Where to purchase chickens in Southeastern VA

The question of where to buy chicks, hens, or pullets comes up frequently on 4 Chesapeake Hens' website, especially in the spring and early summer. Here is a list to get you started, adapted from a file posted by Hampton Roads Hens (borrowed with permission). A listing here does not necessarily mean an endorsement: this list is for informational purposes only.

Mermare's Cottage Farm in Virginia Beach
Lucky Duck Landing Farm in Virginia Beach
Little Blessings Orps specializes in Orpingtons
Hampton Roads Chicken Swap on Facebook

Tudor Ace Hardware also sells chicks, 1642 Sparrow Road, Chesapeake, VS 23325. Phone 757-366-9506.

Speaking of chicken swaps, you can find these small animal buy/sell/trade events on Craigslist, through signs in farm supply stores, and through Pet Chickens of Virginia or Hampton Roads Chicken Swap.The advantage of chicken swaps is you can meet the people you're trading with directly and see the condition of the animals you are buying. One disadvantage is that biosecurity can be a huge issue at these events and you might bring unwanted diseases home.

Speaking of biosecurity, if you already have poultry, have a quarantine area set up for your new birds before introducing them to your established birds. Viruses take time to manifest themselves. Chicken Health for Dummies suggests keeping the flocks at least 30' apart for 30 days and making sure you feed and water the more established flock before tending to the new one.

Other manuals suggest keeping the flocks apart for at least two weeks. The chickens may look perfectly healthy but harbor viruses, anyway. Signs are more likely to show up and the viruses more likely to shed when the chickens suffer stress due to moving. Live poultry, even those cute chicks, can harbor salmonella, so practice safe handling practices, including for your children. Here are ideas from the CDC.

Back to listings: Craigslist also has listings for chickens if you run searches for "pullets." You can search using other terms, but you'll tend to have to wade through lots of posts selling decorative items.

Farm supply stores stock chicks in the spring. Tractor Supply (various locations), Southern States (various locations), Epps Farm Supply in Suffolk, Farmer's Feed and Seed in Suffolk and Windsor, St. Bride's Feed and Farm Supply in Chesapeake, Currituck Feed and Seed in NC, all sell chicks in the spring. Some sell older pullets or young hens, too. Realize that many farm supply stores sell chicks they've ordered from hatcheries (see below), so if you are looking to buy local, ask questions before you buy.

If you are willing to mail-order chicks, here is a list of some hatcheries:

Hatcheries/websites:

• 
  
• Meyer Hatchery (Min chick order: 3-15 depending on time of year) www.meyerhatchery.com
• Murray McMurray Hatchery (Min chick order: 15-25 depending on time of year) www.mcmurrayhatchery.com
• My Pet Chicken (Min chick order: 3) www.mypetchicken.com
• Ideal Poultry http://www.ideal-poultry.com/ 
• Purely Poultry http://www.purelypoultry.com/
• eFowl http://www.efowl.com/default.asp 
• Welp Hatchery http://www.welphatchery.com
• Schlecht Hatchery http://www.schlechthatchery.com/
• Privett Hatchery http://www.privetthatchery.com  (minimum order 25, but wide variety)
• Sunray Hatchery http://www.sunrayhatchery.com/
• Decorah Hatchery http://www.decorahhatchery.com/index.html
• Central Hatchery http://www.centralhatchery.com/ 
• Moyers Chicks http://www.moyerschicks.com/
• Townline Hatchery http://www.townlinehatchery.com/
• Morris Hatchery http://morrishatchery.com/index.html 
• Hoovers Hatchery http://hoovershatchery.com/
• Cackle Hatchery www.cacklehatchery.com 
• Robert Leigh's Rhode Island Reds https://m.facebook.com/RobertLeighsRhodeIslandReds

Please keep in mind that being mailed is stressful, perhaps even dangerous, for the chicks. Some hatcheries will pack extra roosters around the pullets (sexed females), especially in the winter, to keep the girls warm, even if you specifically ordered females. Be aware of each company's policies. Also realize that there may be some humane issues with chicks that come from hatchery stock, whether you get them by mail order or not, a problem that is exacerbated by the demand for pullets over cockerels.

If you live in an area that does not allow roosters, realize that "straight run" means unsexed birds. You WILL have roosters included in the mix. "Sexed" birds in a farm supply store or from a hatchery mean that the chickens have been professionally vent-sexed, and there is a 90% chance or better that you are getting females. This still means you will be getting occasional roosters that you need to make plans for. If anyone guarantees the birds are pullets (female) but won't put the guarantee in writing that they will take roosters back, walk away. If you want to buy fertile eggs and hatch your own chicks, remember there is no way to sex eggs. You will still need a plan for unwanted roosters, which should average about 50% of your chicks.

Be responsible. The plan should NOT be to dump them somewhere. Be realistic. The plan should NOT be to eat them if you don't have the skills or the heart to do that. Some localities, like Chesapeake, prohibit slaughtering chickens in residential areas. The plan should NOT be to keep them if prohibited, either. They crow loudly and will quickly become a nuisance to the neighbors. Too many roosters will fight and will wear out the hens, too. They have a strong sexual libido. Some can turn overprotective of their females and attack people, especially children. The plan should NOT be to take them to animal control except as a last resort; excess numbers of unwanted chickens turned in can jeopardize the legality of chicken-keeping for more responsible owners. A responsible plan is to have arranged with someone out in the country IN ADVANCE to take unwanted roosters, or to have plans to eat them that are legal and you know you can follow through with, or to start with older pullets that can be sexed, young hens just starting to lay if you can find them, or sexed chicks.

Auto-sexing breeds of chickens are relatively rare. These are breeds where the males and females look different upon hatching. But hybrid sex-link chickens are relatively easy to find. These are crosses between two different breeds of chicken where the male and female chicks can easily be told apart due to differences in coloration. You can know with 100% certainty that you are getting females, and the hybrids are usually very consistent layers.

Be aware that some farmers will sell hens that are two years old or older or even spent hens (past laying age) as young hens. After the age of two, egg production slows down as the hen ages. Know who you're dealing with, and let the buyer beware.

How to get backyard chickens legalized in Virginia's cities: one perspective

I am the founder of a grassroots network, 4 Chesapeake Hens, that successfully lobbied the Chesapeake City Council to make up to six "female chickens" legal in the backyards of all single-family residential lots, with certain restrictions.

Bernadette Barber is a Virginia Farmer who is pushing for the Virginia Food Freedom Act. This act, if passed, would allow all Virginians to sell their homemade foods and baked goods legally to others under the following conditions:

1. The sale is made face-to-face,
2. The maker's name and address is labeled on the item sold,
3. The list of ingredients is included on the label.

Right now Bernadette cannot legally make a pie with farm-fresh eggs and other ingredients grown right on her own farm and sell it to her neighbors. To do that legally would require government inspection and approval.

This makes little sense to me.

Anyway, Bernadette says her group has been getting many inquiries about backyard chickens. She asked me to write a post about how to get them legalized in cities. I agreed, so here is my advice:

1. Have a thick skin. In the course of your efforts you will hear all kinds of negative comments about what you are trying to do, about how City Council will never listen to you because you're not a rich developer, etc. If you feel you are right, keep going. If you get answers from government officials, and they don't sound right because they don't jibe with your research (see below) or don't seem well documented by facts, don't give up.

2. At the same time, listen to people. If these same people are spreading misinformation, find out what it is so you can do your research and counter it. If there are valid concerns, work on addressing them.

For example, a Virginia "depredation law" originally required Animal Control Officers who caught a dog in the act of killing a chicken to kill the dog on the spot. This concern was unsuccessfully raised by those who opposed backyard hens in Chesapeake. And it has been one of the roadblocks thrown against our sister group "4 Virginia Beach Hens" in a neighboring town. This state law was disturbing, so our group combined with the Virginia Beach group to address this law at the state level. Once it came to several humane organizations' attention, we had no difficulty in getting this law changed so that ACOs had the option to seize the dog, instead. Problem solved.

3. Do your research. Our group has the reputation in Cheseapeake of being polite and extremely well-informed. This has gone a long way with City Council.

Start with actually reading the ordinances that address keeping backyard chickens in your community. Don't just call zoning: actually get the ordinances and read them. They are often available online through Municode or you can go to your local public library for help.

Read all you can about backyard flocks. Read the CDC and USDA websites on keeping chickens and disease prevention, too. Other good resources are Chickens and You, including 7 false myths about urban chickens. Pat Foreman, a Virginia resident, wrote a book called City Chicks that has good information and a chapter about changing city ordinances. Any information you can get from government or university publications should carry extra weight and be even more useful. We also found it helpful to research when and why chickens were first banned in residential areas in Chesapeake.

Did you know that, under Virginia law, chickens under the age of eight weeks of age can only be sold in flocks of six or more? This is a good example of doing your research before heading to council. A neighboring municipality only allows four birds, for example. Its residents are often frustrated when they stop at a farm supply store for chicks in the spring and are told they may only buy six or more. Research leads to better planning in advance to hopefully avoid these kinds of situations.

4. Network, reminding your supporters to be polite and well-informed every step of the way. Find ways of using your volunteers' strengths: whatever they are willing to give time and commitment to. Get them working together. Use online social networks, Change.org, etc., but don't discount the importance of face-to-face time. Those willling to take the time to meet in person will mostly be the backbone of your movement. Also reach out to those contacts within city government who are sympathetic to your cause, willing to listen, and willing to work with you. They will be crucial. It is especially helpful to find those in the mayor's office or on city council who will support your efforts. Here in Chesapeake we were lucky to have the support of Councilman Robert Ike early on in the process.

Part of networking is linking up with groups in your area that might already be working on legalizing or keeping or educating about chickens. In Southeastern Virginia there's Backyard Hens for Norfolk, 4 Virginia Beach Hens, Hampton Roads Hens, Portsmouth Hen Keepers, and Peninsula CHicken Keepers, to name the most popular and active groups other than 4 Chesapeake Hens. There are active groups in Richmond and in Fredericksburg, too.

Another networking idea is to be willing to attend local educational events for public outreach. Bring some hens with you if you can for the public to meet first-hand. While you're at it, remember to network with other "chicken groups," especially in your region and across your state. If a neighboring community with legal chickens is having a backyard "coop tour," invite your local decision-makers to attend. Give them sufficient notice. Hopefully they will attend so they can see for themselves how little noise, fuss, or odor backyard hens make.

5. Use the media to your advantage. Our group has used blogging, Facebook,  XtraNormal, Youtube, news releases, letters to the editor, Craigslist, and Twitter to advantage.  This has gotten positive exposure --free publicity!-- in our local and regional newspaper and local television station(s). Those who contact or talk to the media should always be aware that reporters may have biases. Talk to them anyway, but be cautious about what you say. Prepare some talking points in advance if time allows. Eventually you will know which reporters you can trust and which ones you cannot. Obviously, work with those who have a track record of being open-minded and fair (supportive is even better when you can get it).

6. Be prepared to appear as a cohesive, unified group in front of City Council on a regular basis. Get yourself on the agenda if you can. If not, most communities have regular times where open meetings or non-agenda items are scheduled for public input. Take advantage of these, but make sure a variety of speakers talk on various occasions on a variety of related topics. Have two or three speakers cover the evening's talking points, then invite the rest of the audience to stand at one point to show support. Get everyone in the group to wear the same color for the event. Group T-shirts or even stickers make a visual impact.

Research the rules for getting in front of council in advance. If your speakers must sign up in advance, do that. If only three minutes are allowed per speaker, be sure every speaker knows that and has actually timed the intended speech. Saad Ringa, a member of our group, has collected many of these speeches on his Youtube Channel for those who want to watch some sample speeches.

When you attend meetings, bring any supporting documents you want to submit, assuming your council allows them, and bring extra copies of these plus your written speeches to give to any reporters who show interest. Be sure they have the contact information of your group's leadership. Publish the speeches online through Google Drive and share them publicly.

If your item actually comes up on the agenda, find out how far in advance to submit any documentation you want council to consider and give them out within that time frame. Here in Chesapeake we were told two weeks in advance was good lead time, so that's what we did.

Another idea that worked for us was to have a "City Council Member of the Week" whose contact information we posted online. As a group, we all contacted that one council member with our talking points. We then moved on to another council member the following week.

Contact can be positive rather than confrontational. One time our group gave free samples of fresh, local eggs for Council Members' consideration. Another time we wrote them all thank-you notes just prior to Thanksgiving. Sometimes you can catch more flies with honey, as the saying goes.

If you need to make Freedom of Information Act requests to get information you need from city government to make your case, put in your requests, but realize these take time and sometimes significant money.

7. Keep at it. One of the biggest differences between "4 Chesapeake Hens" and similar efforts by individuals and community groups before us is that prior speakers took the city's initial "no" as a final answer. We never gave up. We never had to make backyard hens an election issue, but our group was prepared to do that if necessary. Any public official who says he or she supports the environment or individual property rights but is against backyard hens is not "walking the talk" and needs to be held accountable at election time.

If this seems exhausting and time-consuming, nevertheless this is probably what it will take to get change made. Our group had it easier than many other localities. We faced opposition but we were polite, well-informed, persistent, organized, and lucky.

As my husband and I shut our laying hens into their hen house at night, as we listen to their gentle and contented cooing when they lull themselves to sleep, or as we eat the best, freshest eggs we have ever tasted, we find these efforts completely worthwhile. So have many others who helped us: some of our original supporters have found the educational side of our efforts so rewarding that they went on to start Hampton Roads Hens, a group that continues advocacy, education, and outreach on a regional level. We all wish you the best of luck with your own efforts at chicken activism. If we can do anything further to help you, please let us know.

Chesapeake Chickens vs. Sunset: Soon Resolved?

Almost two years ago I started a Facebook Page, 4 Chesapeake Hens. Through this page I successfully organized a group that convinced our City Council to allow up to six laying hens on all single-family lots with certain restrictions. Chesapeake, Virginia, thus became a regional leader in the local foods, sustainability, and backyard chicken movement, with cities such as Portsmouth, Norfolk, Hampton, and Richmond later following suit by loosening up the legal restrictions that had prevented backyard micro-flocks. Of these, Chesapeake probably allows residents the most freedom. We have the shortest setbacks for the coop from the property line and no need for a license or inspection to have a flock. Coops must, however, comply with laws regarding accessory structures, so a permit for the coop is a definite possibility, depending on its size and structure.

Council put a one-year sunset clause on the new ordinance. This means that City Council must vote by December 20, 2013, to make the new law permanent, or Chesapeake's residential chickens will once again become illegal. Many people think this is highly unlikely unless backyard hens cause massive problems in the city, which they have not. This report, based on statistics acquired from the City under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, shows that complaints about chickens in residential areas have actually decreased since the change in the law. And our group's contacts inside local government tell us that there have been few or no problems with chickens in residential areas since our group published this report.


Nevertheless, our group does not want to be complacent about our rights. During the late summer months we ran a "City Council Member of the Week" campaign, but with residential hens coming up on the agenda, we need to take further action. During a recent meeting of our leadership, here is what we have decided to do. This plan was revised on 11/4, when we were informed that hens will be on the agenda on November 26, NOT in December like we were originally (but tentatively) informed:


1. TJ "The DJ" Thompson will speak for our group as a "non-agenda" speaker on November 12. He will politely let Council know to expect contact from residents in favor of backyard hens.

2.  We will run a "thank-you note" letter-writing campaign from November 12 up to the vote on November 26, with brief but positive expressions of appreciation for the opportunity to keep hens. We recommend that these be very short and contain pictures for Council to view. These should be sent to the City Council members' home addresses as posted on the City's website. City Council has always appreciated how polite, well-informed, and positive our group is, and this occasion should be no different.


3. Members of our group are collecting letters of support from local businesses, neighbors, and civic groups. We hope to have these collected by the Friday before Thanksgiving, November 22, with an eye to having these copied and collated to present to Council by one of our speakers on the 26th. Or, better yet, send these directly to City Council in order to give members time to read them before the actual vote.

4. Council will have a work session on November 19 at 4:30 PM (subject to change). It would be great if one of our group could sit in on the meeting and report back on what was presented. I will go if I can, but I will not know until I know what time they meet. The public is not permitted to speak at work sessions, but they are open to the public. Council will also notice our presence there.

5. On the day of the vote, November 26, we will come to the City Council meeting with all the forces we can muster. We will wear the color green, the color of sustainability, so Council can see our numbers in the chambers. "Green means go!" in respect to continuing to allow us to keep our hens. We will make sure several of us sign up to speak that day, all with different, positive things to say about hens and our rights to keep them. Hopefully, Council will then vote to allow us to have them on a long-term basis.

Council meetings take place at City Hall at 306 Cedar Rd. They start at 6:30 PM, and anyone who wishes to speak must sign up in advance of the meeting. This can either be done at City Hall or by calling the City Clerk's office at 382-6151 during office hours of 8 AM through 5 PM weekdays.

 Update: On November 26, 2013, Chesapeake City Council voted to make the "hen ordinance" permanent. The meeting may be viewed online:  fast forward to 1:19 to see some great pro-chicken speeches and the City Council's reaction.

FRESH Food at a Local Restaurant: the Cutting Edge Cafe

Medi-Veggie Sandwich and Side: MMMMM!!!

One of my favorite restaurants in Chesapeake, VA, is the Cutting Edge Cafe. It is located near Walmart off of Route 64 and Battlefield Blvd, in a plaza right behind a car wash. Melanie and her husband, Matt, own the restaurant and run it. They are active in Hampton Roads' "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" movement. Their food reflects their passion for fresh, local food. I'm a vegetarian, so I haven't tried everything on their menu, but their "Medi-Veggie" sandwich, made with fresh cheeses, fresh bread, and grilled vegetables, is to die for! I like their sweet potato fries, their hummus side-order, their sesame noodles, their salads and salad dressings, their rich and flavorful soups...

Basically, everything I've tried there has been superior to anything else I've had in town. Did I mention that Melanie bakes the bread they use? It's so good, I'm planning to buy my bread from her instead of the store. Their restaurant is not a bakery, but their bread is just as good.

Matt and Melanie's passion for local food is how I found this gem of an eatery. It's close to where I live. So when it became a pick-up point for the Coastal Farms Online Food Co-op, I arranged to pick up my weekly orders there. Until that point, I'd never really noticed the place, even though I'd driven by there dozens of times. Originally, I stopped just for the convenient location to pick up my local food orders, but once I tried one of their entrees, I was hooked! I order there at least once a week now.

I also recently found out that the Cutting Edge will soon become a pick-up point for CSA orders from Mattawoman Creek Farms, an organic farm in this area. CSA stands for  "Community Supported Agriculture." A good explanation of how this works can be found at LocalHarvest.org. The basic idea is that residents can pay a local farmer in advance for a share of the season's crops, delivered each week. The food is fresher than what residents can find in grocery stores, and the farmer makes a fair living for his (or her) hard work. This system helps to keep smaller farmers in business! Don and I are adventurous cooks and eaters, so we're looking forward to whatever comes our way in our farm share order each week.

Our first farm share order should arrive in a week or two, depending on the weather. We can't wait! Thanks, Matt and Melanie, for making these opportunities available to us, and for running a fantastic restaurant!

Oh: one caveat: their hours are a little different. They started as a lunch place (open until 4:00) but have extended into some evening hours on Wednesday through Fridays. They're closed Saturday. Keep in mind their schedule before heading over.

Fresh, Local Foods for Residents in Need

I have written before about a local online food co-op here in Virginia, Coastal Farms. How the co-op works is that every six months, members pay a $75.00 administrative fee. Then, every week, there is a window open when members can order fresh produce directly from regional farmers. The ordering window is usually from 6 PM Friday night until 10 PM Monday night.

The selections are fantastic: pasture-raised meats, local seafood, local dairy products, prepared heat-and-eat meals made with local foods for busy families, honey, hand-made soaps, local free-range eggs, and nuts and produce. The order is paid for in advance through PayPal. There are drop-off points all over the region. You select the point that is most convenient for you. Then you pick up your order every Thursday at your drop-off point between 4 and 6 PM.

The newest drop-off point is the one closest to me: the Cutting Edge Cafe.Don and I hadn't even realized this fantastic little restaurant existed until it became our drop-off point. We've tried it since then, and the food is reasonably priced and delicious. We will definitely be going back.

Recently I ordered dried figs, hydroponically-grown lettuce and arugula, two different varieties of Virginia-grown apples from the western part of the state, dark-chocolate-covered peanut butter truffles for my birthday (made with goat's milk, believe it or not!), and two different pies for Thanksgiving: apple and sweet-potato. The latter has a pecan topping that looks really good.

I also ordered fresh produce for the region's needy through a new program: Pounds of Plenty. The way it works is this: co-op members can order additional produce from local farmers to be delivered directly to the Food Bank in Norfolk on Thursdays. So far I've ordered fresh kale, a salad mix, collards, and radishes.

It feels goodto supply a variety of fresh, local, vitamin-rich produce to residents who need it the most, and to help our region's small farmers at the same time.

4 Chesapeake Hens at City Council

We are meeting at the Chesapeake City Council at 6 PM tonight! A reporter for a local paper, the Chesapeake Clipper, part of the Virginian Pilot, has promised to meet us there. This will be nice follow-up to our recent publicity on local station WTKR News Channel 3.

Our online petition now has over 590 signatures. I have prepared not only a speech for the City Council, but I have compiled comments from the online petition that we hope they will accept and read. It is past our initial deadline for signatures, but we have received so many more due to the publicity, that we are waiting a little while so those who are interested can still sign.

We are starting to compile research for members City Council and others who may be interested. There is talk of our group being scheduled for a future work session, so we want to be prepared. Our research efforts in support of our petition are available online through Google Docs.

***Update: My speech, available here, was received well.  Andrea Ball Margrave thoroughly refuted the memo the City had sent us with outdated and erroneous information. Watch our speeches to Chesapeake City Council regarding the efforts of our group, 4 Chesapeake Hens, on this video!! Fast forward to approximately 2:22 for Mary Lou's speech, and then Andrea's starts at approx the 2:25 mark.

Thanks, Mayor Alan Krasnoff, for your interest in asking for more information (approx 2:32 mark)! He asks the City Manager to prepare a staff report, a good sign for us.

The mayor said something about "moving on this," although what he meant by that, none of us is sure. Two reporters, one from the Pilot and one from the Clipper, were there, so we are hoping to get more publicity for our efforts. City Council Member Robert Ike is working behind the scenes to get a change in the zoning process moving forward.

So far, so good.

*** Update on 7/30/12: Marjon Rostami wrote a nice article about our efforts in today's Virginian-Pilot. So far the public's comments have been very positive about the idea, and we are getting new "likes" on our Facebook page. If even a percentage of these fans are willing to get more actively involved, this will bode well for an even bigger groundswell of support at future City Council meetings.

More Chicken Activism!

Dear Suzy Kelly,

It was nice to meet you tonight after the City Council Meeting. I appreciate your willingness to do some research on the matter of urban micro-flocks and local zoning ordinances.

I am working on your concerns about chicken waste. I have contacted "AskHRGreen.org" for expert advice about the potential impacts, positive or negative, of chicken manure and related compost piles on our watershed. I will let you know when and if I get a reply. In the meantime, I found this article that talks about the waste of chickens vs. other household pets and its uses in the garden: http://suite101.com/article/make-your-garden-grow-with-poultry-poop-a219349. I am sure you could find other articles, or perhaps some universities have research they can share. Everything I have read says that a small flock of hens produces less poop than dogs or cats, that it is less offensive to the nose, and that unlike dog or cat waste it can be composted.

Chickens get the reputation for smelling bad due to large commercial operations, which keep thousands of birds in a small, confined space, and they do not clean the hen house often enough. Any animal would smell bad when raised in such deplorable conditions.

In response to your question about the hens' housing set-up, that can be different according to the owners' preferences and what the zoning laws allow. There are permanent coops that are like sheds, there are permanent pens or runs, and there are portable coops and runs. The portable set-ups are sometimes called "chicken tractors." There are a variety of examples of coops and runs at http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-tractors-mobile-chicken-coop-designs. Some are aesthetically quite pleasing.

I have an acquaintance whose property is zoned R-E 1. She can and does legally have four hens as pets. If (sic) have contacted her to see if we can arrange to make her set-up available to you and to other Council Members who would like to see what a well-managed micro-flock looks, sounds, and smells like. Perhaps a field-trip can be arranged? Let us know!

**Update on 7/18/12: Suzy Kelly wants to take us up on the field trip to the pet hens. Also, we've been contacted by a local television news station about a potential future story. We have over 500 signatures on our online petition. Things are looking up!

Robert Ike, City Council Member of the Week

I attended tonight's Chesapeake City Council meeting and got to meet Robert Ike, Jr. He had some positive words to say about our efforts to amend the zoning laws to allow micro-flocks of backyard laying hens. Here is what I emailed him in response:

Dear Robert Ike,

Thank you for your words of support for our group's goal to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake to allow more residents to have 2-6 laying hens. Please feel free to contact me as a resource on this issue. Our Facebook fan page is https://www.facebook.com/4ChesapeakeHens. We have an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/4chesapeakehens with 478 signatures, and we are collecting more signatures in the community. We would be pleased to work with you or any other City Council members who are willing to effect change. We appreciate any efforts you make on our behalf.

We are making him our "City Council Member of the Week" on our Facebook fan page to thank him for his words of support. His contact information is at http://www.cityofchesapeake.net/Government/council/intro/ike.htm.

**Update 7/18/12 We have received our first response from a member of City Council, and such a supportive one it is.  Here is Robert Ike's email:

Mary Lou,

As I told you in chambers, I had a hen house in the yard behind me for over 3 years.  I only discovered it when I replaced my back fence.  They were quiet, odorless and I'm sure provided the owners with nutritious fresh eggs.

In this economy many people are reducing their grocery bill with home gardens and laying hens. We need to allow our residents the option.  I'm sure it is a great thing for children to experience as well!

Best of luck with your project, please let me know if I may be of service.

Councilman Robert C. Ike, Jr.

Update: Robert Ike introduced an ordinance to legalize up to six hens in a pen in residential backyards on November 20, 2012. The ordinance passed, 6-3.

The Dog Park at Chesapeake City Park

As I mentioned in a previous post, my dog Elvis and I have started going to a local dog park at Chesapeake City Park. Elvis enjoyed his visit, and I plan to take him back.

Elvis the Walker Hound at the dog park

The park has several features I like. It is a large space, so dogs have room to spread out and not get too crowded. It gives Elvis plenty of room to roam around, to run, to sniff everything, and to mark the place up with urine, a favorite dog activity. Humans like their email, but dogs love their  "pee-mail."

The park has reasonable rules that are posted: no females in heat, no intact males over one year old, no food in the park, dogs must be off-leash and vaccinated, no digging, no young children, poop must be picked up, they must have special tags, etc. The rules are for the safety of the dogs and their humans and to prevent fights.

Doggy water fountain

I like how the park has a separate entrance and exit, and how there are double gates to help prevent escapes. The fencing is tight to the ground to discourage escape artists. There is shade, a picnic table and a bench for the humans, and a water fountain for the dogs. There are stations that provide waste pick-up bags and lots of trash cans, so I was disappointed to see that some owners have not been picking up after their dogs as they should. There's really no excuse.

Elvis and I met some nice other dogs: two Labrador retrievers and Buddy, an elderly miniature schnauzer.

Buddy

A chocolate Lab

I did some research when I got home from the park. Elvis had such a good time at the park, I felt a little guilty we didn't bring our other two dogs along. But there are online articles that explain that there are downsides to dog parks, that owners need to know about dog park etiquette, and that dog parks aren't good for all dogs. Dogs can learn to be bullies or aggressive at the parks if owners aren't careful. Other dogs find them annoying or even frightening. And while Elvis enjoyed his visit, I suspect our other two would have found it stressful.

Update on 11/10/12: I inadvertently upset some (human) patrons of the dog park today, when I insisted they round up their dogs and move them away from the entrance gate. After Elvis and I  entered, I explained that it's considered rude behavior to allow your dogs to crowd a dog as it's entering the park. That was news even to the folks who were regulars at the park. The reason is that dogs don't like to be crowded all at once, and the gate itself can lead to something called "barrier aggression," which is something we don't want our dogs to learn or practice.

For some other good Do's and Don'ts for dog parks, visit the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.

Elvis the Walker Hound

As I mentioned in a previous post, we live with a Treeing Walker Coonhound. For why the breed is called a TREEING walker hound, watch this incredible Youtube video. We got him from the SPCA of Northeastern NC in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

 My Walker's name is Elvis, after the old Elvis Presley song. Like the song says, he does whine a lot at times, mostly when he is bored, which is a lot of the time, despite our best efforts to exercise, socialize, and play with him.

We have purchased four high-quality, durable dog beds for Elvis and our two other dogs, but Elvis likes to spend much of his indoor time curled up in a lawn chair. How he manages to fit, or to climb in and out of it, I don't really know, but he manages.

Elvis, the Treeing Walker Coonhound, relaxing at home

I am proud of Elvis for learning how to walk nicely on a loose leash when he is wearing a buckle collar. We will often put a martingale collar on him, instead of the buckle collar, when we are out walking, though. He can and will back out of a regular collar or even a harness if he smells game nearby. Walker Hounds have no sense around cars at all when they are on a scent, so we try our best not to let him get loose. We also have him micro-chipped to aid in recovery efforts.

The difficulty with teaching him to walk on a loose leash is that Elvis pays humans almost no mind when he is outside. Around the house he is an athletic, energetic doll, but outside he is an athletic, energetic hunter. Period. All he's interested in is his environment and "sniffies" and finding potential prey. After all, he's bred to hunt.

I train my dogs using positive methods. I refuse to use prong, pinch, or choke collars for reasons that have been outlined in many places on the web. But the #1 tool in my positive-training arsenal, food, has no effect on Elvis when he's outside. So what did I do?

I used the environment itself to train Elvis. When he acts in a mannerly fashion and keeps the leash loose, he gets to move forward, sniff, and move in the direction he wants (within reason). When he pulls forward, we stop. If he pulls like mad toward a sniffy, I immediately drag him in another direction so he can't have it. I walk in tight circles with the dog on the outside, almost like lunging a horse, and then resume the walk with Elvis in the proper position when he calms down again. I also walked him a lot in the (boring) middle of the street and only let him over on the nice, sniffy grass when the leash was loose. (Just be cautious not to walk your dog on hot pavement on hot, sunny days. You'll burn the pads of his feet!)

I also used a lot of "micro-stops" to discourage him from getting into a pattern of starting up, pulling to the end of the leash, stopping, then starting over. I can't describe the micro-stops very well, but Ian Dunbar has described something similar in some of his books. The basic idea is, when I start up again, I barely do so--maybe leaning forward or taking a step of an inch or two. Elvis will tend to immediately get excited and pull to the end of the leash, causing me to stop completely. After a series of these false starts, he'll start to hesitate or wait when I lean forward. BINGO! We move forward and keep moving forward at as fast a pace as I can walk comfortably. When and if he gets to the end of the leash, we stop immediately and restart the process of micro-starts. After a while, Elvis will be very careful not to tighten the leash and stop the process of moving.

The most important thing is that I am also VERY consistent about never allowing the pulling. This required a lot of patience on both our parts at first, until Elvis, who is very smart, figured out the rules. Now I can take him anywhere on a collar.

Elvis having fun at the dog park

 Today was Elvis' first visit to the Dog Park at Chesapeake City Park. Recently, when we've been walking, Elvis has been straining to the end of his leash, barking, play-bowing, and acting like a madman (maddog?) when he sees another dog. Since he gets along with other dogs, I took him to our veterinarian for the required kennel cough vaccination, got him a city dog tag and then, with the tag and his immunization records, I got him a  tag for the dog park. I figured if he got some off-leash playtime with other dogs, it would satisfy a need, and he would be calmer around other dogs when I walked him on his leash.

The Chesapeake Arboretum

So far, it seems to work. He enjoyed the dog park, met some other dogs, ran around a lot less than I expected, and sniffed a lot. Then I took him to the nearby Chesapeake Arboretum for a walk on the trails through the woods, which he seemed to enjoy even more than the dog park.

Probably better sniffies!

Anyway, we met some other dogs on-leash on the trail, and although he was excited to see them, he acted within limits I could live with: no lunging, barking, etc. I don't have ESP, but I predict more trips to the dog park in Elvis' future!

The Chesapeake Arboretum is pretty, but the SNIFFIES are wonderful!

2nd Letter from a Chicken Activist

I started a Facebook page called "4 Chesapeake Hens." Its fans have been working to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake, Virginia. Currently, property must be zoned agricultural or be a "residential estate" of three acres or more to keep laying hens. Our group wants the city to allow up to six laying hens to be kept in most residential areas. We have even started an online petition that readers can sign.

Our most recent campaign has been "City Council Member of the Week." Each week our group chooses one member of City Council and asks our fan base to make contact to politely explain why we wish to keep hens. I have been emailing our City Council Members and getting no responses at all. So I thought I'd also post my emails here for all to read. Here is my email to our second member, Suzy Kelly:

Dear Suzy Kelly,

I am a resident and voter in Chesapeake and a founding member of the local grassroots community group, "4 Chesapeake Hens." I am writing to let you know how much it would mean to me and my family if zoning rules were changed to allow more single-family residences to have 2-6 laying hens, as outlined in our petition which you may read at  http://www.change.org/petitions/4chesapeakehens#. The petition has gathered over 390 signatures as I type this, and we have been gathering more out in the community at large.

My husband, Don Burke, and I live in a quiet, established community just off of Battlefield Blvd on H...... Drive. We just married in April, 2012. Originally, Don was going to sell his place and live with me in Elizabeth City. But I found work as a teacher in the Chesapeake Public Schools and moved here when Don, a retired Navy submariner, had trouble finding work in Northeastern N.C.

I am a vegetarian and an avid gardener. I started vegetable gardening in Elizabeth City when I was newly divorced, with no extra cash, and gas climbed to $4.00 per gallon. I had to think twice about spending the money to make trips to the local Walmart, so I bought seeds and started gardening at home. My clay soil was terrible for growing anything, so I got into composting to make my own, inexpensive amendments for improving the soil on my lot. Even though the lot was much smaller than where we live here, nobody ever complained about any smell, because we composted responsibly and there was minimal odor to complain about.

Don and I found that chicken manure was one of the best sources of nitrogen and other nutrients for my vegetables. I was regularly purchasing fresh, local eggs from a friend, and picking up manure as well as eggs there became a regular part of our routine. I buy local eggs not only to support the local economy but because I am concerned about the environment, nutrition, and animal welfare. The treatment of laying hens in the mass-produced conditions that produce those cheap, nutritionally-inferior eggs we can all buy cheaply at Walmart and the supermarket is abysmal. Visit the Humane Society of the United States if you need more information: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/battery_cages.html.

For information on the nutritional superiority of pasture-raised eggs, read this widely-quoted article from Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-10-01/Tests-Reveal-Healthier-Eggs.aspx.

The nutritional value is important to me as a vegetarian, since eggs and very occasional dairy are my only sources of animal-based protein and nutrition. For Don, the healthier the eggs, the better. He is a cardiac patient and on a low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-sodium diet. He had a heart attack about five years ago, and neither of us wants to see a repeat.

In Elizabeth City, a few laying hens are allowed in most residential areas, even in the city. There are rules about setbacks, cleaning up after your animals, noise, and keeping them on your property, but they are allowed and there are no issues or complaints that I know of. A few hens is (sic!) a natural adjunct to gardening and sustaining oneself. This is just the way it has always been.

I could not keep hens where I lived due to a residential association in my development. But, if the City will see fit to amend its zoning laws, Don and I can have them here. They will eat the ticks and other insect pests in our yard and convert weeds and kitchen scraps into high-value protein and fertilizer. Three acres or more, such as on land zoned RE-1, is not necessary to keep a micro-flock of laying hens, as I've outlined in the following blog post: http://mlcsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-much-space-do-laying-hens-need.html

Please, Suzy, do a little research and learn more about keeping laying hens as pets. They are allowed in New York City... that's right! Even in the Bronx. There is no sound reason why we cannot keep them here. If you have questions or concerns, let me know, and perhaps I can address them. A book, City Chicks, by Patricia Foreman, is also a great resource and a fun read.

Mary Lou Burke

I sent this email on Monday, June 25, 2012. To date I have received no reply. To read my first letter, click here.

Update: On 6/29/12 I sent Suzy Kelly this letter by certified mail. According to usps.com, the letter was delivered to City Hall on July 2, 2012, at 12:32 pm.

Update on 7/18: I met Suzy in person after Tuesday's City Council meeting. She is doing some preliminary research on the issue of urban chickens. She has started to answer some emails and we are developing a working relationship. 

Letter from a Chicken Activist

I started a Facebook page called "4 Chesapeake Hens." Its fans have been working to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake, Virginia. Currently, property must be zoned agricultural or be a "residential estate" of three acres or more to keep laying hens. Our group wants the city to allow up to six laying hens to be kept in most residential areas. We have even started an online petition that readers can sign.

Our most recent campaign has been "City Council Member of the Week." Each week our group chooses one member of City Council and asks our fan base to make contact to politely explain why we wish to keep hens. I have been emailing our City Council Members and getting no responses at all. So I thought I'd also post my emails here for all to read. Here is my email to our first member, Lonnie Craig:

Dear Lonnie Craig,

I am a resident and newly-registered voter in Chesapeake. I teach Latin at Deep Creek High School. I am also an avid gardener and local-foods enthusiast. I founded a Facebook page called "4 Chesapeake Hens," an online group that has 99 "fans" as I type this: https://www.facebook.com/4ChesapeakeHens. Our group also has an online petition with over 370 signatures from Chesapeake and from all over the U.S. and the world: http://www.change.org/petitions/4chesapeakehens#. We are also collecting other signatures out in the community to present to City Council sometime after July 20.

We respectfully request that Chesapeake change its zoning laws to allow single-family residences to keep two to six laying hens as pets. Our main reasons are laid out in our online petition. Due to the poor economy, health concerns about mass-produced and processed foods, ethical concerns about the treatment of hens in battery cages, environmental awareness, and the increasing popularity of the local foods movement, people nationwide want to produce more of their own food at home. More people are vegetable gardening and preserving their harvests. Laying hens, which convert weeds, insect pests, and garden and kitchen scraps into inexpensive, nutritious protein, are the next logical step for those of us who want to save money and support ourselves.

I have posted my own reaction to the memorandum that Andrea Ball Margrave recently received in response to our request at the Chesapeake Town Meeting. You may read it, if you'd like, on my blog: http://mlcsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/06/city-chicks-revisited.html. Since yesterday 114 people have read this post. I am starting to publish public reaction and comments on another post: http://mlcsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/06/responses-to-city-chicks-revisited.html with more to come.

Other information about keeping chickens is available in "Longing for Urban Chickens" http://mlcsgarden.blogspot.com/2011/12/longing-for-urban-chickens.html and in "How Much Space Do Laying Hens Need?" http://mlcsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-much-space-do-laying-hens-need.html. I will save space by not repeating these words here, but you may read them at your leisure should you care to.

My understanding is that you are open to public input about this issue. Please use the links above as well as other resources at your disposal if you feel the need to learn more about laying hens or what this grassroots movement is about. I highly recommend a book, City Chicks, which explains how laying hens can save the city money by reducing the amount of food waste heading to the landfill:  http://www.amazon.com/City-Chicks-Micro-flocks-Bio-reyclers-Producers/dp/0962464856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339948210&sr=8-1&keywords=City+Chicks. It's also an entertaining and good read.

City Council members such as you, who take the time to inform themselves on this issue, will view the planning department's memorandum as ludicrous, just as other well-informed chicken enthusiasts do. Our group intends to regularly send representatives to City Council meetings, and we would like to see a well-informed public debate by all parties concerned.

Respectfully,

Mary Lou Burke

I sent this letter on Sunday, June 17, 2012 at  12:08 PM. To date I have received no reply.

Update: on 6/29/12, I sent this letter to Lonnie Craig at City Hall by certified mail. According to the www.usps.com website, it was received at City Hall on July 02, 2012,  at 12:32 pm. 

Responses to "City Chicks Revisited"

I am getting responses on "City Chicks Revisited" by email and from other groups. With permission, I will post a selection of these reactions and responses here. Some are too good not to share. And, if you haven't already, please sign our online petition.

My favorite, so far, is from Kelly McGuire:

In response, I can only say that council can be loud, produce large amounts of waste resulting in obnoxious odors too. Their containment is sometimes difficult as well. I really have a hard time believing the sublime attitudes.

Here is one from  ~: Beth California Sierra foothills:~ via a Yahoo Group called "Breaking New Ground:"

A backyard flock of chickens need NOT be noisy, messy or anything negative. A clean coop/area will not attract flies, rodents. And chickens are actually great at eating ticks and other bugs which means less pesticides being used. Noisy? Bantam breeds are less noisy and many cities simply allow hens but no roosters. Roosters are the one who make the noise. Feed kept in a metal container wont attract rodents etc. Heck dog/cat/bird feeder food outside can attract rodents etc. Is the city/town going to ban those? Heck raccoons are more attracted to garbage cans than anything else. Are they banning garbage cans/pick up? The late actor Jimmy Stewart and his wife Gloria are the ones who got us back having chickens in the early 80's, when he shared how they had chickens in their Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills home back yard. And if I do say so I think chickens make us better people. And yes you can quote me on that!

From Karen Anne Kirkpatrick  of the Facebook Group, "Backyard Chickens for Chesapeake:"

Can be loud, especially when playing.
Can produce large amounts of waste, resulting in obnoxious odors.
Waste in diapers fill our landfills.
Containment can sometimes be difficult.
Can be targeted as nuisances by other people, such as old people on the front lawn and college students texting on iphones....

  

Time to ban kids.

Another great response from Jack Newfield through the "Breaking New Ground" Yahoo Group:

>Can be loud
Hens are not loud and egg laying hens make no more noise than many automobiles. If egg-laying ducks are allowed, both sexes are very quiet.

>large amount of waste
No, there is far less odor from my 10 chickens than from my 3 dogs.

>Waste can attract rodents
So can an oak tree but that is allowed.

>Containment can be difficult
Containment is extremely simple. I don't contain mine at all and they do not range out of sight of their coop.

>Can be target of dogs
So can children and cats but they are allowed. It's the dog owner's fault if they are out of control. Cats do not attack hens.

So it's obvious they simply do not want to keep *low-status* animals in their neighborhoods. You'll find this with vegetable gardens too. Where flower gardens are permitted, vegetables are often prohibited because food is *low status* compared to flowers. Simple really.

The best way is the camel's-nose- in-the-tent approach, I believe. Get them to permit some eco thing that let's chickens in through the back door or get them to approve expensive show chickens and then buy ordinary hens and claim they are the same animal. It's all about status.

City Chicks Revisited

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am spearheading a group of residents who are working to change the zoning laws in the City of Chesapeake, Virginia. The current zoning law states that residents must live in agricultural zones or on "residential estates" of three acres or more in order to keep laying hens. We would like to see micro-flocks of 2-6 hens allowed in most residential areas. Minutes of our most recent meeting are available online.

The city's initial response to our group's request was so weakly written and pathetic, I was actually saddened to read it. The response is available at the link to our minutes, above. It is not the well-informed, well-researched, and thoughtful response that our tax dollars deserve. Here are the main "impacts" against more residents keeping hens. I quote:

Chickens/hens...

• Can be loud, especially when laying eggs.
• Can produce large amounts of waste, resulting in obnoxious odors.
• Waste can be an attractant for rodents.
• Containment can sometimes be difficult.
• Can be targeted as prey by other domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats.

That's it?  

Residents can legally keep prey animals like rabbits; they can keep household waste and birdseed, which attract rodents; they can keep dogs and parrots, which are noisy...but they can't legally keep 2-6 hens penned in their own backyards to turn their kitchen scraps into eggs? It's so ridiculous I feel like we are truly dealing with the fictitious bureaucrat on the XtraNormal satire that we've posted on Youtube.

If you feel as we do, there are ways you can help. Sign our online petition. If you are a Chesapeake resident, read our minutes, like our Facebook page, and get involved. By working together we will get the City Council's attention and, eventually, change.


For other responses to the City of Chesapeake's position, visit this followup post. For information on our speeches to the City Council on July 24 and the television and newspaper publicity we've been generating for our cause, read this post.

**Update 8/25/12: "4 Chesapeake Hens" and Councilman Robert Ike have convinced the City Council to send the  hen issue to Planning. We are inviting Pat Foreman, the author of City Chicks, to Chesapeake on October 9 for educational and awareness purposes. Click here for more information.

**Update 11/20/12: Chesapeake City Council approved a law that will allow up to six hens, no roosters, in a pen in residential backyards. There is a 1-year sunset clause on the ordinance.

Urban Chicken Activists, Unite!

There have been some exciting developments in Chesapeake regarding urban chickens. As I explained in an earlier post, a group of residents has been organizing to get the zoning laws changed in Chesapeake, Virginia, for reasons I outlined in other posts. Our online petition now has more than 330 signatures. We also have petitions in local feed stores and other places. Our petition at Southern States on Military Highway has 24 signatures on it as of the morning of June 9.

Member Andrea Ball Margrave has been organizing our political strategy for City Council. Last night she and many members of the Facebook fan page, 4 Chesapeake Hens, and the group, Backyard Chickens for Chesapeake, met at an informal local political event called a "Town Meeting." Unfortunately, I had another commitment and could not attend. Here is what Andrea had to report, in her own words:

"Very excited tonight! Got a wonderful reception at the Town Meeting, which was packed because of some other issues going on, so I had a larger than usual audience, plus the entire council was present, including the mayor and the interim city manager, plus at least one of the new upcoming council members that I could see, Robert Ike. 

"I was able to put copies of the flyer in the hands of all but two of them as they entered, and handed out over 30 more to attendees. I met at least 4 or 5 members of this group there, but now I see there were more that I didn't meet that were in attendance! WOW! Sorry to miss some of y'all. I of course didn't get to say all that I wanted to say, forgot some of it, but one other gentleman came with his daughter, a Mr. Tims? and spoke up in support of chickens, very funny guy! Thankfully I was able to speak first, because of all the controversy over the other issues there, but I kept it positive and respectful, and I feel they were pretty receptive. 

"As the meeting adjourned my daughter and I stood outside the doors asking for people to sign the petitions, and we got 10 signatures and had some great conversations. A bunch of folks promised to sign online after they got home, using the link on the flyer. Some of the members were in a hurry to leave after the rough questioning of the evening, so I didn't get to speak individually to them all, but those I did speak with had nice things to say about our efforts. One even asked to learn more about it, and I told him I would come to his office to answer whatever questions they had. Overall a successful evening, and a great opening salvo in our quest to secure the changes we seek."

Thanks, Andrea! Great things are happening. All because a group of people got together and decided to give a cluck. ;0)

Urban Chicken Activist

A laying hen from our visit to Polyface Farm

I feel like Clark Kent: mild-mannered reporter by day, Superman in his spare time.

I, too, have a secret. I am Mary Lou Burke, mild-mannered Latin teacher by day, Chicken Activist Extraordinaire in my spare moments.

A lot has been happening since I first mentioned my yearnings for a few backyard layers in "Longing for Urban Chickens" back in December.

I am not the type to sit back and whine about laws, policies, and other situations I don't like. If I see any opportunity to change the status quo, look out! So I started a Facebook Page, now called  https://www.facebook.com/4ChesapeakeHens. At first, and for a long time, there were only two or three people in the whole universe who "liked" this page. But I tried to keep the content interesting and fresh by updating it with news and articles about chickens. I also linked my posts to Twitter to expand their reach with the use of hash tags. And the number of "likes" grew. Gradually my page started to get a broader and more active base of fans, folks who posted comments, suggestions, and links of their own, like this great video about "cage free" vs. "free range" vs. "pastured" eggs. It became an interactive forum for what is happening in South Hampton Roads regarding chickens and zoning.

In the meantime I continued to research about chicken-keeping and the urban agriculture movement.  I found out about and began to utilize online resources like Urban Chickens and Backyard Chickens. And I blogged about my frustrations with the current zoning laws here in Chesapeake, VA, in a post called "How Much Space Do Laying Hens Need?" In response to a suggestion on the Facebook Page, I started an online petition at Change.org on April 20. I set a goal of 500 signatures by July 20. My fellow Facebook chicken-activists and I have been promoting this petition online, and we have nearly 275 signatures as of May 12. We are over halfway to our goal!

Next came considerations about who will present our petition to Chesapeake City Council (and how and when). While I am perfectly happy to take a stand all by myself, I have spent enough time around local politicians to know a group of local citizens will make more of an impression than one lonely Latin teacher, even one armed with a petition. I had been suggesting face-to-face meetings through the Facebook page, and eventually got enough interest to set a time, date, and place for our first meetings.

What a nice group of people! A local homeschooling mom who has five children came with two of her daughters, my husband came, of course, and a young mother came with her 4-month-old infant daughter. We have different motivations for our common interests in keeping hens legally, but they are all sound, strong reasons, and we share a commitment for seeing this through. Andrea, the mother of five, has experience in grass-roots activism and great insights into the workings of the local city council. Minutes of our meeting are available online and we plan our next meeting for the afternoon of May 20. Danielle, the young mother, put together a compendium of Chesapeake's chicken-related zoning ordinances to help answer the frequent questions we get about Chesapeake's current laws.

We are now expanding our network of contacts out in the community as well as online. We are planning group T-shirts and putting hard copies of our petitions out at local businesses, flea markets, farmers' markets, and other community events to gather more signatures. I have posted a version of our petition at Google Docs to make it easier for volunteers to print petitions and gather signatures.

**Update on 5/14: The T-shirt has been designed and is adorable! Visit our Facebook page to see the design and to place an order.

**Update on 5/17: T-shirts are available for pick-up. We have launched an XtraNormal video that satirizes the local zoning laws and asks for signatures on our petition.

**Update on 6/4/12: We have over 330 signatures on the  petition as well as hard-copy petitions at local fee and seed stores. We have posted our video on Youtube to extend is audience. Youtube allows us to post links to our Facebook page and petition site.

 No, we don't have the X-ray vision, flying abilities, or extraordinary strength of Superman. But, like many others, we have learned to use the powers of the internet, cloud computing, and social networking to improve our community and the world. Clark Kent would be proud!