Celticdragonfly
Crowing
I am SO excited right now.
Saginaw TX allowed chickens as of May 2018 - hens only, limit 3. That's when I went into SERIOUS research mode. We got our three chicks in late April of 2019 and have been happy chicken owners since.
But 3 is not IMO a good number. It's pretty much the minimum for a sane flock - and that only works out if you can freeze your chickens at that moment of time. SOONER OR LATER you're GONNA lose a hen/some hens. We do all we can to protect ours from predators and disease, and have never lost a chicken yet, but it will eventually happen. And given that you either have to buy pullets/hens and quarantine them for a month, then go through some see-don't-touch time before you can integrate them into the flock - or raise baby chicks until they're old enough and then integrate THEM - you canNOT just POP a replacement chicken in.
I've wanted for most of a year to work up a presentation and ask to come give it to the local city council on this. But that's standing up in front of total strangers, and I'm this hermitty introverted half-crippled fat chick. So I kept putting it off. Then the lockdown happened, and I realized, you know? That give a presentation thing in person just isn't a good idea now anyway - so why don't I write it all up and send it by email? So I did - introduced myself with how long I'd been interested in this and what my research and experience was (Mostly so they didn't think I was one of the new jump on the bandwagon hey there are shortages in the store so I'll keep chickens people who are all popping up in the local groups, buying all the chicks, and killing most of them....), and talked about chicken needs and the flock thing and how to responsibly introduce new chickens. And I showed the ordinance from Watauga, which is nearby and slightly more urban than we are and allows 6, and an Agriculture propaganda poster from 1918, talking about chicken keeping as “In time of peace, a profitable recreation – in time of war a patriotic duty”. Their recommendation was two hens in the backyard for each person in the house. For our household, that would be 10.
(Didn't think I'd get 10. Was pushing for at least 6.) And I sent it all off to everyone on the city council and the mayor.
And ... it got response! " Let me look into our ordinance and see what makes sense. I want to talk to our city staff about the current ordinance and what has been our experience implementing it."
Then later
"We are discussing with our City Attorney about an updated Chicken Ordinance that will increase the number of chickens allowed. Hopefully we will bring it to the Council for a vote in the next month or so."
then
"one of the items on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 19th, at 6 PM, is an ordinance amendment to allow residents to have a maximum of 6 chickens, instead of 3. It is Item (f) on the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda is usually passed unanimously without discussion. However, any Council member may ask to remove any item from the Consent Agenda prior to the vote to get more information, ask for discussion, or express their views on the subject. You may want to attend in person or watch live on-line, in case it is removed from the Consent Agenda. If it is removed, you may want to give your input"
Couldn't find how to watch it live on-line, so my daughter and I masked up and went in person, everything was very carefully spaced out.
Here's the agenda item
https://saginawtx.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=597&MeetingID=102
And it went through unchallenged!
I am so excited that I got to take part in local law change, and that the city council was willing to talk about what I asked for! I have asked them to let me know when the formal ordinance gets changed. I wrote up the article in the local ordinances section for Saginaw, TX, so I'll want to update it!
When we had our coop built, we had it built large enough for 6, because we had hopes for an all-Texas law that keeps getting put up and then put off. So it's big enough. The run is a bit small - I'm going to contact the family company that built it, and look into getting an add-on, and also wanting to set things up so that we can close off the opening between and use that for the "look don't touch" integration.
Saginaw TX allowed chickens as of May 2018 - hens only, limit 3. That's when I went into SERIOUS research mode. We got our three chicks in late April of 2019 and have been happy chicken owners since.
But 3 is not IMO a good number. It's pretty much the minimum for a sane flock - and that only works out if you can freeze your chickens at that moment of time. SOONER OR LATER you're GONNA lose a hen/some hens. We do all we can to protect ours from predators and disease, and have never lost a chicken yet, but it will eventually happen. And given that you either have to buy pullets/hens and quarantine them for a month, then go through some see-don't-touch time before you can integrate them into the flock - or raise baby chicks until they're old enough and then integrate THEM - you canNOT just POP a replacement chicken in.
I've wanted for most of a year to work up a presentation and ask to come give it to the local city council on this. But that's standing up in front of total strangers, and I'm this hermitty introverted half-crippled fat chick. So I kept putting it off. Then the lockdown happened, and I realized, you know? That give a presentation thing in person just isn't a good idea now anyway - so why don't I write it all up and send it by email? So I did - introduced myself with how long I'd been interested in this and what my research and experience was (Mostly so they didn't think I was one of the new jump on the bandwagon hey there are shortages in the store so I'll keep chickens people who are all popping up in the local groups, buying all the chicks, and killing most of them....), and talked about chicken needs and the flock thing and how to responsibly introduce new chickens. And I showed the ordinance from Watauga, which is nearby and slightly more urban than we are and allows 6, and an Agriculture propaganda poster from 1918, talking about chicken keeping as “In time of peace, a profitable recreation – in time of war a patriotic duty”. Their recommendation was two hens in the backyard for each person in the house. For our household, that would be 10.
(Didn't think I'd get 10. Was pushing for at least 6.) And I sent it all off to everyone on the city council and the mayor.
And ... it got response! " Let me look into our ordinance and see what makes sense. I want to talk to our city staff about the current ordinance and what has been our experience implementing it."
Then later
"We are discussing with our City Attorney about an updated Chicken Ordinance that will increase the number of chickens allowed. Hopefully we will bring it to the Council for a vote in the next month or so."
then
"one of the items on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 19th, at 6 PM, is an ordinance amendment to allow residents to have a maximum of 6 chickens, instead of 3. It is Item (f) on the Consent Agenda. The Consent Agenda is usually passed unanimously without discussion. However, any Council member may ask to remove any item from the Consent Agenda prior to the vote to get more information, ask for discussion, or express their views on the subject. You may want to attend in person or watch live on-line, in case it is removed from the Consent Agenda. If it is removed, you may want to give your input"
Couldn't find how to watch it live on-line, so my daughter and I masked up and went in person, everything was very carefully spaced out.
Here's the agenda item
https://saginawtx.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=597&MeetingID=102
And it went through unchallenged!
I am so excited that I got to take part in local law change, and that the city council was willing to talk about what I asked for! I have asked them to let me know when the formal ordinance gets changed. I wrote up the article in the local ordinances section for Saginaw, TX, so I'll want to update it!
When we had our coop built, we had it built large enough for 6, because we had hopes for an all-Texas law that keeps getting put up and then put off. So it's big enough. The run is a bit small - I'm going to contact the family company that built it, and look into getting an add-on, and also wanting to set things up so that we can close off the opening between and use that for the "look don't touch" integration.
