Oh great. Thats all this city needs is chicken coops in backyards. From experience, I know that chickens attract vermin, carry certain diseases and are noisy. Please, no chickens or other farm animals in residential areas in IGH. Pretty soon people will want to raise their own Turkeys, and Peacocks, Guinea hens and such. Nothing wrong with the way it is right now.

J . . .what experience? Clearly, you don't really have much or you wouldn't have mentioned the myths you listed. Chickens don't attract vermin. Poor keeping practices do. Kinda like people who don't dispose of their trash properly. Or feed a cat or dog outside, etc. ALL of which are FAR more likely to attract vermin that Keeping chickens. Chickens do carry certain diseases . . .as do virtually ALL critters. Luckily, Chickens are the LEAST of our worries. Know what dogs and cats can vive us? Rabies, for starters. Cats carry FAR more disease that should be of concern to the average homeowner that Poultry. As for Noise . . .how about those barking dogs? Many, even most are louder than roosters, Do it far more often, and will do it all night long. Not so with roosters. That's from "actual" experience, not "pretend" experience, by the way.

There are HUNDREDS of Cites that allow keeping of backyard poultry. All these cities also have dogs and cats. Including mine. Ask our Animal Control officer to relate some "dog and cat problem" stories to you, and it would keep him telling stories for hours. Ask him about poultry problems, and you'll likely get a blank stare and a "What?" The "Animal Control Department overload myth" is SO, SO, SO weak.

Councilor Klein is kidding himself if he thinks that chickens in residential areas will lead to an increase of the fox/coyote population in residential areas - they are already there. This is just a knee-jerk reaction to essentially a non-issue.

I challenge Mr Klein, as well as other councilmembers, to visit homes of urban chicken owners to educate themselves on the mis-perception of noise and odor.

Also, as a politician, a statement as final as "There’s nothing that’s going to move me to vote for it.” should give his constituants pause. To not even be open to considering opposing viewpoints is not the sign of a good or effective leader.

Councilman Klein definitely exposed himself as a wannabe dictator, whose primary regret is likely that he isn't King of the City and has to tolerate us mere serfs and the rest of his council. Folks need to remember this when he's up for re-election. No doubt this propensity has reared it's ugly head on other issues too. All it takes are two or three people to make sure that everyone in the community knows about every instance when Mr. Klein exposed his totalitarian tendencies. Telling folks "move" is simply out of line. Mr. Klien needs a good "booing" or three.

Mr. Klein is right, residential areas are not the place for raising poultry, at least he has some common sense. When some homeowner ends up with a rooster that they bought unknowing of its sex as a chick, and it starts its crowing at sunrise, and the neighbors start complaining, theres one problem. They won't want to get rid of it b/c now it is a 'pet' Trust me, they will arract vermin, cats, rats etc. You wonder how Ii know, my 'experience'? I raised quail as a kid for dog trainers. Every cat around knew of them, I also trapped the rats that eventually showed up. I think I had about 10 quail at a time. There were no other animals on the farm, we were grain farmers. Their droppings are about 1/10 the size of a chickens. I had about 10 pounds of food in a sealed container. I cleaned up after them as best I could. Overwintering quail was hard work and chickens in a coup won't be much better. I guarantee it, you're going to have issues you haven't thought of. Even a small number of chickens will be a PITA for the neighbors, almost as bad as a noisy dog. One thing taht would be fun to see are the Hawks that would try to grab 'em. Thats fun to watch!

Mr. Klein is NOT right. He's quite wrong actually, and grossly misinformed to boot. As for roosters crowing in the morning . . .no more disruptive . . .less so, actually, than dogs that bark incessantly . . .at all hours.

As for ":trusting you" about your opinion on chickens attracting vermin . . .NO, I won't trust you, mainly because you have no clue what you are actually talking about. I, on the other hand, do know what I'm talking about. You raised 10 quail as a kid . . . well, maybe you should have done so with higher keeping standards. Know what else attracts vermin? Oh yea, I already posted about that, and the examples above attract FAR more Vermin than a well kept coop. As for your "guarantee" of problem issues not yet thought of . . .wrong again, J. There isn't one city out there that cats and dogs aren't a FAR bigger noise problem a FAR bigger vermin attraction problem, a FAR bigger disease concern, and a FAR, FAR, FAR bigger PITA for the neighbors than chickens ever will be. Heck . . .ask my neighbor. She is fine with our chickens . . .but the neighbor across the streets dog keeps tearing up her trash. Ever had a Chicken knock over your trash cans J? Or a Chicken escape from a back yard and then run down and maul a small child? Or a chicken get in your car if you leave the window down one night and spray cat musk all over your car seats?

For the record J . . . ten quail would create about half half an ounce of fecal matter a day. You really believe that caused your huge rodent problem? Rats and mice are primarily granivores . . . . "What is a granivore" may ask? An animal that uses GRAIN as a primary food source. You did say you were "grain farmers" . . .But you believe it was the half ounce of poop from 10 quail that caused the problems . . . And we should "trust you" . . . just why?

I didn't know we were talking about dogs and their problems. I am talking about poultry, Chickens. I'll admit dogs and other pets have "FAR,FAR,FAR" more issues than chickens.

IGH is a messy enough city, I just don'y want neighbors putting up nasty looking shacks, calling them chicken coops, never getting rid of them when the chickens die in the winter, and me having to look at it forever. You know the ordanances won't be enforced, and neighbors will have to put up with it. There's many ordanances that aren't enforced now, how is the city going to enforce 'chicken ordanances?

Thanks for proving my point Mr. McClellan, that chickens can be a problem, not as much as dogs, but still a problem. I thak you for that sir.

Well J, I am talking about poultry too. The point being that "Dogs and cats, by pretty much any measure you care to use, have MUCH more potential to be a nuisance than backyard poultry. It really wasn't that difficult to understand, not sure how yu missed the connection.

And considering your so-called "experience" . . .I'm surprised you don't know that chickens don't just "die in the winter." As for the dirty, nasty, dead-bird-filled eternal chicken coop you create in your own mind, existing general nuisance laws that would apply to ANY unhealthy situation would "protect" you from that. The best way for the city to have chicken ordinances, is to simply have none. Many towns and cities have no ordinances at all about poultry. Feel free to name even one city where chicken enforcement issues have caused a major . . .or even minor . . .problem. Again, you conveniently ignore what I mentioned about my own city above. J . . .you're like like Chicken Little. The sky will not fall on your town if people keep chickens. As for your pretending to thank me, as if I somehow proved YOUR point . . . .Nice try, but nobody with even half a brain would buy that, heheh. Your position was weak, it was exposed as weak. Now go clean your quail pen, that half ounce of poop is gonna attract Tigers. I hear then can swim, and really, how far away is Asia? Can't be too careful!

I think I have made my point, and I have found that most people with 'even half a brain' agree with me.

Well J Sure ya did . . .lol.

I have a little more time now J, so: What point did you think you made? Just curious . . .since virtually every point you raised was exposed as fallacious. Those people who agree with you? Just as wrong and misinformed as your are.

Ok- Thanks- I will. God bless and have a great day!

One thing you have to be careful of when calling city hall to ask if it's okay to have chickens . . .or any other potential legal issue for that matter, it them giving you bad information. And it happens all the time. My own City, West Point Ga. When I called to ask about it told me that I was not allowed to have chickens within city limits.
Having already learned from dealing with other issues, I asked them for the specific statute that prohibited them. Turns out there wasn't one. I've pointed this out to a few people on other poultry boards, and sure enough, I wasn't alone in this experience. ALWAYS ask for specific statutes. Sometimes they're non-existent, as was the case with me, or exclude only roosters, not hens, and the clerk interprets it wrong, stuff like that. And always visually verify the Ordinance yourself. Further, it can help to look over the entire code of ordinances for your city, because there may be a general prohibition on Livestock, but elsewhere in the ordinances there may be an allowance for chickens as pets, even though they may be also listed as "livestock" in another prohibitive ordinance. Good luck!

It is not the animals at fault when they become a nuisance, it is always the animals keeper. The dog barking in the yard all day or knocking over your garbage cans is not a bad dog, it's the neglectful owner. It's not that cat that by instinct kills the birds in your yard it's the owner who let him out (where he could be picked up by a bird of prey or hit by a car or maimed by the bad dog owners dog) It is not animals that create problems it is people. What you fail to understand is the person who wants to be a pig and raise chickens in a dirty, irresponsible manner is going to do it your law be damned. I am sure there are already plenty of coops in the city and you just don't know it. Unlike such a person, I am a responsible hard working adult who respects my property and the rules of my city. I would like 2 chickens so I can teach my grandson many things including agriculture, self sufficiency, animal care and responsibilty along with getting my own fresh eggs everyday. One should be able to do this without living in timbucktoo. I pay my taxes and as long as I am a good person I should be allowed to do what I want on my property as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else and I should be able to do so without fear of breaking a law.

My back yard is 36'x60'. I would like to raise two milking goats, some egg laying hens and a couple of pigs for the pork. Does anyone know how many of each I am allowed to have?

Sounds like you need a bigger lot, really. That many of those types of critters could become a nuisance pretty quickly if ya live in a residential area, unless your keeping plan is very disciplined and well thought-out. Was that a bait question?

This subject of wanting to keep chickens with-in the city limits seems like it is causing quite a stir. I can't understand why the council hasn't followed it's usual format and hired a consulting firm for $40,000.00 or so to do a 6 month study on the impact to the city.

LOL @ Jim Edward!!!

Chicken excrement is not nearly as foul as dog and cat excrement. As a matter of fact, chicken poop can be quite beneficial to citizens’ gardens. Chicken poop is compostable, unlike dog and cat poop.
Also, chickens are not noisy at all, (as Terry said IGH could allow for no roosters and just a few hens). Hens are very quiet almost all the time. When they do squawk, the sound is not nearly as loud as a dog barking.
Dogs are louder than chickens and leave their excrement all over our city, but no one would think of banning dogs in IGH. It is completely illogical and ridiculously inconsistent for anyone oppose allowing a few chickens yet not call for a ban on all dogs in our city.

And Joe Lynch is worried about not having the staffing to enforce an ordinance allowing chickens? LOLOL. How then do we have adequate staffing to enforce our current “No chickens” policy?!? Use a little bit of logic for a second Joe! How do we currently police thousands of households in IGH to make sure that no one keeps a chicken? Do we currently have a chicken czar on the city payroll to go around searching every backyard in the city to make sure there are no chickens within city limits? What if I were to get a chicken right now? According to Joe Lynch the city apparently doesn’t have enough resources to enforce city ordinances regarding chickens, so I guess I would be in the clear.

One headline that has never been seen and never will:

"Town forced into bankruptcy trying to enforce Chicken Laws"

I want chickens!!!
This above statement is written by my 9 year old daughter who would like to learn about animals and she believes it would be very useful and tasty to have fresh eggs just outside her door. In a world where children are less and less exposed each day to our natural world I believe that urban chickens should be allowed. Has the council made any progress on this issue?

Our neighbor (in a residential area of IGH) has hens and roosters. I can tell you from experience, the roosters are noisy and MEAN! They do not stay in the neighbors yard and chase us and our dog when they come into our yard. I would not be sad if they weren't around anymore.

Jim,
Your dog has never ended up in a neighbors yard? Even accidentally? Would you really want me shooting your dog for something as benign as incidental trespass?

What I would like to know is if they city is going to do anything regarding passing an ordinance. I am all for raising chickens in a residential area, I have done it and my coop and chickens are very clean and well cared for.

I thought dogs are suppose to be kept on a leash or fenced in? Neighbors dogs bark all day and all night. Sick of bad pet owners!