Hey all, I'm new here! And yes, I unfortunately live in non-chicken friendly Plano.
My husband and I are dying to have some chickies in our backyard for eggs! One of the main reasons is because if we control what our chickens eat, then we can avoid the GMO grains fed to commercial chickens (and yes even in some "organic" poultry) in our chicken's feed, and thus have healthier eggs. I have Lyme disease and when I eat foods that are striclty stated and regulated Non-GMO, I get better. When I eat foods that have them (like any corn products, cooking oils at restaurants, soybeans, and god only knows how many other items the public doesn't know about) I get much, much worse. My doc says he sees the same thing in other patients he has with diseases that suppress the immune system.....the GMO "Franken-foods" stress the immune system badly as our bodies try to process them as foreign objects-which is what they are. When his patients eat as many Non-GMO foods, they get better....
So for me backyard chickens are a matter of health, especially now that even Monsanto's GMO Alfalfa has been approved for mass use by our "wonderful" government-goodbye most organic beef, chicken, pork, and milk...as bees that pollinate GMO Alfalfa will contamintat the Non-GMO crops as well. I have a strict organic Non-GMO vegetable garden, and something as simple as chickens along with it, could be a HUGE health benefit! (Not to mention; it would also be great to have the pets and fun that comes along with them as my husband and I are big animal lovers)
I recently joined Jay's Plano Chicken Facebook group, and now I'm in the process of a letter campaign to city officials. Does anyone know who the best people to send these letters to is, or should I just send them to everyone; ie, the mayor, city manager, and all the district council members?
For any of you in Plano, please, please join the FB group and lets REALLY start pushing the issue and bombarding the city officials with letters, etc!!
Have family and friends in Plano that may not want chickens for themselves? See if like a few of my friends have agreed, if they will write a short letter in favor of allowing backyard chickens in Plano. Sadly, this city used to be so friendly with a feel of a smaller town, and now that it's soooooo overcrowded, it has become a rude, cold, concrete jungle...Perhaps chickens could do a lot for people living here to get back to the "older" style Plano we used to love, and could even be a great stress release for many people here. It's to the point we're ready to move to another city if Plano keeps saying no, (I don't want my tax dollars going to them, if I can't even keep "food" at my own house) but I plan on going down fighting first!
Cheers!
Cyn
PS-Been lurking at BYC for a while now, and absolutely love all of the wonderful, helpful info!!
