The CDC apparently issued a warning against "kissing and snuggling" backyard chickens because of salmonella, and people are not handling it well. So let me shed light on a few things:
- Backyard chickens are viewed as quasi- or full pets by most of the people who own them. So yes, they kiss and snuggle them sometimes, for the exact same reasons you kiss or snuggle your dog, cat, emu, whatever.
- The warnings about salmonella have been issued for the last decade at least. I'm not trying to minimize that potential threat, but it's not a new thing.
- Owning a small number of chickens is legal in a bunch of cities. There's a fun documentary called Mad City Chickens about the push to legalize, and the lives of backyard chicken owners generally, in Madison Wisconsin.
- No, you don't need a rooster for hens to lay eggs. They do it on their own around the time when they become a pullet, which is like a young adult. Roosters are actually illegal in many of the places where hens are legal, which can put owners in a tough spot sometimes when they order chicks by mail, because it's a gamble how many will turn out to be one sex or the other.
- Roosters actually tend to be assholes. They develop spurs on their legs and can cause some real damage with them.
- Yes, some people do slaughter and eat their chickens when they no longer lay, or before then if they're raising the chickens for meat in the first place. That's normal. Farmers have done that for centuries. They do usually need to take them to a processor for slaughter, though, so it's not like they're killing chickens in their backyards.
- Chickens are freakin' cute. And loud, sometimes. And smelly. And they poop a lot. But they're also tiny dinosaurs who will hunt down grasshoppers and mice and such like a velociraptor if they have the opportunity.