Think Backyard Chickens are Gross? Watch This Video on Factory Eggs

A Humane Society investigation has turned up evidence of widespread cruelty & unhealthy practices at a factory-style egg production facility. As Nicholas Kristof wrote in today's New York Times, "The police would stop wayward boys who were torturing a stray dog, so should we allow industrialists to abuse millions of hens?"

At some point, we thought it would be healthier to separate ourselves from the production of our food, sending food production to distant farms & factories. But have we gone too far? Could a few chickens in your community's yards really be any less healthy than what the Humane Society found?

It's time for communities like Arlington to lift restrictions on backyard chickens.

A Bad Week to Defend Arsenic-Laced Chicken Feed in Maryland

Some state senators in Maryland are trying to defend the use of arsenic in chicken feed.

Just yesterday, Nicholas Kristof wrote in the New York Times about "a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic." Isn't asking poultry farms to stop using arsenic the least we can do?

Learn more from Food and Water Watch about how you can help the arsenic ban get across the finish line. And as the scientists Kristof talked to suggest, next time you're at the grocery store, maybe spend a few cents more to buy organic.

Supermarket Eggs < Farmers Market Eggs < Backyard Eggs

After getting sick of the bland produce at the grocery store, I've been making more of an effort to walk to the Falls Church Farmers Market on Saturday mornings to get tomatoes that actually taste like - wait for it - tomatoes.

I've also been getting eggs from Valentine's Country Bakery & Meats. They taste a little better than supermarket eggs, but what really jumps out at you is the color - a brighter yellowish-orange compared to pale yellow factory farm eggs - and I'm far from the only one who's noticed. Research shows eggs from chickens with a free range & varied diet may be healthier than chickens locked up & fed a diet of cheap processed feed.

Some Arlington residents are taking it one step further, with the Arlington Egg Project pushing the County Board to allow backyard chickens. Tonight the Arlington Committee of 100 is making the issue the topic of its monthly dinner.

I've visited a home in DC with chickens in the backyard & barely noticed the were there - they pecked around one corner of the yard until the sun went down, then climbed into their small wooden roost on their own. No smell (and this was a hot summer day), no mess that I saw, and very little noise, just a few clucks when someone ventured too close. On the fridge I found this note about what leftovers NOT to feed the chickens.