It's no joke: Chickens home to roost in CdA

Backyard chicken farmers in Coeur d'Alene have something to crow about, as long as they're not doing it with any roosters within city limits.

During their meeting Tuesday, City Council members repealed part of the city's recently adopted, updated animal ordinances -the section that placed a cap of three on the number of hens a city resident can raise.

It's back to unlimited chickens for city dwellers, as long as they aren't allowed to run free, and they don't create odor or noise problems.

And no roosters.

All the recent talk about chickens has made one thing abundantly clear. The birds make some of the most entertaining fodder for serious discussion.

What came first? The chicken or the ordinance?

It's nearly impossible to write or talk about chickens without interjecting a little comedy.

City Councilman Mike Kennedy said at Tuesday's meeting that during the last few weeks he's heard more chicken jokes than he's ever heard in his life.

Pro-chicken people who gave public testimony in opposition to limiting the number of birds talked about the "ruffled feathers" of some who want domestic fowl banned from the city.

There was talk of "fowl language."

Councilman Ron Edinger even said there had been some chicken-centric newspaper articles recently that he calls "comics."

Well, that's because chickens inspire hilarious lame jokes, and those birds just don't care. They keep on making us laugh.

Maybe that's why so many of us find them so endearing, and more and more people are setting up backyard coops.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

It's the most famous, truly terrible joke of all time.

I don't know why it crossed the road, I just hope it wasn't Sherman Avenue because its owner will get in trouble for that. — Maureen Dolan