Needed- Example letter to City Council members

[lazy gardener]

When you post your letter, or some time during this process, be very sure that you "go big". In other words, it would be foolish for your town to only allow 2 chickens. Chickens are flock animals, and therefore, IMO, the ordinances should allow a modest sized flock. Perhaps 6 - 12.

You also need to educate the town council regarding the needs of a chicken. One poster some time ago said she was allowed to have 6 chickens, BUT was restricted to 20 s.f. for coop and 40 s.f. for run, and the entire structure could not be over 48" tall. Such a limitation would only allow her to have 4 chickens, and the height restriction would have made it very difficult for her to provide adequate housing IF SHE WAS IN SNOW COUNTRY.

Does your town allow you to have a storage shed? If so, the same size allowances should be in place for your chicken coop. Does your town allow you to have a dog kennel? Do they put restrictions on kennel size? Expect the town to allow what ever freedom they give to dog owners to the chicken owner.

 

[DLI]

I agree this is a nationwide topic, so I'm happy to discuss it here. I don't have an example letter, but I can share my strategy and general thoughts. I researched common myths about keeping chickens and complaints that people have about chickens to understand what the concerns might be. From there I researched those topics to determine how to address it. I have talked about chickens in my city a few times and have raised some of these points:

• The number 1 reason people like chickens: Chickens provide a valuable low-cost food source.
• Chickens provide value as a pet, teaching kids about responsibility through caring for an animal who can love them back.
• Chickens divert waste from landfills. Up to 50% of all household waste is compostable and chickens are happy to eat much of that waste. Introducing chickens reduces the cost of disposing of waste.
• Chicken manure is recommended by the US Extension Colleges for use in composting when it is aged for 6 months prior to application as an effective means of eliminating the risk of disease.
• A dog's bark is 90 decibels and our city allows 4 dogs which has a cumulative maximum possible noise level of 100 decibels (sound pressure is a logarithmic scale).
• A hen's laying song is 60 decibels so it would take 12 hens producing noise at the exact same time to produce more noise than 1 dog.
• A rooster is as loud as a dog barking, though it tends to crow more often than dogs bark. Roosters can be kept in a way that helps them be quieter and they should not be regulated more strictly than dogs.
• If chicken food is not properly kept it can attract unwanted animals (e.g. mice). However, a homeowner can also make mistakes that attract mice by doing a bad job of composting, putting out birdseed, or putting out dog or catfood and yet most cities do not regulate those activities.
• A chicken's manure should not smell if processed properly. Cat and dog manure are generally advised not to add to a compost bin because of the risk of spreading disease to a garden.
• It takes 10 chickens to make as much poop as 1 large dog.
• Backyard Chickens present a health risk to humans from salmonella infections. However, wild birds (like geese) also present this risk as do reptiles like turtles. Dogs transfer diseases to humans such as worms that can cause blindness and even death. Dog-to-human worm infections occur at a very high rate, but we are so used to dogs in our lives that we do not judge it as a surprising risk.

You have to decide about processing birds and what tactic you plan to take.

May I use this info in my letter to a mayor

 

[SkiboJeff]

Greetings,

Here's some samples of comments I made to our city council. Maybe some of it could be of help to you.

 

[Chickie friend]

May I use this info in my letter to a mayor

Greetings,

Here's some samples of comments I made to our city council. Maybe some of it could be of help to you.

This thread is from 2017 and (most) of the posters aren't active anymore

 

[SkiboJeff]

This thread is from 2017 and (most) of the posters aren't active anymore

I did manage to move them from four to six. I'll give it a year and try to get the ordinance amended for a larger coop/run and more chickens. (Baby steps).

 

[Chickie friend]

I did manage to move them from four to six. I'll give it a year and try to get the ordinance amended for a larger coop/run and more chickens. (Baby steps).

Yay! That's great