A Minor Victory For Chickens

At the Aug. 10 City Council meeting, the council members voted 4-O, John Ryan being absent, to at least look into having the zoning laws change to allow layer hens.

There were quite a few people on the pro side who spoke, and even more who chose not to speak but still filled out a speaker slip in support of chickens. What made this meeting different from the last meeting was that there were quite a few people who spoke out against chickens. But what is surprising about them is that they were my neighbors that do NOT take care of their pets. There are piles of dog poop in one of the anti-chicken speaker’s yard and the dog barks day and night. I would allow people over to tour my coop just so they can see for themselves how clean chickens can be. The only thing you may smell is the dog feces from my neighbor’s yard creeping over when the wind kicks up.

Furthermore, this is just a note for those who oppose urban chickens on the basis of them being too noisy for this environment...When I got home after the City Council meeting last night, I walked from where I had parked to the door of my house. During that time, I could hear five different dogs barking within two blocks of my house. When I got inside, I walked straight through my house and out the back door. I walked to my chicken coop and found all five of my birds sound asleep, not making a peep. Personally, the dogs do not even bother me; I love dogs. The only reason I bring this up is that it really supports treating chickens and their accompanying issues the same way they would be treated if they were dogs and their accompanying issues.

Another of the speakers who came out against chickens turned out to be none other than an individual appearing (in poor taste) on behalf of our neighbor. This neighbor has caused thousands of dollars in damage to our home and threatened violence against me, my family and my friends. As it turns out, every resident of our house is listed on a restraining order against this neighbor and it is illegal for him to contact any one of us directly or indirectly. Sending someone else to make a point against us is a childish and making a mockery of the restraining order, which is there to protect us and allow us to move on with our lives peacefully.

To be honest, I once did have a chicken I raised from a baby turn out to be a rooster, however, within a week and half after the first cock-a-doodle-doo, he was gone. I don't want a rooster any more then my neighbors don't want me to have a rooster. This misunderstanding of gender, I later found out, was due to subtle genetic differences (heterozygous vs. homozygous at a particular loci) that allow for a chick to either have female feathers and be female (normal), have male feathers and be male (normal), or display female feathers as a male (atypical). It was basically a rare fluke.

Never did any of these “neighbors” come to me with their issues with my chickens or given me any opportunity to address their concerns. I certainly would have done my best to oblige.

Lastly, I have letters addressed to the Senior Code Compliance Officer from every one of my neighbors except the one with the restraining order and the one who never opened her door. In these letters they tell the city that my chickens are not a nuisance and that they want my chickens to stay in my backyard.

I am not one of those people that Councilman Rob McNelis spoke about either. I do not raise enough hens to feed the whole neighborhood. I have enough for my family, but when the neighbors come over because they need a few eggs, I happily give them more then what they ask for.

I am very pleased with the way that the council members voted; you can tell that they did do their homework and read up on backyard chickens and urban agriculture and I would like to applaud each and every one of them for that. I am particularly thrilled about Councilman Jack Dale, who after getting his own chickens and observing them first hand, had a complete 180 of opinion. This is not a step back for Santee as many would have you believe—this is a step forward. It’s like McNelis said, “we have to be fair to our citizens'.” And it is only fair that people who choose to raise chickens get the same rights as those who choose to raise dogs.

is the link to the zoning laws I purposed that Councilman John Minto had brought up in his opening remarks.