A Conscious Feast by Nicole Aloni

When I think of a nice breakfast, I usually picture eggs: poached, scrambled or in an omelet. I consider if I want hash browns, home fries, or toast. But I rarely (okay—never) think of my egg’s momma. Was she a Jersey Giant, a Rhode Island Red (probably) or the elusive Buff Orpington?  But there is a growing flock of chicken-istas in America who do. They are mightily concerned about the wholesomeness of commodity eggs and chickens.  In response, they’ve invested in a burgeoning swarm of urban chicken flocks that are one of the hottest expressions of the sustainable food scene.

And this is not a minor, chia pet fad. Amazon lists more than 60 books on the topic (nearly all published since 2007) from Building Chicken Coops for Dummies, to The Joy of Keeping Chickens, and City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens. Big chicken hatcheries are often sold out these days (unheard of in the past).

I have to say this concept has me absolutely fascinated at the moment. Especially since I visited a neighbor’s flock to help her collect eggs. Okay, it wasn’t much of an effort—we got 4. But it sure was fun.

I picked up one of the hens and she was squirmy and kind of poky, but she was also warm and cuddly.  Bingo pierced me with her beady, little eyes as if to say, “Hey. Where are your eggs coming from, loser?” My heart strings twanged with a yearning for my own flock.  After that jaunt into my friend’s yard, I felt as though I’d taken a mini-vacation to real-ville and I wanted to go back.

There are two primary reasons why millions are going to all of this trouble. For starters, commercial chicken breeds have lost at least half of the genetic diversity present among their ancestors. This diversity ensured healthy breeds with a variety of flavor characteristics, each suited to a different culinary preparation, from roasting to braising.  Imagine that, you’d buy (or slaughter) a Buff Orpington for roasting and an Astrolorp for stewing.

Today’s industrial chicken operations raise a couple of specific breeds (out of the hundreds of choices) for each of the main uses: meat or eggs. This limited breed selection ensures a consistency of size and flavor which is essential to large scale farming and anathema to bold, sophisticated flavor.  Breeds used for meat are mostly hybrids named after the breeding companies that genetically developed them, like Ross or Hubbard.  The chickens used for eggs are nearly all Rhode Island Red or Leghorn crosses.

BTW—a list of many of the chickens recognized by the American Poultry Association (seemingly hundreds) makes it clear just how many breeds are not being included by commercial chicken operations. Some of my favorite names from this highly fanciful list: Silver Penciled Wyandotte, Blue Golden Duckwing and Cuckoo Antwerp Belgian.

Secondly, beyond the allure of their catchy names and toothsome flesh, most folks are making the commitment  to this hobby to ensure a steady supply of  glorious, golden-yolked, hormone free eggs. In fact, this is nearly the only way (unless you live near a pastured egg producer) to acquire naturally raised eggs. There are also studies indicating that eggs from pastured chickens are  more nutritious.

And don’t pay any attention to the free range label on egg cartons. It may or may not be any more meaningful than the claim “yummy” on a bag of corn chips. The USDA standards for Free Range labeling of eggs is even more ridiculous than that for chickens; there is none. Companies can more or less label their eggs as free range on a whim. So, for some eggs labeled free range, their mommas foraged on pasture land (ranged free), and for most, not.

Established in 1999, the website Backyard Chickens appears to be one of the forerunners of this mad dash towards cooping up our backyards.  It’s absolutely oozing with guidance for every aspect of chicken handling. My favorite product offered on the  site: DIY poop-free waterer.  I must say, I found it interesting that their first inclusion under links is “chicken recipes”.  I guess not everyone is raising chickens for their eggs.  Backyard Poultry magazine, founded in 2006, is also devoted to this passion.

To sum up:
1. Chickens are relatively easy to raise and many cities allow you to have 3 or more (if you live on a farm, get outta here).
2. There are lots of resources for acquiring a few unique chicks to call your own.
3. Your heritage breed birds are a unique source for that most multi-purpose ingredient—the egg—in its most healthful and flavorful form.

Go forth and coop it up, I say. (my dog is excited)