Chicks in Aurora: homesteading

Showing posts with label homesteading. Show all posts

Monday, February 24, 2014

So Impressed!! Ordinance Approved!

Thank you to the seventy or so folks who came to the City Council Meeting Monday night! Your speeches and our showing made a huge difference, and the three nays had to more or less apologize. The heartfelt speeches - including some awesome youth, a marine, and citizens from all over the city - were powerful! The ordinance was voted in - chickens will be approved in Aurora. We still have two more steps to take, but these should go through without problem. There is one more vote that has to happen but votes rarely change at this stage. When I get details from Sally Mounier I will post them. Then it has to be put into the code. Sally suggested that once it is approved, we can be fairly sure that it will become an official ordinance legalizing chickens this summer.

You did what???!!!

Nice work y'all!!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

October Update - Chickens in Aurora, CO

The good news first: We have four Yes votes - we need six to pass the change to the ordinance. Renie Peterson, Sally Mounier, Marsha Berzins, and Bob LeGare have pledged to vote yes on chickens. Our next step is to get at least one more yes vote, preferably two (the mayor votes in the case of a tie vote, and if we get one more solid Yes, we can work on him, too, as our sixth).

Debi Hunter Holen, Barb Cleland, Brad Pierce, and Molly Markert are all undecided, and need to be worked on (i.e, called, emailed). Debi responds well to calls and people's requests and communication. She is concerned primarily with attracting predators and what people do with hens when they stop laying. Barb Cleland wants to see what the committee comes up with when the issue is brought to the Quality of Life meeting in November. This committee is currently headed by Molly Markert, who is personally opposed to allowing chickens, but she, too, listens to her constituency. She is beginning to consider the idea because a neighbor of hers wants chickens.

Bob Roth is the same; he is opposed, but this is partly because he thinks everyone in his ward (5) are against chickens. If you are in Ward 5, ORGANIZE your neighbors and get petition signatures to show him that Ward 5 wants chickens, too. He listens to his constituency.

Next steps: keep collecting signatures and call those council members. In November the idea will come up before the Quality of Life Committee, a meeting you can attend but cannot comment. Then it will go to a study session in December (after the election, which may or may not affect our count of Yes votes), and may come up for a vote, if we have six yeses, in January or February.

Please also call or email Renie Peterson to thank her for her support. She gave it publicly on tv!

By the way, hens do not attract anymore predators than cats and small dogs do. They are kept in a secure coop and run, where the wire needs to be buried at least 10 inches deep so predators can't dig under the wire. Another concern people have is smell - if you keep a small coop/run cleaned (it's a weekly job or so), they don't stink. Not like dogs! Another concern is what to do with hens after they stop laying. Some people keep them, as they become attached to them as pets. Most people, however, find a person out in agriculturally zoned land to take their chickens so they can live out their natural life out of the city, where people have room to keep non-laying hens (or eat them; we don't slaughter chickens in urban or suburban settings). Same thing when you accidentally get a rooster; you give it to someone who has a farm. I personally know four people who could take any birds I could not keep. It's all about community.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Update on the Movement to Legalize Chickens in Aurora, CO

A group of concerned citizens have flocked together to encourage folks to contact their Aurora, CO, city council representatives and request that backyard hen ownership be made legal in our lovely little town. In 2011 the issue was brought up before the council and soundly defeated. Our approach this time is different than last time, since apparently logic, research, and a solid presentation fell on deaf (or stubborn) ears. We are organizing from the ground up, sitting around the kitchen table to discuss gardening, chickens, bees, and community. We need to convince six representatives that such a movement is of value to our community. And we will do so!

Here in an eggshell is why we want chickens approved:

Backyard eggs means food security, money savings, and better health.
Hens make good pets, are quieter than dogs, and when cared for are not smelly or dangerous.
When you make something legal you can educate and regulate, so people who keep hens will do so in a way that keeps the hens safe and healthy, and protects the neighborhood.
Hens are great for kids, people with special needs, the house-bound, and just about everyone else.
Chickens create community. When we had hens, it became a conversation piece with our neighbors, even those who speak different languages than we or who otherwise wouldn't say hello.
Hens are a perfect extension of organic gardening, providing manure and eating pests. Did you know chickens eat mice and mosquitoes?
Hen keeping is not a throw-back to old farm days or dusty rural ways (although there isn't anything wrong with that, it seems not in keeping with the image Aurora seeks for itself), but a progressive and trendy movement embraced by many cities across the United States.
Chickens need feed, shavings, hay, and chicken treats. I can think of several local businesses that would benefit from expanding to fill this need.

We are proposing the legalization of keeping 8 hens, no roosters, in safe and contained coops and runs. An affordable one-time fee paid to the city when applying for a permit is standard in most cities.

If you would like to get involved by spreading the word or contacting your representative, please post a comment here or email me at clea dot danaan at gmail dot com.