A proposal passed allowing anyone to own up to 8 chickens and or ducks and up to 2 goats.

No zoning, no asking the neighbors, no proving that they’ll be provided for with appropriate shelter etc.

Yes we had to take the hard road and feel that others should too. It shows determination.

There.

I recently took a Web design class. It was hard. I have a whole new appreciation for Web designers. Here’s the link for as long as it’s up.

http://web4290.com/jestes/.html

So cute!

So despite the fact that we still have over two weeks to wait until we’re in the clear from the neighbors, and we still need to pay for our permit, we ordered our 6 chickens. We ordered 1 barred rock, 1 buff brahma, and 4 silkies (see links below). I wanted silkies! Which were seemingly unavailable, but that suddenly changed and we could have them the week of July 20th. So we made the decision. Hopefully we don’t regret it. They’ll arrive pretty much right when we find out if the neighbors thwarted our plans. Fingers crossed!

The white silkie. We got 4 different colors. They are so fantastically ridiculous.

http://www.geocities.com/spoyld029/Marilyn.jpg

http://truevineherbs.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/brahma-hen.jpg

http://koicraze.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/Best-Chicken-full-5.103212736.jpg

So my wonderful husband went down to zoning and got our sign! So we have to post it for 10days. But neighbors have up to 30days to thwart our plans. So fingers crossed!

Ok here’s the letter I sent to our neighbors. We’re hoping to go back to zoning this week.

Dear neighbors,

We are the owners of the house on 5561 E. Gill Pl. We are writing to inform you of our intent to own chickens. We would like to inform you of why we want chickens and address any potential concerns.

Why do we want chickens?

·        Eggs! These will be egg-laying chickens, not meat chickens, and we are more than happy to share eggs with our neighbors.

·        Chickens eat table/garden scraps, less meat. Feeding chickens a vegetarian diet and scraps ensures that their eggs are higher in omega3s and lower in cholesterol.

·        Their refuse can be used in compost! Compost makes for a happy garden. Again, we are more than happy to share with our neighbors.

·        We are going to purchase bantams. Bantams are 1/5 to ¼ smaller that average chickens.

·        They are fun. They are not your typical pet, and in fact owning chickens as pets is on the rise in the cities. There are many Web sites dedicated to the urban chicken/owner.

Concerns you may have:

·        Are they going to be noisy?

o       No. We are only going to own hens, no roosters. The place we are buying them from sexes them before sending.

o       Chickens roost from dusk until dawn, if not longer, so they will be sleeping at the same time as everyone else.

·        Will they smell?

o       No. We will be very diligent in cleaning the coop. Moreover, as mentioned above, their refuse will be composted.

·        Are they going to be flying into my yard?

o       No. As we have dogs, and there are raccoons and foxes in the neighborhood, the chickens will be kept in a coop/run, completely enclosed. See attached diagram.

o       Their wings can also be clipped in the event of a “chicken run”.

Additional info:

·        If there are any other questions, we would be more than happy to address them, or as mentioned, you can view related Web sites on the Internet.

·        Joseph now works from home, so he is around more to deal with any issues that may arise, regarding anything, during the day.

We greatly respect our neighbors and appreciate communication between our households. Please do not hesitate to contact us.  

Respectfully,

Joseph and Lauren Jestes

So I can’t remember how Joseph and I got into the idea of getting chickens. I think it was the idea of my mom’s boss and then my mom and then to us for mulling. I read the entire mypetchicken.com Web site and with little convincing, had Joseph on the bandwagon.

Chickens are awesome for several reasons. They eat table scraps, except meat, not to mention that’s weird and gross. We’re not getting them for the meat, but for the eggs. When you have your own chickens, fed a vegetarian diet, their eggs are higher in omega3s and lower in cholesterol. You can let them out in your lawn they’ll take care of pesky bugs and aerate too! Plus a carton of all natural etc eggs are easily $4, and chickens are so easy to keep not to mention cheap. Plus they’re just fun.

We went to the stock show when it came to town and checked out all the chicken options. There are so many different kinds of chickens! They don’t all look like foghorn leghorn (though leghorns are a variety). We even got to hold a couple, they were so chill. Just hung out, enjoying the warmth of our hands.

That’s when i really started looking into what it would take for us to own chickens. Living in the city, of course there are permits etc. Looking at the denvergov.org Web site, all it says is that you have to write a letter to the director of animal control, informing them of your intent to own chickens and then they’ll let zoning know and then you pay a $50 to get the permit. Seriously. I might be leaving out one or two other items, but certainly not what we’ve been going through, to say the least.

I wrote this letter to animal control at the beginning of the year (2009) sometime. I should have known that actually mailing things anymore is a questionable practice. Anyway, Joseph was laid off and I thought our dreams of owning chickens were dashed financially. Long story short we worked it out. So I decided to call zoning to see if they had received anything from animal control. Well that was a no and the person I talked to was telling me I needed to come down there and fill out some application and pay a $100 fee and post a sign in our yard. I said oh I’m sure that’s not right, I’ll get in touch with animal control and see what’s what.

I then called animal control, whom you can only get in touch with via 311, which then asks you why you need to talk to them and then they pass you along. So you have to talk to two people rather than just one, every single time. So that’s fun. The first time I called I left a message with the 311 people for the animal control people to call me back. Well that never happened. So I called back again and was told that the person I needed to talk to, Paula, was unavailable and would call me back. That never happened. So I called back again and this time talked to Paula who of course had no idea about any letter sent. She said I could fax it to her. So I did. She didn’t get it. So I faxed it again. She finally got it. But then I needed to talk to a Sergeant Barker. So I called him and he said he needed a copy of the letter. So I had to fax that again.

Here’s the total so far:

No less than 4 calls to animal control.

One call to zoning.

No less than 5 versions (1 sent, 4 faxed) of the request letter.

Well Sergeant Barker needed to come and inspect our property. Fine, I’d rather there be no question of these animals care, what have you. So he shows up early and stays for no more than 5min. He told us that animal control would not oppose our having chickens. So I asked him what I was to do next. He said he would send us a letter that we could take to zoning. We’d then have to post a sign of our intent to own chickens. Damn zoning!

Fine we’ll put a big ugly sign in our yard if we can just get chickens.

So we went down to zoning. We don’t have to put up a sign. We have to put up two! AND be charged $100. Not to mention we got more paperwork to fill out. We also have to write letters to all our abutting neighbors informing them of our intent to have chickens. Two of our neighbors hate us. So we’ll see if bribing with eggs might work. We’re too stubborn to back out now. After filling out this paperwork, sending our neighbors letters and providing proof that they received said letters, and $100, we post one sign for 10days telling everyone our intention (this sign is neon pink). If we get that far, then we get to post a neon green sign for another 15days.

Here’s the total so far:

No less than 4 calls to animal control.

One call to zoning.

No less than 5 versions (1 sent, 4 faxed) of the request letter.

1 visit from animal control

1 returned letter from animal control

1 visit to zoning

Soon to come… more paperwork, money, letters, and no less that two signs from zoning.

We’re getting these damn chickens. Come hell or high water!!

Stay tuned.