Carolyn XXXXX
Address line, NY zip code
Phone # Fax # email address
November 3, 2010
XXXX XXXX Mayor
Village Board of Trustees
Village Hall
Address line.
XXXX NY zip code
Dear Mayor XXXX,
Dear Board of Trustees,
Female chickens are quiet, clean, and make good pets.
My husband and I have been living in XXXXX for the past thirty-five years. It’s a wonderful community and continues to delight us with its diversity, opportunities, and promising future.
I have had the great pleasure of keeping two hens as backyard pets since July 2009, and now would like a few more.
Poultry or fowl restricted.
A. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or other entity within the Village limits to keep, harbor or maintain any live poultry or fowl, including but not limited to chickens, ducks and geese, except that not more than two poultry or fowl may be kept as household pets.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection A hereof, it shall be unlawful for any person within the Village limits to keep, harbor or maintain any live rooster.
This letter is a request for a code variance that will lawfully allow me to turn my sparse twosome into a genuine flock of eight fine feathered friends. (Hens only; no roosters.)
There are dozens of different chicken breeds, offering a variety of feather colors and patterns, eggshell colors, and personalities.
My Black Marans pullet, “HennyPenny,” gives us rich brown-shelled eggs; ChickenLittle, a White Splash Araucana, graces our breakfast table with eggs shelled in mint green.
Now however, our dear little granddaughter has asked for breakfasts of pink-shelled eggs, and her big brother would like some in blue. Happily, there are indeed chicken breeds that answer deliciously to both, and I’d like to get one of each.
I am assuming that providing a code variance is a much quicker procedure for the Village than updating the relevant code. A variance will of course be a wonderful outcome for me, but is of little benefit to anyone else. (Except my immediate neighbors who enjoy the year-round gifts of fresh organic eggs and summer gifts of zukes, cukes, tomatoes, etc, from my poultry-litter-compost-enriched vegetable garden.)
Nevertheless, I would point out that a code change would benefit all of XXXXX Village, and I hope that after granting me the requested variance, you will consider undertaking a code update as a worthy project.
The benefits of backyard chicken-keeping are many. There’s the daily gathering of delicious eggs; the fun of watching the hens interact; enhancement of XXXX Village topsoil; eradication of slugs, snails, earwigs, and other insect pests; hands-on experience for kids and grandkids learning about responsibility and quality of life for self, family, and community.
Governments local and national “talk-the-talk” of supporting green living, reducing the carbon footprint and embracing home-grown food sources. Recent headlines alerting consumers to Salmonella-tainted supermarket eggs dramatically underscores the advantage of fresh, clean eggs from one’s own pampered flock. Keeping a half-dozen or so backyard hens requires minimal effort and expense to actually “walk-the-walk” and have fun while helping to heal the earth literally in one’s own backyard.
My files are thick with current and recent newspaper clippings of municipalities across the nation reporting on the adventures of backyard chicken-keeping enthusiasts. Interest is high, with the numbers of chicken-keeping households increasing exponentially in all fifty states.
One local newspaper article dated February 12, 2009, announces that our neighboring Township, XXXXXXX, NY, updated their Codes that week to allow as many as eight chickens per backyard flock. And indeed, a quick online search of that town’s codes reveals:
§ 78-19 Chickens and Ducks.
No person shall keep, maintain, house or possess more than eight (8) chickens or ducks or any combination thereof on any premises.
I stand ready to answer any questions you may have about any aspect of chicken keeping: care and maintenance, coops and runs, the efficacy of chickens as environmentally friendly pets, etc. I invite you to visit my handsome backyard and see my “ChickArena.”
We designed it ourselves and it harmonizes with our home and landscaping beautifully. It’s perfectly clean and odorless at all times; and it’s quiet, as the “ladies” can be heard only once a day when they sing their two-minute egg song to announce to the world their great achievement in the egg-laying nest box.
It would be a great gift to me if you could resolve this request for a flock increase without much delay, as the cooler weather now approaching allows the post office to ship live birds safely.
Mailed overnight in regulation live-bird cartons, with a few fat grapes and sliced apples to keep them hydrated, point-of-lay pullets arrive the next morning in excellent health. ChickenLitttle and HennyPenny arrived from the Midwest as four-month olds just that way; safe and sound and vigorous.If it will help matters, I could be available as a resource for any XXXXX Villagers thinking about keeping chickens. Backyard flocks mean easily available protein of the highest quality. Sending XXXXX Village’s kids off to school after a hearty breakfast is a basic block in building a solid community. And eggs are nature’s most perfect food for growing children.
Of significance to XXXX Village’s poorest among us, small postage-stamp yards can successfully keep a few chickens healthy and happy and producing eggs far tastier and more nutritious than store-bought eggs. Coops need only four square feet per hen for sleeping quarters and ten square feet of enclosed run for daily grazing. Most breeds are cold hardy and prance about in the snow with no more difficulty than our local sparrows. I can show you photographs, books, websites, videos, codes, research studies, etc., on a great variety of related topics, including how to build coops at no cost, where to buy feed, acquisition of pullets and hens, etc. I’m hardly an expert in these matters, but can serve as a resource for researching any information I don’t readily have available through experience and study.
And, in case you’re wondering, hens lay deliciously edible eggs every 25 hours; that’s one egg a day, about six days a week; and NO roosters are ever needed in the process. Roosters are necessary only if you want your hens to produce fertilized eggs that will develop into baby chicks. Roosters are fine flock masters, watching the sky for hawks and calling the hens to any tasty bugs they turn up. But they are disturbingly loud early-dawn crowers and for the noise factor alone, are not good backyard pets. Hence the ban on “roos” in most urban and suburban municipalities.
Sanitation is easily accomplished through the brilliance of “the deep litter method.” Occasional additional layers of fresh pine shavings and applications of powdered food-grade diatomaceous earth completely dries and neutralizes droppings, resulting in no smells. No smells. Ever. And the whole annual buildup of eight to ten inches of neutralized litter only has to be removed once a year! The deep litter’s released heat keeps the coop warm in the winter months, and the spring clean-out provides ultra-quality compost for the garden. A win-win situation for birds and people.
Nocturnal predators can be a real problem, but happily the chickens automatically and instinctively return to the safety of their secure coop before dusk. All on their own and without prompting. And well before our Village’s healthy raccoon population comes out to play every night.
HennyPenny and ChickenLittle will be completing their egg-laying years soon enough and I’d like to have a regular influx of fresh layers every few years so the eggs keep coming. Introducing new birds to an existing network is a challenging process and requires some time and careful attention as new pecking orders are established.
Chickens are very social and rely on each other for comfort and companionship. It’s a risk to their health and stability to have only two hens, as the shock of losing just one bird for any reason will leave the other quite alone and bereft.
With respect to any concerns you may have, please note that increasing the Village’s flock allowance to a maximum of eight hens will do little to increase the Village code-enforcement tasks. The sheer numbers of eggs that keep coming is a self-limiting check on the number of hens any one household will choose to maintain.
Families want healthy eggs for their dinner tables and so keeping coops and flocks neat, clean and pristine is of paramount importance to them. Simple informative articles in Village newsletters, Village website, and Village television network station can help to focus XXXX Village’s image as a family-friendly suburb thoughtfully embracing individual rights and modern community ideals.
Village ordinances are already in place restricting offensive noise, odors, running at large, trespassing, etc. As long as pets are maintained in a manner that is healthy for the pet and within the accepted levels of respect for one’s neighbors’ quality of life, the existing ordinances will serve to maintain public harmony and private pursuit of happiness.
Gifting neighbors with delicious organic eggs every now and then goes a long way to convert skeptics and provides the perfect entrée to the Village’s long-promoted advisement to “get to know your neighbors.”
So, Dear Village Board, Dear Mayor XXXXX, may I please have a variance that will allow me to slowly increase my flock to eight happy hens?
Yours truly,
