Help!!!

[mothrhen]

OMG! Aoxa! Didn't I recently PM you about a white bird in some pics you posted? This is terrible and selling my house is just what I would do too!! Please keep us posted on your situation. If the odd white bird needs a rehome in the meantime. . .

 

[aoxa]

OMG!  Aoxa!  Didn't I recently PM you about a white bird in some pics you posted?  This is terrible and selling my house is just what I would do too!!  Please keep us posted on your situation.  If the odd white bird needs a rehome in the meantime. . .

I don't seem to have a message from you :/

Yes. The chickens stay, the village goes.

Fortunately I have in-laws that live in a rural setting with a barn that is gorgeous. My fiance used to own two horses, so they will have plenty of space! I am looking forward to the move, but that doesn't make me any less angry that someone would do this to me in the first place. My neighbour (a really great friend) is heartbroken. She has grown so close to many of our chickens. Her face just fell apart when I told her. The kids around the village will also be heartbroken. All because of some horrible old people across the street! I know they aren't all bad.. but it's really hard to keep an open mind. We called the owner before he made a written complaint and explained how much we love our chickens and how devastated we would be if he complained. We told him if there was any actual issues (ie: rodents, smells, etc.) we would address them. He had nothing legitimate to complain about except the possibility of smells and rodents in the warm months.

 

[mothrhen]

AARRR! People!! I hope after you move out someone moves in with a bunch of delinquent teenagers!! Then they'll be prayin for chickens!! I wish people could just live and let live. Do you have a whiteish easter egger? I really thought it was you that I asked about a really cute mutt chick. Good luck with the move!

 

[aoxa]

AARRR! People!!  I hope after you move out someone moves in with a bunch of delinquent teenagers!!  Then they'll be prayin for chickens!!  I wish people could just live and let live.  Do you have a whiteish easter egger?  I really thought it was you that I asked about a really cute mutt chick.  Good luck with the move!

I wish I had an easter egger! Nope, not me.

Yes. I was going to paint my house rainbow to spite them, but that wouldn't sell easily

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

I am looking at purchasing some land to have even more chickens. When I say I checked in with my neighbors repeatedly the year before getting them, I mean repeatedly....and often. Who would have thought my ex would lash out like that? He hurt our daughter. That bothers me to no end too. I am fighting with everything. Check out the book by Patricia Foreman, City Chicks. It is filled with wealth of information on chickens, thinking outside the coop, and how to fight city hall. Get in touch with her and/or Andy Schneider, they are cohosts of the radio show The Chicken Whisperer. They will help you with the wording because they have helped so many and the emotional charge is all but absent from how they put things... They make a great deal of sense from the perspective of factual information presentation without the emotional sting of being told you can't keep your girls. Good luck! I will keep posting my progress. Contact your city council. That is the first step.

 

[AmyLM]

I feel SO bad for you guys!!

My husband and I purposefully bought a home just outside of city limits. This city doesn't allow chickens... but they also don't allow gerbils, guene (sp?) pigs, mice, rats, parrots, parakeets rabbits, the list goes on and on to the point of being truly and unbelievably ridicules. So I think if someone actually fought them on it the true ridiculousness of their ban will come out. Before buying the house we talked to our neighbors and not ONE of them wants to be incorporated, most also have animals which are not allowed w/in the city and would fight them on it. From what we were told, the city did try several years ago and they ended up with a packed town meeting full of my neighbors telling them point blank they wouldn't accept it happening. If it was only one person trying to change things, the city wouldn't take it seriously but when they are faced with a large enough group being reasonable showing why its a positive change then they may consider it.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I am looking at purchasing some land to have even more chickens. When I say I checked in with my neighbors repeatedly the year before getting them, I mean repeatedly....and often. Who would have thought my ex would lash out like that? He hurt our daughter. That bothers me to no end too. I am fighting with everything. Check out the book by Patricia Foreman, City Chicks. It is filled with wealth of information on chickens, thinking outside the coop, and how to fight city hall. Get in touch with her and/or Andy Schneider, they are cohosts of the radio show The Chicken Whisperer. They will help you with the wording because they have helped so many and the emotional charge is all but absent from how they put things... They make a great deal of sense from the perspective of factual information presentation without the emotional sting of being told you can't keep your girls. Good luck! I will keep posting my progress. Contact your city council. That is the first step.

You might want to consider a letter to Code Compliance detailing this; that the complaint is by your not quite ex-husband in a nasty divorce case that includes charges of child abuse against him (at least that is the way I read your post--it was not entirely clear if his hurting your daughter was abuse or by reporting your birds), and that your neighbors all support your having chickens.

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

The truth is, it doesn't matter to them. I am breaking code. Period. I am fighting city hall. I am doing what must be done to get the ordinances changed here in Virginia Beach. If there was no complaint, regardless of who made it, I would have continued on with my girls. I would have always had that little bit of fear in the back of my mind that I would be found out by the "wrong" person and this exact scenario would happen. This way, it is out in the open and I will blaze the trail for other's to not live in fear of losing their backyard chickens in Virginia Beach. Not only that, but making it so that other's who want to have chickens can, but won't because they are currently illegal. I have a place for them should it become temporarily necessary for me to relocate them. I won't allow them to be taken and just put anywhere or worse. I am filing an appeal with the city council and am asking for a temporary stay of their removal as I campaign to get the ordinance changed. Please keep my girls and my cause in your prayers and good thoughts! Thank you!!!

 

[Red12]

I know that this is hard to do financially but have you considered hiring an attorney to file suit against the city/township challenging the ordnance as constitutionally over-broad? (This is different from the action you are taking - fighting the citation and seeking to have the ordnance changed).

The first step in such an action would be seeking an injunction against the city's removal of the birds pending outcome of the suit. It will take some digging and a ton of phone calls, but I have to believe that there is an attorney somewhere in your state that believes in "homesteading", animal protection, animal rights, food safety, etc., that might be willing to take up that cause? If it were me, I'd call 5-10 law firms and public benefit organizations a day until I found one that could help.

You can also go to a "crowd-funding" website, where you can solicit donations to help try to achieve a financial goal - like litigation to overturn or change a local ordnance that is over broad and quite possibly unconstitutional. There are TONS of these websites, but here's a website that lists a few for starters:
http://www.webdistortion.com/2010/07/18/9-crowdfunding-websites-to-help-you-change-the-world/

Mean people suck - we've got one of those mean and vindictive types in our neighborhood, and while chickens are completely legal here, it won't stop her from calling the police or code compliance every time she gets a wild hair to cause someone trouble.

Red
North Texas

 

[I'm1chickencuddler]

Wow....it never occured to me to file a suit like what you are talking about. I do want to change this for my entire city, not just me. I would not be financially able to handle attorneys fees for such a thing now. I would get my divorce first(heheh). I will certainly check into your suggestion. I think it may work. I will also check the site you suggested for funding. Thank you!