow all sorts of livestock and you can drive around some neighborhoods and see sheep and horses. I felt so bad for the poor woman in this article who had to give up her hens when a narrow-minded neighbor complained. I've always thought that if any of my neighbors complained about my invisible, odorless, silent hens and I had to give them up I would get a very noisy, stinky, LEGAL dog to bark at them throughout the day and night.
http://www.catalystmagazine.net/specials/politics/salt-lake-county-vs.-the-little-red-hen.html
To sum it up, while raising small backyard flocks in the city is legal, in the COUNTY of Salt Lake (where properties tend to be larger than in the city) you cannot own any livestock and chickens are considered livestock by the county. This is absolute lunacy since many of the towns in the Salt Lake Valley allow all sorts of livestock and you can drive around some neighborhoods and see sheep and horses. I felt so bad for the poor woman in this article who had to give up her hens when a narrow-minded neighbor complained. I've always thought that if any of my neighbors complained about my invisible, odorless, silent hens and I had to give them up I would get a very noisy, stinky, LEGAL dog to bark at them throughout the day and night.
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