This week/month in chickens:

• Missoula, Montana just celebrated it's 1 year anniversary of legalized chicken keeping. Has it been a success? Find out here.
• Chicken keeping up for debate in Cleveland, with new regulations on the table. (I am from the area originally, and I am currently visiting for 2 weeks! Glad to see support for chickens in my old stomping ground.)
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We've had a huge rush of emails lately from people who are trying to get their city's ordinances changed. Keep them coming - and here is how we can help.

I wrote a research paper on urban chicken ordinances for a class last semester, which many have found helpful. The paper is an evaluation of chicken ordinances from 25 cities around the US, which draws out the common themes and exceptions found in the ordinances. The paper is attached below as a pdf.  read more »

Backyard chickens were recently legalized in Brainerd Minnesota. Yeah!

Here is the breakdown with my comments:  read more »

Thanks to the hard work of Dan Brown and other Ft. Collins chicken supporters, residents of the city will now be allowed to keep hens in residential backyards. The city council passed the ordinance 5 to 1, which allows up to 6 hens per household.  Roosters and slaughtering are not permitted, and hens must be housed 15 feet from your property line.  read more »

The City of Ann Arbor, Michigan went pro-chicken on Monday with a city council vote of 7 to 4 in favor of allowing chickens. The Ann Arbor News has the full story. More info is also available on the Ann Arbor City Chickens website.

I am taking a land use and zoning class this semester for graduate school- and of course my semester research project is on urban chicken ordinances.

I wanted to include some quotes from urban chicken keepers- quotes about how keeping chickens benefits your quality of life, why you do it, etc. It will help to bring more of a personal side to the paper, rather than it just being a technical paper.

On the same token, I am also looking for quotes from people who oppose urban chickens, as I will be presenting both sides in my paper.  read more »