Backyard Hens & the Agents

The Extension Agents bluegrass band supports growing your own food at your home or in your neighborhood. 

Help by supporting backyard hens in DC here!

When you grow your own food, you increase your food security, lower your reliance on fossil fuels, and gain a greater appreciation for where your food comes from.   

If you love fresh eggs, keeping hens is an easy and fun way to produce your own food. City dwellers can safely keep hens in a secure, sanitary way in backyards, and city folk all over the United States are doing just that!    Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City are just a few of dozens of cities that allow backyard hens.    

Washington DC residents are technically allowed to keep chickens, but the current Animal Control regulations require that coops be more than 50 feet away from any residence.  This is an arbitrary, unnecessary rule.  Rather than distance requirements, regulations should encourage responsible hen ownership by requiring (1) just hens, no roosters, (2) predator-proof coops that are kept clean, and (3) only up to five hens without a permit.    

Concerned about chicken poop or avian flu?   Check out the urban chicken network's defanging of those worries here.

Please join us in asking City Council and DC Animal Control to rewrite its regulations regarding hen ownership in the District by signing our petition.  

City hens love a good bluegrass party!