Urban chickens dumped

The downside of the growing trend of raising backyard hens in American cities is that hundreds of those chickens are being abandoned by owners who find raising fowl is more challenging than they thought.

Among the issues frustrating some urban-hen owners is the fact that hens lay eggs for only two years but live for 10 years or more, according to a recent NBC News story.

“Many areas with legalized hen-keeping are experiencing more and more of these birds coming in when they’re no longer wanted,” Humane Society of the United States spokesman Paul Shapiro was quoted as saying. “You get some chicks and they’re very cute, but it’s not as though you can throw them out in the yard and not care for them.”