Urban chickens are happy chickens

Ernest Hemingway once called his hometown, Oak Park, a place of “wide lawns and narrow minds,” thus articulating the stereotype of suburbs as less than progressive.

So I was both amused and disappointed to read that the Arlington Heights village board proposes to outlaw pet chickens.

One of our daughters and her husband have kept four hens in their yard in Chicago for a couple of years, which is perfectly legal there. None of the problems the anti-chicken forces mention have actually materialized.

We occasionally share some of the fresh eggs, which taste notably better than store eggs and are safer to eat (no salmonella). What’s more, backyard chickens enjoy much happier lives than birds kept in cages at egg factories. No wonder the urban chicken movement is catching on across the country.

Couldn’t Arlington Heights be less, well, hard-boiled? Why not be more in step with the times like other suburbs, including Oak Park?

With reasonable regulations, why not welcome a few cheerful chickens?

Richard Frisbie

Arlington Heights