Experiences with town zoning not allowing chickens?

[ozark hen]

Quote:
I am so sorry to hear of your problem, just another note to add: A woman who owned a pet pot-bellied pig fought city hall and had the media involved for over a year in a small town near here. She still lost her fight with them and was so heartbroken to have to get rid of her pet...another thing to keep in mind...heartbreak. I totally agree, if we own our property we should have complete control over it. I pray I never have to live in town again. Good luck to you.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

It would be nice if we could have complete control over our own property, but that just isn't realistic. I would love to have a cow, but my 25' X 64' backyard is not the appropriate place for either the cow or would be appreciated by my neighbors who would have to put up with it. Some laws are necessary because there are always people who will have 64 dogs on their property if the laws didn't prevent it, not caring how it affected the people around them.

Stacey - I think it's wonderful that you're involving your daughter in this process. What a great experience for her. We'll be as supportive as you need in order to help her make the case. It already helps you that the neighboring towns have more lenient rules. Do take a look at the list on the website Mary provided and copy down pertinent ones to include with your presentation. I would also encourage others to provide sources for backyard poultry raising to help in your research. One such book is "Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces by Barbara Kilarski" who shares stories of the three little chickens she raises in her garden in the *other* Portland. That might make an interesting comparison. She has a list of city regulations regarding chickens in the city in the back of the book.

Another source for you to use is the Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html to research the quietest breeds appropriate for your backyard.

As a mom of an 11 and 9 year old, I can tell you that chickens make great pets. I'll have to see if I can drum up the picture I took the other day or my 11 year old sitting on the tree swing under our orange tree holding all three of our little chickens.

Also, I seem to recall that at the other BYC, a poster named Halloweena managed to change her city codes. I haven't seen her around in a while, but she had an online petition through the newspaper that people were able to sign. Of course, she got both negative and positive comments, but many people from here signed in support.

Good luck!

 

[SeaChick]

Thanks everyone. Olivia has drafter a letter that she's going to bring around to our neighbors to get signatures of support before approaching the city councilor. That presentation will probably be much like this letter, so if anyone has any good points that we've overlooked, please let us know.
Stacey

Dear Neighbor,

My name is Olivia Collins and I am your neighbor at 35 Keswick Road. I would like to have 2 or 3 pet chickens (hens only, no roosters!) Hens are wonderful pets. They are a lot quieter than dogs or parrots, and if they are taken care of as pets, they do not smell!

Also, I think it is important to the environment to practice sustainable living. I grow radishes, carrots, and lettuce in my garden. My pet hens will give us fresh organic eggs (which we will be happy to share with our neighbors) and I will be able to fertilize my garden with their composted droppings. Chickens also eat lots of bugs which is good for the neighborhood. My parents say that it will also be a good lesson in responsibility.

Many cities in America, even large cities like Seattle, Burlington, Portland OR, Chicago, Miami and New York, allow and actively encourage backyard chickens because of the value to the community. They even have classes and seminars! Cape Elizabeth allows chickens, and Westbrook is about to change their zoning ordinance to allow up to 4 chickens per household. South Portland’s law is left over from a time when they wished to prohibit commercial livestock-raising in residential neighborhoods, but my hens will be pets, not farm animals. They will not be smelly and noisy like roosters and farm poultry.

I need to write a letter to our city councilor to try to get an amendment to allow my hens, and I want to make sure that my neighbors have no objections before I do. If you don’t mind, would you please sign this letter of support?

Sincerely,

Olivia T. Collins

 

[Backyard Buddies]

What a nice letter! If I could suggest something. . . Either your daughter is an exceptional writer, or you may want to tone down some of the wording like "actively encourage" "wished to prohibit" and "residential neighborhoods" unless you're writing it from an adult's perspective. A ten year old is more likely to just use "allow" "didn't want" and "regular neighborhoods." Also, for your daughter's safety, you may not want to give her full name and address. "My name is Olivia and I am your neighbor on Keswick Road" would be sufficient.

Here are some pictures for your use, if you would like:

My son with his chickens:

Our coop in our garden (notice how close the neighbor's house is. They've never complained!):

Our girls celebrating their birthday this past month:

Hope this helps!

 

[ozark hen]

backyard buddies, of course you are right about not having everything we want if we live in town. Your pictures are so cute. Love the birthday cake for the chickens.

 

[Betsy]

Stacey, my heart really goes out to you. It must be really frustrating to live in a city that doesn't allow chickens. The city that's just north of me doesn't allow livestock of any kind.. and now they want to consolidate with the county where I live. Keep in mind that though the county is mostly developed now, there's still rural areas... and a large Amish community in the eastern part of the county. The eastern part of the county is now talking about consolidating to resist the city..alas, I'm on the wrong side of the road so may have to fight in the future to keep my birds.
Good luck on your fight to be able to keep chickens; those of us with chickens ( and other poultry) need to band together and work hard to overcome those ridiculous city ordinances across the country that forbid people to keep poultry.

 

[quiltymare]

Sorry... just gotta pop in here and say... SHELLY! You totally rock. You always have such well thought out advice. Tell Marc I like his new hair do... and the girls look great!

Olivia sounds like a wonderful young woman. You have my support... and prayers. I hope this turns out well for you. Chickens are wonderful pets.

 

[SeaChick]

Thanks again everyone.... here's the update:

Olivia went round to all the neighbors and gave them the letter (which, by the way, is her own vocabulary, she's that kind of kid!) and a list of her facts and arguments, and made a littel presentation to the neighbors. Out of the 20 or so houses we visited, all of them gave her support. Only one or two had momentary concern, "Are they going to be noisy?" but we were delighted and surprised that the overwhelming reaction was of total support. Many paople said things like, "Oh I love chickens!" and "It will be nice to hear them clucking again."

So Olivia considers "phase 1" a success. Phase II is that she sets up a meeting with our local city councilor and asks them to please take this to the city council for consideration. If the city councilor says NO, then we go to the press, I guess. We've a politician/lawyer friend who is advising her.

I'm really hoping that the city councilor takes on her case. If they do, I think it might be safe to get the chicks then. Because if we wait till it's all totally over it may be a year or more. WEll, we'll see how it goes.

Anyway thanks for your help and supprt and photos!

Stacey & Olivia

 

[chickenfeathers]

Check out this link:

http://www.madcitychickens.com/

 

[MTchick]

Stacey-

I hope that letter works well for you- I think it is a great idea and an outstanding learning experience for your daughter!

As a total side note; Cats hate not being able to dig to poop. You could gently lay down some chicken wire (ironic) on the beds when the seedlings are young so that your plants grow through it. The cat will not be able to dig in the soil without hitting the wire at the surface and will find another "box." Cats also can't dig with obstacles in the way, so laying bricks or rocks on the surface of problem areas (softball size rocks or bricks max 3-4 inches apart) will prevent the cat, too.

-MTchick