Neighborhood "Open Coop" before Public Hearing: Seeing Info Flier

[JessicainOhio]

Our little town is in the midst of "reconsidering" it's lazze faire backyard chicken attitude. Currently chickens are only covered under existing pet ordinances, but the Zoning Commission is holding an open hearing for people to discuss new, more strict ordinances, or possibly banning chickens outright.

A few of us with exemplary backyard chickens (at least we think so

) are holding Open Houses (or "Open Coops") for neighbors to come by, see the ladies, and ask questions before the hearing. I'm about to put together a flier for visitors -- but before reinventing the wheel, I wanted to see if someone has such a flier already done that I could copy or cut/paste from.

Also, we plan on having some cookies & cider -- along with a tub of hand sanitizer. Any other ideas for making our coop look very normal & inviting?

-Jessica

 

[Kathryn4629]

Well lots of clean shavings of course. Maybe hold off that day from throwing kitchen scraps in the run, someone could claim that they might stink

.

Oh and have the "girls" make sure their feathers are nice and clean for the visitors.

Good Luck and keep us posted on how it goes!!!

 

[gryeyes]

A cute or pretty door mat for wiping off shoes once they get ready to depart. It's a nice acknowledgment that yes, you may step in chicken poo, but it's not a big deal!

You MIGHT also get a sprayer of Oxine and ask guests to spray their shoes as they enter your yard area, and explain WHY you'd ask them to do that. It may make an impression that YOU want to keep YOUR chickens safe from something somebody might bring into your yard. Bio-security and all that.

I just attended a BYC meet where the hostess had taken photographs of each chicken and printed them out on a sheet of paper with their names and their breeds, posted to the outside of the coop. I thought that was remarkably thoughtful and VERY fun!

 

[Baymule]

You might point out to city council that chickens help the landfill. How you ask? By keeping out much of the "green waste, grass trimmings, kitchen trimmings, etc" that you feed to the chickens. Think about it, what you used to throw in the trash is now food for your chickens and ultimately, food for you through their eggs. If more families kept chickens, it would recycle green waste and keep it out of the landfill.

By composting the chicken droppings and applying to your yard or garden, you are saving the water quality of your rivers and lakes by not using chemical fertilizers. The Mississippi River carries tons of chemical fertilizer run-off to the Gulf of Mexico and it has a dead zone bigger than the state of Rhode Island.

Your chickens provide you with stress free amusement and exert a calming influence on you, therefore you do not need anti-depressants. What's the big deal about not using anti-depressants? Well for one thing, you are not likely to miss a dose and go looking for a city council member to strangle, and for the other thing, once again your chickens contribute to pure water. It is a proven fact that many of the prescriptions people take pass out of our bodies through urine and enter the water table. Anybody for a drink??

 

[JessicainOhio]

Door mat: LOVE IT
No food scraps: CHECK

Baymule: Do I hear you recommending "adult" apple cider for the open house? Makes sense to me

Anybody have a flier? If not, I'd better post mine when I have it put together (but I'd rather do "real" work if I can).

 

[donrae]

I don't have a flier for you, but I'd also have some eggs out for display. I've found most people love the variety in size, shape and color. Too bad you don't have an EE to throw in some green eggs, those are a real conversation starter!

 

[Danaus29]

A good way to keep the smell down is to spread some peat moss in the pen in the evening. Might be a good idea the night before the big event.

I wish you luck. I can't understand why most people think dogs and cats are so great but go berserk when someone wants to keep an unusual pet or 2.

 

[elevan]

Where are you in Ohio?

 

[Godsgrl]

Quote:
I was thinking something along these lines too. If your visitors will be able to see into your coop, nest boxes, maybe leave some eggs in them. Nothing like seeing eggs in a nest in a clean chicken coop.

Best of luck with your project.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Quote:
Curious here, too.