In case you couldn’t tell by my post title, I’m mad. Very mad. The ordinance for chickens needs to be changed.
I just found a few web links about an awesome Amarillo, Texas resident that is trying to have the city ordinance for owning chickens in the city limits changed.
AMEN to you, Mr David Rodriguez, resident of the area of town called San Jacinto! I am sure it is his house I used to drive by just to take a look at his beautiful birds. Then all of a sudden, they were gone and I didn’t know why. Now I know.
David has owned chickens, goats and rabbits on his small city sized lot in the dream of being self-sufficient. He has also started his garden, and plans to grow 1500 pounds of fresh produce for his family.
What is wrong with this man’s dream? City ordinances, that’s what!
The city allows us to own goats and pigs (though recommends minitures), but not chickens(unless your lot is larger than 1/4 acre, then you can have 4). WTF??!! Do they think that larger animals aren’t smellier/dirtier, etc than a few chickens?? Boy do they have a lot to learn!!! How many “city” sized lots are larger than 1/4 acre??? Not many.
Go visit this awesome forum and see just what the joys of owning chickens are and how many hundreds of thousands of urban farmers there are in the USA! www.backyardchickens.com/forum
There are hundreds of MAJOR cities in our beautiful nation that embrace those families choosing to live a more self-sufficient life and allow them to own chickens. Even if allowed to own as few as 6-8 chickens (on ANY size lot), those wonderful, sweet birds can provide a family with plenty of fresh eggs and companionship each day. Yes, roosters can crow. Yes, roosters can be loud. But, one doesn’t have to own a rooster in order for their hens to provide fresh eggs to their family. So allow some hens, but keep a ordinance in line for noisy or “nusiance” roosters, just as there is in place for nusiance dog barking. Let those hens have a place in our urban backdrops.
As many citizens of Amarillo will tell you, we live many days with what is referred to around here as “the smell of money”. That stintch is the foul smell of cow dung from the dozens of cattle feedlots in the Texas Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico. A majority of our winds blow in here from the southwest, so this smell prevails, I would estimate, 75% of our days. What the heck do people think of that? Unless owners of chickens absolutely neglect their care and routine maintenance of their coops and runs, chickens NEVER smell at all!
Another trait of chickens is the ability to function as therapy animals. My autistic son much prefers holding our “house” chickens over paying attention to our dogs or cat. Yes, I own chickens! I am proud to own chickens! I am not proud that I have to keep my birds in the house in cages as “house pets” because of the ordinance in place. My chickens are no more difficult to take care of (indoors) than any other breed of domesticated bird. They live in a huge rabbit cage and are very spoiled babies. Mind you though, I own Seramas, which are the worlds’ smallest chickens. Full grown, a Serama only weighs around 1 pound. They are very tiny and very personable.
Even though no change was made through Mr. Rodriguez’s fight, I do plan to keep tabs on this and hope and pray that the city makes changes to the ordinance. We have planned for the past 2 years to move from the city to the country in order to have our animals. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep the Amarillo citizens in the city than lose them??? Self-sufficiency is what the country is turning to and this city needs to re-evaluate their thinking and keep up with changing times.
If you’d like to read more about this and about Mr. Rodriguez, here are some links.
http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?s=12338185&clienttype=printable
http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?list=195070&id=445293
http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?list=195070&id=446396
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/042010/new_news4.shtml
I sure hope this isn’t the end of this issue in this city. We like living in the city, with all the conveniences, but are more than willing to leave it in order to live a more self-sufficient way of life.
Lookie here! Orono, ME just made changes! http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/143248.html SO AWESOME!
Here’s some information on cities: http://www.homegrownevolution.com/2008/02/poultry-outlaws-chicken-laws-around-us.html
http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/6516/Coalition_Says_Modernize_Chicken_Laws
Lookie at this, just a few hours from us, in Denver/Colorado Springs: “That would make Denver about as progressive as Colorado Springs, which allows up to ten chickens and four goats without a special permit.” This was found here: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/03/fowl_lovers_unite_to_streamlin.php
Look here for ordinances for your location:
http://urbanchickens.org/chicken-ordinances-and-laws
Here, too…., the best in my opinion, http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=37
Ok. I’m calling it a night. I’m off to go spend some times with my own chickens.