- Aug 18, 2010
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Hello, I am from WI. My husband, my two sons, and I have had chickens for about a year and a half now. We have three hens, and they are ameraucanas. I found this forum using Google. We have been doing a ton of backyard chicken research because our city has been trying to pass an ordinance banning chickens. The story goes like this:
We decided to get chickens in the spring of 2009. So, we checked our cities ordinances, and found nothing saying that chickens were prohibited. My husband spoke with a local police officer and was told that as long as they are kept as pets, there would be no problem. So, fast forward, a year and a half goes by. We have a yard sale in July of 2010. The next day, a police officer comes to my door and says someone called in about our chickens. It seems this individual had chickens and was told he had to get rid of them. So, this guy (who was at our yard sale) sees the chickens and calls us on it (his thoughts were along the lines of, "if I can't have them, why should they be allowed to?"). My husband speaks with the police chief, and then the mayor. Finally he goes in front of the city council and pleads our case. The city council makes a motion to draft an ordinance prohibiting fowl in the city. The motion goes through, and an ordinance is drafted. There are two meetings following this, each moving a stop closer to passing the ordinance, with it going through at last night's meeting 5-4. Public outcry over this issue has be immense to say the least. People are very upset about this! I am not going to give up my hens, and we are going to do everything we can to try to change this.
I am hoping to connect with others who are or were in the same boat to exchange ideas and advice. If it comes down to it, I will move out of Medford to keep our chickens, but that wont change the fact that our city council is ignoring what the people want.
Anyway, I am excited to have found a forum and look forward to talking to you all. Thanks!
We decided to get chickens in the spring of 2009. So, we checked our cities ordinances, and found nothing saying that chickens were prohibited. My husband spoke with a local police officer and was told that as long as they are kept as pets, there would be no problem. So, fast forward, a year and a half goes by. We have a yard sale in July of 2010. The next day, a police officer comes to my door and says someone called in about our chickens. It seems this individual had chickens and was told he had to get rid of them. So, this guy (who was at our yard sale) sees the chickens and calls us on it (his thoughts were along the lines of, "if I can't have them, why should they be allowed to?"). My husband speaks with the police chief, and then the mayor. Finally he goes in front of the city council and pleads our case. The city council makes a motion to draft an ordinance prohibiting fowl in the city. The motion goes through, and an ordinance is drafted. There are two meetings following this, each moving a stop closer to passing the ordinance, with it going through at last night's meeting 5-4. Public outcry over this issue has be immense to say the least. People are very upset about this! I am not going to give up my hens, and we are going to do everything we can to try to change this.
I am hoping to connect with others who are or were in the same boat to exchange ideas and advice. If it comes down to it, I will move out of Medford to keep our chickens, but that wont change the fact that our city council is ignoring what the people want.
Anyway, I am excited to have found a forum and look forward to talking to you all. Thanks!
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