USDA Chicken Census

Posted by Shannon Spurlock, Community Initiatives Coordinator

Some people like to count their chickens before they are hatched. Not the USDA. For the Poultry 2010: Chicken Census and Survey, the USDA is counting and documenting the number of backyard chickens living in the Denver metro area. And, if you decide to help them (anonymously, of course) to better understand urban agriculture in Denver, there is even a golden egg for you.

USDA chicken census/survey at market Saturday, July 17, 9-2. The government finally gets serious about studying us backyard farmers! This Poultry 2010 study of backyard chicken farmers will occur in four major US cities: Denver, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Urban chicken owners in these cities will be asked to participate in the study by completing a brief survey about their chickens. Participating will: (a) help poultry experts at area universities and the USDA develop educational information for the benefit of chicken owners, (b) evaluate the potential impacts of diseases that affect chickens and humans, and (c) determine trends in urban chicken ownership. Participants must own chickens and live on less than one acre in the greater Denver metro area, bounded roughly by 120^th Avenue on the north, 470 on the east and south, and Indiana/Youngfield/Union/Kipling on the west. Each participant will get a $10 certificate to use in Denver Urban Homesteading’s Farmers’ Market on that Saturday. Participation is anonymous and no names or addresses are collected.