The High Stakes Game Of Chicken In Salem

I gotta say. Salem keeps finding something noteworthy to crow about.  Okay, cluck about.  Yes, I’m talking about the chicken thing.

Feathers have flown over this issue and politicians have been walking on eggshells. It’s taken several years, and chicken activists have made more than a dozen trips to city hall. On Monday night, we crossed the road. City council approved 7-2 the keeping of up to three chickens within city limits.

But let’s not count our chickens before they’re hatched. 


Apparently it’s going to take a few months to get this new “chicken bill” in place. Hmmm...chicken bill.  Wouldn’t that be the “beak?” The delay is because whenever there’s an ordinance change, city workers have to run around like chickens with their heads cut off, making several changes to city processes and procedures.  


There’s quite a pecking order to all of this.

I know that this vote was important to the people who scratched and clawed and pecked their way through this process. Some folks cracked under the pressure, and I should not make fun. So let’s take stock (there I go again) of this situation.

Roosters will have to stay outside of town, sorry. You can only keep hens in town. You know, I’m surprisingly okay with this gender inequity.  Roosters are a little tough and gamey anyway.

Not everybody’s happy with the city council right now. The anti-chicken folks are mad as a wet hen. But the activists prevailed in this free range long range game of chicken with the council, who could not delay the vote any longer without getting a little egg on their face. Don’t worry, anti-chicken people.  When these folks are up for re-election, their chickens will come home to roost.

Now for the privilege of chicken ownership in Salem you must first pay a license fee of 50 bucks. That’s certainly not chicken feed! Also, make sure you’ve got a coop with a runway. I don’t think you need landing lights or a control tower, though. Just the runway will do.  Still, chicken ownership ain't cheep.

I think the city council got this right, and I applaud this decision. Personally, I do not plan to keep hens. The only chicken you’ll see in my backyard is this.