Please send an e-mail supporting backyard poultry!

[atlantachickenwhisperer]

Hello BYC Members,

I am helping Andrew Wordes fight the City of Roswell, Georgia regarding the keeping of backyard pet chickens. We were very successfull in Gulfport, Florida and want to keep winning! All three Atlanta TV stations have broadcast this story, and CNN will be at his court appearance on Thursday, as well as the local TV stations. I have invited Andrew, and the City of Roswell officials to come on the the radio show this Saturday to explain to the nation their side of the story. I have included the link to the local TV story about Andrew, as well as the e-mail addresses for the Roswell City Council. Please send an e-mail in support of keeping backyard pet chickens.

TV Story: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/18944232/index.html

Roswell City Council:

Post 1 Councilman Rich Dippolito [email protected]

Post 2 Councilwoman Becky Wynn [email protected]

Post 3 Councilman David Tolleson [email protected]

Post 4 Councilman Kent Igleheart [email protected]

Post 5 Councilman Jerry Orlans [email protected]

Post 6 Councilwoman Lori Henry [email protected]

Code Enforcement Office [email protected]

Planning and Zoning Director [email protected]

38 Hill Street, Suite G-30
Roswell, GA 30075
Phone: 770/ 641-3774
Fax: 770/641-3741

Listen live this Saturday as I interview Andrew, and maybe someone from the City of Roswell.

Listen Live Here: http://www.radiosandysprings.com/showpages/backyardpoultry.php

Thanks,

Chicken Whisperer

 

[cwc362]

I'm in - What do I need to do?

 

[atlantachickenwhisperer]

For starters please send an e-mail supporting Andrew, and the keeping of backyard pet chickens to the City Council members I have listed above. Phone calls to the above number works well too!

Thanks!

 

[ams3651]

this was my email if anyone wants suggestions

Please consider allowing residents of your community to keep back yard poultry. Many urban communities allow residents to keep 3 - 12 hens for egg production. With the state of the economy, keeping poultry has become increasingly popular and possibly necessary. As well as the movement to eat locally and with less chemicals people are keeping gardens and chickens to provide food for their families and fertilizer for their gardens. If kept properly chickens have no odor, hens make little noise, they do not attract rodents and they do reduce the insect population in your yard. I would like to refer you to www.backyardchickens.com for more information on responsible poultry keeping and to hear from owners.

 

[atlantachickenwhisperer]

Thank you so much for your support!

 

[cwc362]

Okay got it- Sorry I'm a little slow sometimes- I'll work and this later and let you know when I have sent the emails!

 

[farmerlor]

I sent a copy of this Denver Post article:

More cities welcome chickens
Shift in urban pecking order as consumers get picky about food
By Karen Auge
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/16/2009

Nick Theisen, 30, collects his hens' latest offerings on his 32-acre farm in Laporte. More than 100 cities across the country, including New York City and Miami, have decided in recent months to allow residents to keep chickens on their properties. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post )

All over Colorado, chickens are coming to homes to roost.

In the past year, Fort Collins and Longmont have changed ordinances to allow small backyard chicken flocks. In Durango, they're brooding over whether to do likewise. Boulder, Loveland and, on a chicken-by-chicken basis, Denver already allow them.

Just outside Fort Collins, in Laporte, feed- store owner Greg Michaud offers how-to classes for aspiring chicken-raisers but has had to limit them to 10 to 15 students.

In an otherwise tech-obsessed nation, people are embracing a lowly, dirt-scratching vestige of our agrarian past the chicken and seeing in it a path to a sustainable, healthy future.

Nationwide, more than 100 cities, spanning the urban
Nick Theisen 30, leaves his chicken house with the days eggs on the land he rents in La Porte where chickens have never been illegal. (The Denver Post | Joe Amon)
spectrum from New York to Salt Lake City, from Miami to Missoula, have recently declared themselves fair game for fowl.

For this generation of backyard farmers, the attraction is not so much a desire for an endless supply of free eggs or even nostalgia for a lost way of life. Rather, it's driven by growing disgust among a segment of the population for industrial mass-produced food.

"Mostly, it's the opportunity to live more sustainably," said Amy Gates, one of Longmont's leading chicken hawks and a contributor to the Longmont Urban Hens Network website.

It's also a reassuring way to know your food is safe, said Nick Theisen, who two years ago brought home a flock of chickens to the 32 acres he farms in Laporte.

"It's a matter of knowing where your food comes from," he said.

That is important to Durango City Councilman Michael Rendon, too.

Rendon is the instigator of an ongoing chicken discussion in that city, one that has spread from city hall to local airwaves.

During a pledge drive this month, the local public radio station invited contributors to weigh in.

"It was 12 to zero in favor of chickens," said Rendon, who said he's confident the issue will also win a City Council majority.

While classy
Chris Kollar 41 of Longmont shakes the hand of city planner Ken Ortiz after getting his Backyard Chicken Hen Permit at the Longmont planning department. (The Denver Post | Joe Amon)
wooden chicken coops at Michaud's Old Feed Store in Laporte go for $300 or $400, most chicken proponents say they expect the movement to thrive despite the wrecked economy.

For one thing, as Colorado State University avian-disease veterinarian Kristy Pabilonia pointed out, chickens are easy to keep.

Still, there are legitimate concerns, Rendon allowed.

One issue is how to curb the enthusiasm local coyotes, raccoons, bears and neighborhood dogs would undoubtedly feel at having an easy supply of ready-made chicken dinners.

There is also the question of what to do with a hen once her egg-producing years end.

Backyard slaughtering is frowned upon in most cities that allow chickens, though rules in unincorporated counties tend to be more loosey- goosey.

Even where it's legal, owners can be squeamish about dispatching a hen they've gotten to know. So Michaud said he helps owners get old birds to a processor who will kill, pluck and clean them.

There's a lot to consider.

"But we feel with so many other cities passing ordinances, those things can be dealt with," Rendon said, and Durango staffers have been asked to talk to officials in Fort Collins.

Since July, when that city agreed to allow up to six hens as in most cities, roosters are poultry non grata it has issued 11 chicken permits.

So far, the chickens have ruffled few feathers.

"I've only gotten one complaint," said Bill Porter of the Larimer County Humane Society. "It was a chicken running at large."

Some city dwellers fear bird- borne illnesses. Vaccinating chickens against avian diseases is one way to prevent that, Pabilonia said. Fears of the deadly strain of avian flu are largely unfounded here, she said.

In Longmont, where a turkey plant has long been a dominant feature of the downtown landscape, the notion of chickens in town raised a lot of hackles.

But after months of debate, the pro-fowl forces won at least temporarily.

Until December 2010, Longmont will conduct a chicken tryout of sorts. If all goes smoothly, the chickens can stay.

By sunrise last Monday, more than a dozen people were lined up outside the locked doors of city offices, waiting to get chicken
Nick Theisen leaves his chicken house with the day's eggs. Egg production varies by season. (Photos by Joe Amon, The Denver Post )
permits.

Flock-tending will be new to Jimmy Walker. But after seeing a film on the poultry industry, the 52-year-old carpenter said eating mass-produced chicken and eggs "just makes me feel evil."

Plus, he said, he was hoping to convince his 4-year-old son that there is life beyond technology.

"I'm hoping for something to compete with Nintendo," Walker said.

By week's end, Longmont had granted 38 permits of the 50 available.

That doesn't mean everybody is on board.

One man who was hoping for a roofing permit and stumbled into the chicken rush said he wanted nothing to do with chickens, fresh eggs or not.

"I'd only have 'em in my freezer," he said.

Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or [email protected]

Know your chickens

Some useful information for anyone considering raising chickens.

Baby chicks, available at feed stores, especially in the spring and on numerous websites, are cheaper (about $3, on average) than mature hens, but they need more care.

Chicks need a consistent heat source. How much warmth they need depends on their age.

Some local feed stores, as well as websites, sell mature hens. At the Old Feed Store in Laporte, hens go for about $20.

Chickens eat chicken feed, naturally. They also like vegetables (guard your garden), bugs and chicken scratch.

Hens start laying at about 20 to 22 weeks of age and hit their peak egg production at about a year. After two years, production drops off.

Egg production varies by season, but on average, three hens will produce two eggs a day.

Chickens are comparatively low-maintenance. Bedding should be changed and poop scooped about once a month; twice a year, the coop should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

Everything you could ever want to know about chickens, including where to get chicken diapers and how to measure birds for a proper fit, is on the Internet, at such sites as mypetchicken .com, backyardchicken .com, Livingthecountrylife .com and, of course, chickendiapers.com.

Sources: mypetchicken.com.; Kristy Pabilonia, avian veterinarian; Greg Michaud, the Old Feed Store

 

[Jen (ChickenLover)]

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted you to know that the Atlanta Journal Constitution has posted an article on this story! Not only is it a great read, but it also has a survey where people can vote whether chickens are pets or not, AND it has an area where people can make comments. Already quite a few have been posted and they're great! I encourage you to post a comment also. Let's show Roswell how GREAT chickens are and how much support Andrew has!

Here's the Link:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/northfulton/stories/2009/03/17/roswell_chicken_dispute.html