Thursday, June 11, 2009

All She Wants To Do Is Keep A Few Chickens!


Poor Kimberley Dante from Traverse City just wants to keep a few chickens in her back yard and benefit from fresh eggs, wonderful fertiliser and simply the joy of raising some chickens.

Enter the local authorities and 'busy body' neighborhood associations.

"They're too noisy!" "They're too smelly!" "They attract rats and vermin!" they all rant.

Of course these things can be true, but they don't have to be if the chickens are kept properly.

My compost bin is smelly and attracts vermin, but are they banned? My neighbors dogs are sometimes noisy, but are they banned?

Of course not, and they never should be. Let's get back to some good old fashioned common sense and start concentrating on the huge benefits of raising chickens at home.

It sounds like Traverse City is lucky enough to have a sensible city Commissioner in Jim Carruthers, who doesn't think those concerns are all they're cracked up to be..."A modest chicken ranch could promote sustainable living and help folks through an era of belt-tightening", he said.

Jim rules...I can only hope his common sense approach infects the rest of the town.
Elizabeth Whelan, president of the Boardman Neighborhood Association, said she was not only concerned about the smell and attracting vermin, but the build up of 'feathers' in the community!! Are these people for real?

Perhaps the sky might fall in as well Elizabeth.

Pete :-)

1 comment:

Charles said...

The build up of feathers in the community!!?? This busy body woman obviously has mental problems. Maybe if she raised a few chickens herself she could heal. Probably too far gone for that and should be removed from the community to prevent a build up of stupid.