BACKYARD CHICKENS AND FACTORY FARM EMISSIONS
Did you know that in New Orleans you are allowed to keep up to five pets in or around your home? This includes egg-laying chickens! Raising chickens for eggs is part of the locavore movement gaining momentum around the country. By raising backyard chickens, you can not only be a food consumer, but a food producer.*
Air quality and factory farm greenhouse gas emissions are a major concern for human quality of life and negative environmental impact. Studies done on industrial farms have shown that dairy, beef and poultry farms account for the majority of ammonia emissions with poultry farms at a whopping 664,238 tons per year.** By raising your own chickens and foregoing store-bought chickens raised in a factory farm you are committing to a more energy-efficient lifestyle.
Many people swear by the flavor difference in home-grown eggs and visually, this series of photographs illustrates the differences:
There are a variety of resources available to people who want to start raising their own backyards chickens with backyardchickens.com being a good start to your project. The New Orleans Food and Farm Network also has workshops for those interested in raising chickens.*** Making sure your chickens have a safe, comfortable coop is of the most important aspects of raising chickens, including protecting them from any neighborhood predators.
*http://urbanchickens.org/
**www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/…/nh3inventoryfactsheet_jan2004.pdf
***http://www.noffn.org/2011/10/backyard-chickens-nola-growers-guide-tipsheet/