Chicago aldermen are poised to ban chickens from people’s back yards, perhaps as soon as today’s full city council meeting. The measure slipped through the council’s health committee quietly. The sole citizen who testified at that hearing argued urban chickens spread more than droppings and noise—their stray feed can attract rats.

But there’re Chicagoans who see a bright side to urban chicken ownership. One is Martha Boyd, who directs an outreach program for the Angelic Organics Learning Center.

Chicago Public Radio's Shawn Allee asked Boyd why no one heard a peep from the city’s pro-chicken forces on this issue.