It's kind of weird. Here we just thought we were getting a couple of pets and now we seem to be a part of something bigger. Though, I hope, not that much bigger. The article reinforced our impression that the Zoning Commission seems predisposed to have a light hand in drafting a new chicken ordinance.
- No roosters, probably (which I think everyone can agree on! Roosters are noisy, so existing noise ordinances would cover this, but I don't see any problem with making it explicit. And no, you don't need a rooster to get eggs. You only need a roster to get fertilized eggs.).
- Possibly a fee to register chickens (also fine by us - maybe the city makes some chicken scratch (har har) to help cover the photocopies for the public forum on chickens).
- Limiting the number of chickens allowed (a-okay, though we're already explicitly limited to 5 pets, so this seems to be covered by existing ordinances).
- Requiring a coop (good for the chickens, important for keeping critters out - I don't think the chickens would last long with out one).
We're hoping (as I'm sure the Zoning Commission is, too) that this can be dealt with quickly & without too much drama, and that whatever new rules are ratified are simple to follow and don't place an undue burden on the city or its residents.
For those of you just visiting this blog, you'll find it's mostly just pictures of our three ladies doing chicken-y things. We're no experts. It's only slightly more interesting than a blog about someone's new puppy. But I've read just about every "urban chicken" book available at Barnes & Nobel -- surprisingly, there are quite a few -- and we're happy to answer any questions you have. Go ahead and post 'em in the comments.
Look at you guys bein' all famous and stuff! I hope this all goes smoothly and the nay sayers realize that your ladies are not nearly as obnoxious as the average urban neurotic dog.
ReplyDeleteThanks! The funny thing is that so far there haven't really been any nay sayers. It seems there was one obnoxious chicken owner in Bexley who was breaking all sorts of existing ordinances and a neighbor understandably complained. A lot. That's why this whole thing is coming up in the first place. But aside from that person, and the woman who shared negative childhood experiences on a family farm (with an "uncountable" number of chickens) at the Zoning meeting, everyone has been really positive.
ReplyDeleteLet's keep our fingers crossed that there's not a seething undercurrent of anti-chicken sentiment in Bexley!