4 Chesapeake Hens Friends and Neighbors Campaign

As regular readers know, I belong to a grass-roots movement that worked to get Chesapeake, Virginia, to allow laying hens on all single-family residential lots. City Council voted a 1-year sunset clause on the law, which  means that our right to keep up to six laying hens in our backyards, with certain restrictions, will disappear next year unless City Council votes by December 20 to keep the law . Our group is waiting to hear from Robert Ike, the City Councilman who is most in our corner, about the date when this vote will take place.

In the meantime we are asking Chesapeake's legal, residential chicken-keepers to collect letters from local friends and neighbors in support of making the "hen law" permanent. Letters should focus on the fact that the hens are having a positive impact in the neighborhood. And they should explain how or why this is so. To have any impact on Council, the letters must be signed and dated and include contact information in the letterhead. At a minimum, the letters should contain the Chesapeake address where the neighbor lives, but email and phone numbers are welcome, too, in case Council members want to follow up with questions.  Supportive letters from Chesapeake businesses, churches, civic leagues, neighborhood watches, or other groups are also welcome.

Residential hen-keepers: we need you to ask for and collect these letters  of support and to deliver them to either Wendy Camacho or Mary Lou Burke by the Friday before Thanksgiving, Friday, November 22, 2013. We will copy them, collate them, and make sure they are delivered to City Council sometime before the actual vote. Let's be like the "Little Red Hen" in the famous children's story, and all work together to make this fantastic new law a permanent one!

Mail letters to:
     Mary Lou Burke
     945 Hollywood Dr
     Chesapeake, VA 23320

 If you have questions, post them under "comments" here or, even better, post them on our Facebook fan page, 4 Chesapeake Hens.

And thanks!

Update on 11/4: hens are on the agenda for November 26, 2013. Hopefully we'll get the vote we need then.

 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.

The Chicken Activist Strikes Again!

The cameraman liked our asparagus beds

My garden and I had last-minute visitors yesterday. One was Reed Andrews, a news reporter for WTKR Channel 3, a regional television station. The other was his cameraman.

Reed had learned about "4 Chesapeake Hens," our local grassroots activist group. We are trying to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake, Virginia, so that more residents can have up to six laying hens as household pets. Currently properties must be zoned agricultural or be "Residential Estates" of 3 acres or more to have hens. Our online petition for change has 562 signatures as I type this.

I was happy to tell Reed about my longing for urban chickens, about my garden, and about the benefits of keeping laying hens. I spoke of property rights and of individual rights, and how the current zoning law is an infringement upon both. I expressed appreciation for the support our group has received from City Councilman Robert Ike.

Reed and his team did a great job. What a cute report! It even featured two illegal hens from a Chesapeake neighborhood who are in need of amnesty! We were the leading story on last night's 11 PM news. I was called Mary Beth instead of Mary Lou Burke, but I won't quibble. The title of the news report was, "Could Chickens Flock to Chesapeake?"

Will the news coverage help us get laying hens?

Time will tell!

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.