How to own more than 7 chickens?

[Blooie]

Here we can have sheep, goats, cows, horses, mules, turkeys, ducks, chickens.....anything but swine.....in town. When I was on the council we drafted our town’s first animal ordinance. Some residents felt were going too far, others thought the ordinance wasn’t strong enough. Some wanted an outright ban on ‘farm animals” in town. But we’ve always had them in town. Trying to carve and build a town in a desert, coming by wagon and oxen in 1900, many of those pioneers were family and extended family, and each was given a large block of land. They began to eke out a living before the irrigation canal was completed. Part of that involved raising animals for meat, eggs, and milk. That tradition has been firmly imbedded in the residents. So suddenly banning animals and poultry went deeply against the grain. But as we grew and parts of those square blocks were inherited and/or sold off, living next door to a house that had a couple of steers in the back yard started to get, um, offensive.

Our job as a council was to come up with a way to accommodate both sides and not lose what made us unique. We did that by holding honest, open meetings with both camps, (most of whom had known each other anywhere from 10 years to 70 years) taking what we heard from both, and blending them. The ordinance we finally passed didn’t please everyone, but it works because we - as a community - make it work. That’s why I said what I did about following the rules, if not for yourself and because it’s the right thing to do, but those who will coming up behind wanting the chance to raise a few chickens themselves.