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5/1/23, 2:26 PM Raising backyard chickens requires money, time and pluck. Here's how to do it <br />https://www.startribune.com/raising-backyard-chickens-requires-money-time-and-pluck-heres-how-to-do-it/600271307/2/5 <br />The backyard chicken renaissance lifted off the ground — awkwardly, slightly, like a <br />prairie chicken flapping into a tree — during the pandemic. Food supply lines tapered to <br />a trickle. Anxieties abounded about the origin of meat to milk to eggs. In response, <br />communities in Minnesota adopted backyard-flock-friendly ordinances. <br />Hopkins passed an ordinance — after initial rebuffing — in August 2020. International <br />Falls voted down an ordinance. Mankato is still mulling one. But Thief River Falls, in the <br />heart of the commercial turkey belt, asks for just $25, viewing an educational video and <br />passing a University of Minnesota-administered test. <br />The work has rousted Abby Schuft, a poultry educator with University of Minnesota <br />Extension. In addition to working with the commercial industry, Schuft educates would- <br />be buyers about the logistics of owning a backyard flock. <br />This often involves dampening expectations. <br />"If you don't take care of your dog and do the minimum maintenance, like a rabies shot <br />or a kennel cough vaccine, there's going to be a risk," Schuft said. "It's the same with <br />birds." <br />Would-be bird owners might dream of waking to roosters and gathering golden-brown <br />eggs with orange yokes. But Schuft said to buttress such aspirations against reality. In <br />Minnesota, those birds need warmth much of the year. And roosters? Many cities don't <br />even allow them. (Minneapolis actually does, but you'll need written consent from at <br />least 80% of your neighbors within 100 feet your property, since the cockerel might <br />subject them to some sunrise cock-a-doodle-doos.) <br />Most importantly, Schuft said, backyard birds deserve freedom from hunger, thirst, <br />discomfort, injury, disease and distress. Flock-minders should also allow birds to express <br />normal behaviors. <br />But there are concerns for the bird-owner, too. <br />Around the cluck care <br />Birds can also be vectors for disease. In 2021, the Minnesota Department of Health <br />counted 56 persons across the state infected with salmonella associated with live <br />poultry. And birds can also transfer disease to other birds. <br />Earlier this month, the first case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, which devastated <br />commercial turkey operations in Minnesota last year, came from a domesticated, <br />backyard flock of roughly 100 birds in Le Sueur County near the Minnesota River. <br />The U.S. Department of Agriculture has found most cases of bird flu transmit to <br />domesticated flocks from wild, migratory birds. While commercial operations often <br />rigorously test birds, experts say the backyard flocks — which naturally live outdoors <br />and might mingle with other birds — need vigilance, too, to prevent the spread of fatal <br />viruses. <br />A D V E R T I S E M E N T <br />Put us <br />to work <br />for you.