BY SARAH EGELMAN

On May 10, a group of about 17 locals gathered for a class called, we kid you not, Chicken Keeping 101. They were neither farmers nor ranchers nor enterprising 4H members. Rather, they were all Albuquerque residents aiming to quite simply, keep chickens in the back yard of their urban residences.

The group met in the back yard belonging to KT LaBadie and Mark Scully. Under the warm spring sun they learned about city and county ordinances, the basics of chicken keeping such as coops, feed, litter and wing clipping. Both LaBadie and Scully have been keeping chickens for two years at their Bel-Air neighborhood home and have four pullets — hens that have not yet begun to lay eggs.

Since May, LaBadie says she has received numerous requests for holding another class.

“The interest is definitely there,” LaBadie said. “People in Albuquerque want to keep chickens.”

It seems domesticated fowl have become a pet of choice in Albuquerque. Those awkward, nearly flightless, dumb but tasty birds as pets? Yes! Ask any backyard chicken keeper and they will sing the praises of the humble gallus domesticus calling them fun, entertaining and even elegant. 

A surprising number of cities big and small across the country allow backyard chickens. They are legal in Los Angeles, New York City and Austin, but not in Boston. Closer to home, it is illegal to keep chickens in Rio Rancho but legal in Santa Fe and Placitas.

And not surprisingly, chickens are perfectly legal to keep within Albuquerque city limits, in a city that has never lost touch with its rural, centuries-old roots. You are allowed to have 15 birds, in fact, including one rooster, provided they do not violate city noise ordinances.

“We have great neighbors who don’t mind the noise the chickens make,” says Albuquerque chicken keeper Maggie Shepard, who has had her backyard flock of four bantams (a small breed of chicken) for just over a month. She already plans on getting more hens and sharing their eggs with neighbors. Eggs, the urban chicken keeper knows, are the preferred method of pacifying skeptical neighbors.

The 101 class was not the only recent urban chickening event. On June 21, seven households invited community members into their yards in several Albuquerque neighborhoods for a Coop Tour to see a variety of chicken breeds and coops. At the first stop on the tour, participants received a map to the other six coop locations. Some of the flocks were new, others well-established and all keepers shared their enthusiasm and pride with the attendees. It was an opportunity to ask questions, get advice, get inspired and see urban chicken-keeping in action. The event organizer, Jennifer Dwyer, says she hopes to add even more stops on a tour next year.

So why choose chickens? The obvious reasons for keeping chickens in this or any city are eggs and meat. When you raise your own birds you control what they eat and drink and their access to fresh air and favorite chicken activities. Also, your own local and organic eggs or meat will be much more delicious than what you can generally buy at the store. 

“We need to have a better food model for this country and backyard chicken flocks are just one aspect of that,” LaBadie said.

Many others agree.

“They’re not quite pets and not quite livestock to us, but they’re our small investment in self-sufficiency and sustainability,” said Erin Radcliffe, whose family has two pullets in their North Valley yard. “Having chickens seems to solidify your commitment to eating and living greener,” she added.

Perhaps keeping a small flock is a way for urban dwellers to reconnect with an ideal or actual farming past. “It brings a little country into town, which is always nice,” said Carola Naquin, who kept chickens in her backyard here for 12 years after having kept them in North Carolina for 16 years.

Perhaps urban chicken keepers are influenced by gastronomic ideas such as the Slow Food Movement* or they want to be more involved and aware of how their food arrives on their table. Or maybe they just want a quirky and unique pet to wow friends.

“Keeping chickens has kind of upped our cool factor among some friends,” says Radcliffe.

LaBadie and Scully recently created an informative website for city chicken owners, urbanchickens.org, in “an effort to help the urban chicken movement grow.

“The website serves as a resource for chicken keeping and coop information and also provides a space for the chicken-keeping community to share and grow together,” explains LaBadie. 

Whether finding grown hens on Craigslist, buying pullets at local feed stores, sending away for chicks that arrive in the mail or hatching the chicks of their own hens, Mike Shearer warns he once ended up with five roosters this way, Albuquerque residents are filling up coops all over the city with urban chickens.      

“Chickens are a really great compliment to any backyard urban garden: they are a small protein provider, a composter, a companion and an entertainer,” related LaBadie.

Shepard agreed. “The chickens are so fun,” she said, offering that one particular aspect of chickens will certainly win over lots of urban chicken fans in Albuquerque, “They eat cockroaches. Win-win.”

*The Slow Food Movement is an international collective aimed at creating a “food system that is based on the principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability and social justice.” To find out more about Slow Food on a local level, visit slowfoodriogrande.org