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Community Corner

OP-ED: The Big Picture on Chickens

Fred R. Profeta, Deputy Mayor for the Environment, weighs in on the debate concerning a proposed pilot program that would allow up to 15 households in Maplewood to raise chickens for egg production.

The Maplewood Township Committee at its October 4, 2011 meeting designed to establish a Pilot Program for assessing the pros and cons of permitting residents to raise no more than 3 chickens in certain backyards. 

The primary purpose would be to allow residents to produce their own eggs. Roosters would be banned. A maximum of 15 households would be issued a permit to participate in the program. The program would run for a year, after which the results would be analyzed. The Township Committee would then decide whether or not to permit backyard chickens going forward. 

The ordinance introduced on October 4 contains many conditions and regulations, and it can be viewed in its entirety on the Township website (see #2678-11). A final vote will occur on October 18.

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Prior to 2005, Maplewood residents were allowed to raise chickens on their property. The relevant ordinance read as follows: “No person shall have or keep in his/her possession, goats, sheep, cattle, swine, horses, or undomesticated fowl within the limits of the Township.” Because we had received reports in 2005 that some chickens were being slaughtered for religious rituals, the Township Committee added them to the list of animals banned in Maplewood.  I was Mayor at the time, and, in my opinion, this was not one of our finer legislative moments.  The ordinance, as amended, continues to permit “domesticated fowl”, which, by standard definition (see Wikipedia), includes ducks, turkeys, geese, and pigeons. 

There has been much public debate about the proposed Pilot Program. As a result, several effective conditions and regulations have been added to the ordinance. But, as I said at the October 4 Township Committee meeting, we have sometimes “lost track of the forest for the trees.” 

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It is important to remember the factors that motivated Maplewoodians to suggest this program in the first place. Much of the incentive is linked to the local food movement in this country. Many of our residents like to raise their own fruit and vegetables. Some would like to produce their own eggs. There is considerable evidence that eggs which are fresher and produced by chickens with a good diet are more nutritious and less likely to carry disease. 

In addition, backyard food requires no transportation to the consumer, and eliminates the pollution and greenhouse gases produced by that transportation. 

What difference does one backyard make? Not much, but millions of backyards do — and Maplewoodians want to be part of the national movement. Most of us recycle, but how much difference does each of us make? How much difference does each of us make when we refuse to use plastic bags? The analysis is the same.  

There is another important reason to support backyard chickens, and that is based upon the realities of industrial egg production. 

Some 255 large companies produce 95% of all American eggs, compared to 2,500 companies just 20 years ago. The feed for industrial egg producing hens is approximately 55% corn and 30% soy bean meal. These are hybrid grains, grown on nutrient-depleted Midwestern land with the use of prodigious amounts of artificial fertilizers. All of these fertilizers have their own toxic effect on the environment. But they are also manufactured by combining nitrogen and hydrogen gases under immense heat and pressure produced by large amounts of electricity. The hydrogen is supplied by oil, coal, or natural gas — all fossil fuels.  Most of this information is documented in Michael Pollan’s fact-filled book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma

As a result of these realities, every time we eat an industrialized egg we perpetuate our dependence on fossil fuel. The use of fossil fuel is the most significant factor in the production of greenhouse gases and global warming. It is a little known fact that industrial food production changes our climate in such a major way.

It is also important to know what this industrialized egg production is like at the level of the individual chicken. 

At any given time, there are about 280,000,000 hens housed in battery cages which are about 2 feet square. According to Pollan, 6 hens are stuffed into each of these cages. They can hardly move, let alone nest, bathe in the dust, perch or forage. Pollan says that “every natural instinct of this hen is thwarted, leading to a range of behavioral ‘vices’ that can include cannibalizing her cagemates and rubbing her breast against the wire mesh until it is completely bald and bleeding.” Beaks are cut off to reduce the “cannibalizing” and “when the output of the survivors begins to ebb, the hens will be ‘forced molted’ — starved of food, water and light for several days in order to stimulate a final bout of egg laying before their life’s work is done.”

There are animal rights issues here, to be sure — but think of what this treatment does to the health of the chickens which are laying our eggs.  They are very vulnerable to disease. By using heavy doses of antibiotics, supplemented with arsenic to kill bacteria, the “egg machines” are kept alive.  Truthfully, we do not know what ultimate effect these chemicals have on human health. It seems obvious that it would be a good thing to replace industrialized eggs in our diet. 

If we are going to change the egg production industry in this country, we are going to have to change the market for eggs. We will have to provide alternatives to the industrial process. Local farmers are such an alternative, as long as you know how their eggs are actually produced. People can be certain of the process taking place in their own backyards. And, as already noted, if millions of homeowners are allowed to raise their own chickens (as they presently are in major municipalities such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle), the effect on the market has the potential to be significant. The movement is headed in that direction.

But what difference can Maplewood make? 

I think the answer is that Maplewood can make a big difference. Our town is an environmental leader. We won the National Climate Champion of the Year award in 2007.  The EPA presented us with a regional award in 2008. And in 2009, Maplewood received the from the Sustainable Jersey program.  As many residents know, Sustainable Jersey is a state-wide municipal certification program.  It was launched in 2009. Now more than 65% of the State is following this program. Senator Robert Menendez has in Washington that would replicate the Sustainable Jersey program around the country.

Because local government officials are so busy with the entire range of subjects that concern their citizens, and with few resources at their disposal, there is much “follow the leader” behavior at this level. Maplewood is known around the state as an environmental leader. We have made, and can continue to make, a difference by our example. There are, of course, many things we can do to lead in other important directions. Backyard egg production is only one of them. But it is something that many residents want to do to improve their own health, to educate their children on the actual origins of important food, and to improve the health of the planet in meaningful ways. 

And that’s the “forest” that we sometimes lose when discussing the “trees.”

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