ALERT FOR CHICAGO CHICKEN OWNERS

[Mac]

LindaN, so sorry to hear about this. I'm fairly certain you could count on a couple thousand folks on this forum to write letters on your behalf. Yeah, we might not live in Chicago, but sometimes just the sheer number of responses can heighten awareness.

If you have any relationship with your neighbors, I would enlist their support, since they could verify the cleanliness, and (jeezzz...) the absence of blood and guts scattered about your back yard after a full moon.

The power of the internet is a tool that might be used here. I know if you gave me the name and addresses I'd be sticking a stamp on the envelope right now and heading for the post office. I hate stuff like this! Been there before, just not with chickens.

The best to you,
Mac

 

[tiffanyh]

Wouldnt people who already have chickens get grandfathered in????

 

[SpottedCrow]

How did I forget about Oprah?

None of the religions that I'm involved with do animal sacrifices...
We're more likely to give baked goods, milk, wine or sometimes corn pollen. Or even left overs from our meals.

Santeria is the only one that commonly sacrifices animals, starting with goats and sheep, then moving onto birds. Rooster have the most powerful blood magic, after the 4 footed animals and more than say a duck or a guinea fowl.
Any ijit that says the "Satanists did it" is completely clueless.

 

[eggzettera]

Oprah - perfect, she is trying to get more "green". I can just see it now - look under you seat you are ALL getting a couple of starter pullets, feed, scratch & a portable coop....I wanna be there for THAT show. Or better yet let me die now and come back as Oprah's pet chicken.....nah, she has to many dogs.....

Show Ideas for Oprah: https://www.oprah.com/plugger/templates/BeOnTheShow.jhtml?action=respond&plugId=B2100004

By the way the edit was to add Oprah's Show Idea link. Feel free and post away.....

 

[LindaN]

Great ideas, everyone! Thanks for all of your support.

I'm going to leverage a LOT of the info on the Collins' South Portland "Support Backyard Chickens" site. Many of our city residents are supportive of greener living initiatives, as is our mayor, and I want people to understand that this is a green issue, too.

Oprah's coverage is national; maybe this is an issue she's interested in, with the Chicago angle being just a minor story line. I wonder if the Collins family would want to come to Chicago to appear on Oprah?

I'll also keep corresponding to the local press, like the newspaper that printed the story, the "Chicago Tonight" program on our local public televison station WTTW, and our local public radio station, WBEZ.

No way I want to give up my hens!!!

 

[SpottedCrow]

I just posted the Oprah show...oy...

 

[Mac]

Don't forget Martha Stewart. Not in Chicago, but she is very national and she DOES have chickens!

 

[Nichole77]

So you sign your kids up for 4H and you sign up to show a bird at the fair and you ask to get a license. And you don't have them for eggs. Nope they are organic pest control. And you could fight to have them grandfathered in because you had them before the ordinance. If there is a problem with that I am sure that many people have structures such as fences and sheds that are beyond new codes that code enforcement can spend all day making people remove. Good luck.