Hey everyone, I live in Auburn Maine.
I rescued a egg factory hen and had her for 2 years before I rescued a day old peep with a twisted leg, after that I found a chicken on the side of the road (had fallen off a chicken truck!- lucky her!). Its was about 2.5-3 yrs I had these birds....
...when suddenly 'someone' got bored and complained about Bunny, Peep and Delilah. One day the dog officer came strutting around snooping and left a message for me to contact the city hall. So that I did! I sent a long well written email with links to sites such as this 'proving chickens can be pets'....people keep parrots (which I think are messier and louder so why not chickens- I'd keep them in a room in my house if I had to!?)
I also remarked that I am home nearly all the time and my chickens are not loud, smelly or dirty. It was my right to live 'naturally' as life intended and in protest to egg farm cruelty. But MOST importantly i lived in a GHETTO and if I had to sit on my porch and smell cigarette smoke and pot while listening to screeching tires, blairing radios, drunks, parents swearing at screaming children while dogs barked obnoxiously all day long...365 days/yr....then I'll be darn if I'm going to give up my chickens because they are 'bothering' someone else! (I stated it just like that too!)
I then explained that the person who most likely called was my cranky nosey elderly neighbor who used to work for the city hall herself and has nothing better to do now than to spy on us to make sure we are being 'law abiding citizens' (she once called me to tell me the liscence plate sticker on my visiting friends car had expired) shes also complained my fence was too high(inhibited her 'spying' I guess), called the town to come out and make sure we had a permit for the deck we were building.
Later I aproached her about someone reporting me (she said she DIDN'T) but admitted that she had a problem with the 'seeds and sunflower shells' in her yard and the 'odor'. I INFORMED her that the SEEDS/SHELLS were from the SQUIRREL FEEDER and that the 'odor' is that my elderly male dog has been peeing in the same spot on my wood fence for 5 years so the fence does smell.
ARG!!!
The city clerk came out to 'assess' my birds finding they were NOT smelly, they were NOT noisey and they WERE friendly and came when called by name.
I think she was afraid to make me angry (as I made it CLEAR I was) So at least I WON!!! YAY! but only a SMALL victory since I cant get anymore birds than the 3 I have. Its a victory just the same as I didnt have to give up my feathered friends.....
Good luck to all you fighters!!!!! May you win one for your birds!
Dont take it passively- Make your points and drive them home- and be a 'pitbull' about it!!!!
I've had neighbors comment to my husband when he bumped into them at the grocery store that they "can here our rooster 'crowing'"....My husband just said: "funny, we don't have a rooster, must be someone elses..."
That just shows you how stupid some people really are if they dont even know the sound of a ROOSTER crowing---we have hens and NO one else remotely near us has chickens...we DO however have seagulls and crows that sit on the roof tops early mornings....DUR!!!
so don't let the 'stupid people' take away your lively hood and your natural rights!
e
I rescued a egg factory hen and had her for 2 years before I rescued a day old peep with a twisted leg, after that I found a chicken on the side of the road (had fallen off a chicken truck!- lucky her!). Its was about 2.5-3 yrs I had these birds....
...when suddenly 'someone' got bored and complained about Bunny, Peep and Delilah. One day the dog officer came strutting around snooping and left a message for me to contact the city hall. So that I did! I sent a long well written email with links to sites such as this 'proving chickens can be pets'....people keep parrots (which I think are messier and louder so why not chickens- I'd keep them in a room in my house if I had to!?)
I also remarked that I am home nearly all the time and my chickens are not loud, smelly or dirty. It was my right to live 'naturally' as life intended and in protest to egg farm cruelty. But MOST importantly i lived in a GHETTO and if I had to sit on my porch and smell cigarette smoke and pot while listening to screeching tires, blairing radios, drunks, parents swearing at screaming children while dogs barked obnoxiously all day long...365 days/yr....then I'll be darn if I'm going to give up my chickens because they are 'bothering' someone else! (I stated it just like that too!)
I then explained that the person who most likely called was my cranky nosey elderly neighbor who used to work for the city hall herself and has nothing better to do now than to spy on us to make sure we are being 'law abiding citizens' (she once called me to tell me the liscence plate sticker on my visiting friends car had expired) shes also complained my fence was too high(inhibited her 'spying' I guess), called the town to come out and make sure we had a permit for the deck we were building.
Later I aproached her about someone reporting me (she said she DIDN'T) but admitted that she had a problem with the 'seeds and sunflower shells' in her yard and the 'odor'. I INFORMED her that the SEEDS/SHELLS were from the SQUIRREL FEEDER and that the 'odor' is that my elderly male dog has been peeing in the same spot on my wood fence for 5 years so the fence does smell.
ARG!!!
The city clerk came out to 'assess' my birds finding they were NOT smelly, they were NOT noisey and they WERE friendly and came when called by name.
I think she was afraid to make me angry (as I made it CLEAR I was) So at least I WON!!! YAY! but only a SMALL victory since I cant get anymore birds than the 3 I have. Its a victory just the same as I didnt have to give up my feathered friends.....
Good luck to all you fighters!!!!! May you win one for your birds!
Dont take it passively- Make your points and drive them home- and be a 'pitbull' about it!!!!
I've had neighbors comment to my husband when he bumped into them at the grocery store that they "can here our rooster 'crowing'"....My husband just said: "funny, we don't have a rooster, must be someone elses..."
That just shows you how stupid some people really are if they dont even know the sound of a ROOSTER crowing---we have hens and NO one else remotely near us has chickens...we DO however have seagulls and crows that sit on the roof tops early mornings....DUR!!!
so don't let the 'stupid people' take away your lively hood and your natural rights!
e
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