When I first read in March 2008 of a proposal by one of our city council members to allow residents to keep chickens, I thought it was a very exciting idea that really had no chance of flying. We live in a small town, granted, but a town nonetheless. I wondered if the council member wasn’t pandering to a small constituency (which included us!) for a bit of publicity, knowing that the old ordinance outlawing chickens could not be defeated.
Raising our own chickens for eggs has been a long-standing goal for Jim. It’s part of the larger plan of becoming more self-sufficient and producing more of our own food needs. Jim has experience with having chickens, given his boyhood summers on his uncle’s farm. I have never had or been around chickens much, so they are a bit mysterious to me, but I’m game to learn.
Amazingly enough, the revised ordinance was passed by the city council on June 3. Our community is waiting to hear about the actual registration process because, of course, there will be a permit application involved. Meanwhile, we are pretty excited about the prospect of “up to four chickens” taking up residence in our back yard.
