Sacramento gardening activists want to take urban agriculture to the next level and legalize raising chickens in your back yard.

"It's really been a hot topic lately," said Jaclyn Hopkins, volunteer coordinator for Environmental and Agricultural Taskforce Sacramento. "A lot of cities are changing their regulations to allow chicken-keeping, and Sacramento's on it's way."

EAT Sacramento and its partner group Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping (CLUCK) were founded this year to advocate for more sustainable and organic gardening in the city. To promote the cause of backyard chicken coops, CLUCK will be hosting screenings of the indie documentary Mad City Chickens at the Guild Theatre Friday at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and again at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $5 and available at the door.

Mad City Chickens is equal parts entertainment and educational outreach. The film is an intelligent, sometimes-comic look at the relationships between city-dwelling humans and the chickens they raise, following the intersecting stories of various families, professionals and birds. The plot centers around the grassroots movement to legalize chicken-keeping in Madison City, Wisconsin, which successfully changed its city code in 2004. The film's two directors, Tashai Lovington and Robert Lughai, are on tour with the film and will host discussions after both screenings on Friday. They will have moved on to San Francisco by Sunday.

This screening is part of a concerted effort to change Sacramento law on behalf of the birds.

Under current city law, clucking, flightless egg-layers cannot be kept as pets due to an ordinance that bans the non-agricultural raising of any livestock. City laws for the city were changed to prohibit chickens in 1989. The same language that bans chickens also bans most other barnyard animals: horses, mules, sheep, goats, etc.

"It was part of a sweeping ban to make Sac look like a modern city," CLUCK coordinator Abbie Crouch said. "But nowadays, people want to get back in touch with their roots."

After researching the ban for months, EAT Sacramento is still unsure why city government chose to outlaw chickens specifically. Perhaps it was, as Crouch said, to solidify Sacramento's development from a 'cow town' to a metropolitan urban center. Alternatively, it could also have been intended to deal with occasional complaints about noise, odor or chicken mistreatment.

Whatever the case, the ban hasn't stuck. Rogue Sacramento chicken-keepers still hatch, feed, house and learn to love their feathered friends in spite of the law.

"There's a surprisingly large chicken underground, "Crouch said. "A lot of people don't mind breaking the law." CLUCK estimates there are hundreds of backyard chickens in the city.

It's legal to raise chickens most anywhere else in California. San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose have all okayed backyard cooping, as have our neighbors in Roseville, Oakland and (of course) Davis.

Sacramento County code allows anyone to raise chickens as long as they have a yard larger than 10,000 square feet, which closes off most city residents but allows folks in Fair Oaks to raise chickens with much gusto.

Regulations usually place a cap on maximum number of chickens (about four to six per family) and add that chickens must be kept at least 20, 25, or 40 feet from neighboring structures. Los Angeles has no limits on how many hens one family can raise. Hens are tranquil, quiet and well-mannered, but their boyfriends can present a problem. Roosters are almost never legal, as they tend to pick fights and crow at godawful times of the day, and even after all that they don't contribute anything toward egg-laying. Slaughtering chickens is also illegal almost everywhere, as some serious health concerns start to enter the picture.

If chickens could talk, they'd be vocal supporters of backyard raising. Animal rights activists brought new attention to the relative brutality of factory farm conditions with the passage of Proposition 2 in the 2008 general election. Prop. 2 will require significant improvements in animal treatment for California meat and poultry industries in 2015. Those improvements reveal how constrictive factory cages are; Prop 2's requirements were simply for animals to have enough space to stand up and turn around.

Comparatively, backyard chickens have massive coops and a great deal more TLC. "Backyard chickens tend to live pretty sweet lives," Hopkins said.

It doesn't take much to really spoil a chicken. A little space to scratch around, a comfy enclosure for laying, feed to peck at, and as a treat, some grass to gobble from time to time. These are simple pleasures that anyone with a backyard can provide.

"Everybody could raise a chicken or two," Crouch said "They're easier to take care of than more conventional pets like dogs."

Raising chickens can enhance life for you and your chicken, according to new scientific studies. Chickens get an easy, comfortable living and you get fresh eggs that knock out the supermarket in terms of quality. Two recent Penn State studies have shown that free-range hens produce healthier eggs, richer in nutrients and Omega-3 fats, and studies of a less-academic nature have confirmed that free-range eggs taste terrific.

Crouch said that chickens can make great pets, too. "Not only do you get delicious food, you get some evening entertainment."

Even though they may have brains more like dinosaurs than like cats or dogs or hamsters, chickens can be a kind of companion animal. Chickens can hop on your lap and get friendly, and they generally like being petted. "And it sounds silly, but you can have a beer on the porch and watch your chickens be cute and do stupid stuff in your back yard," Crouch said.

Legalizing and regulating chicken culture in Sacramento would have benefits across the board, CLUCK members surmise. Documenting the number of chickens in the city is one perk, and increased attention could also allow for better disease control or donation of deceased chickens to local colleges.

"When we talk to city council, we usually keep things loose to allow for the development of regulations," said Hopkins. At present, CLUCK is looking at a six chicken maximum and a mandatory distance between coop and home.

The eggs of reform are incubating, according to EAT and CLUCK representatives.

"It's now just a matter of when," Hopkins said.

For information on CLUCK and EAT Sacramento

•Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping, a subsidiary campaign of EAT Sacramento
info@EATsacramento.org or 916-551-1883

•Mad City Chickens on Friday, 7:00 and 9:30 and Sunday at 7:00
Guild Theatre
Post screening discussion with independent filmmakers Tashai Lovington & Robert Lughai, of Tarazod Films