According to the American Pet Producers Association 8% of the households in our region of the country have backyard chickens.  With this trend growing in urban and suburban areas, and specifically among Millennial and Gen Z populations, the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service offered a Successful Backyard Poultry program at both of our locations.  This program was holistically designed to include breed selection, equipment needs, feed, sanitation practices and flock biosecurity.   In addition, the program also included Nutrition Education Program agent to address egg handling, nutrition of eggs, and safe cooking temperature.  

There were two program sessions offered of this program.  There were 41 participants that attended.  A few weeks after the program a phone survey was done.  When asked how if their views of backyard poultry had changed, 35% said they realize that they intend to safely handle their birds, because they were now aware of how easily salmonella can be transmitted.  Forty percent of the participants now feel they can make informed decisions about breed selection for their backyard.  The growing concern of disease outbreaks at commercial poultry operations and the satisfaction of raising their own food were the number one reasons why the participants wished to have chickens.  While a majority of the urban residents considered their chickens as pets, nearly half of them plan to implement better cleanliness and safe bird handling. Nearly half of the participants indicated that they were confident that they could safely handle fresh eggs and cook poultry to the correct temperature. There were two local city council women in the afternoon session from a neighboring city.  These two residents indicated that their city was considering allowing backyard chickens in their neighborhoods and that this sort of class could benefit more residents.   After the program ANR Agent, Dan Allen, reached out to the city administrator to see if he could help him.   This has led to a conversation about offering a similar class as part of their city’s application process to have chickens in their neighborhoods.