fed for layin hens would run you about 3 or 4 bucks a week per hen, that works out to be about 14 bucks a month per hen, cheaper than feeding the average dog & dogs don't produce anything for the expense. As for the teenagers, If Idecide to get chikens, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc I should be the one taking care of the animals not the kids, my kids have to take care of their own animals (one has fish & the other a rat). Most don't raise ANY animal because of the price savings, they raise em for pets/show or to know where their food is coming from. Kind of the same idea as hobbies, you don't have them for the money, you have them for the enjoyment it brings you. As for the smell, wonder if we can get alot of the perfumes, resturants and air fresheners banned, many ofthose smell worse than any animal waste, especially if you clean up after your animal like you are supposed too.

drr Chicken poop does smellMy mom kept chickens .Most house holds the people do work leaveing kids with sitters or at home. A teenager now days is not going to go out & clean up coops. The cost of food will not off set price of eggs. as abbott said they only lay for about 18 months then it's chick & dumplins if hen not too tough

Am I the only who finds it ridiculous that one currently must pay an extortation fee (aka permit) of not tens or hundreds, BUT of thousands of dollars, in order to do what people have done for millions of years, which is feed themselves. Funny aint it? Oh and yes only roosters are noisy. Take them out of the equation and add an enclosed coop and problem solved.

What about people who can't afford to live in a house with a yard? Can those people who live in an apartment have chickens on their small porches? And if you live in a high crime apartment area, the gang bangers will probably steal the chickens anyway.

Not sure about your amily but my famiy would have more than enough eggs with the average hen laying 18 eggs a month if we could have 2 hens. You only keep hens for about 14 month since egg production slows, at that point you have meat for the pot. I did notice that roosters would still be banned & free range would not be allowedall birds would need to be caged. This being said the average mutt in this town makes more noise & causes more mess than a couple birds would do.

rvlady, chicken poop doesn't really smell. It's just messy. And maybe they would raise the chickens for the fresh eggs, even though they would have to pay a little extra to feed them. Some people make enough money to where that issue isn't a big deal. And you say everyone works "now days", so you wonder who will feed, water, and clean up after them? When was the last time you checked the unemployment rates here locally. Not everyone works. And if the chickens are kept in a coop, as will be required, how can cats get to them?

I don't want chickens next door to me. I like to enjoy our patio & hot tub without smelling chicken poop! They wouldn't get enough eggs to pay for feed. When everyone works now days who's going to feed, water & cleanup after the,also keep cats away from trying to get to them?

And what do roosters do at what time in the morning every morning?

Carpe Diem, I would be careful with who I call an idiot. "What does Mexico has to do with this?" It should be "What does Mexico HAVE to do with this?" And "You are dumb as it gets", should be "You are AS dumb as it gets". I'm not trying to correct your bad grammar, just pointing out to be careful when you call someone an idiot.

I have to vote NO on this. I vote no not because I don't want folks to be able to raise their own food, (I raise many of my own veggies), but because I know how people are. The vocal few who want chickens in the city will probably care properly for them, but there will be others who will abuse this law. They will get too many. They will lose interest when it gets too hard to care for them. Then, the animals will suffer as usual in this town. Who will enforce this law? Because it will have to be enforced, believe me. If this city had shown itself as responsible concerning pets or animals, then I could probably support this, but Bakersfield residents for the most part, have shown themselves as totally irresponsible when it comes to animal care. Every decade or so, "urban farming", although called different things, comes up. Veggies are one thing, but caring for living things that can and will be starved to death when people lose interest cannot be allowed.