Backyard chickens approved in Vancouver

Vancouver just made chickens legal in the city, according to an article published in the Globe and Mail today. This will allow urban residents to keep a coop in their backyard, just like in other north American cities such as Portland, Ore. and Seattle. But this is not good news to certain experts who say keeping chickens at home is actually unhealthy. The SPCA says it fears that residents might be seduced into buying chickens without actually knowing how to take care of them, and the British Columbia Poultry Association warns that this might actually raise the risk of spreading diseases such as the avian flu.

I’d be curious to know more about this and what having chickens in your backyard really implies.