Upcoming backyard chicken workshops in Ft. Collins

I received this information from a few chicken folks up in Fort Collins and wanted to pass it along here in case anyone in Longmont (or elsewhere in Colorado) is interested.

The Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Association is holding Backyard Chicken workshops scheduled throughout the year.

See their website for details:
http://www.sustainablelivingassociation.org/backyard-chickens/

Here is the workshop schedule:
- Intro to Poultry - Sun. Feb 22, 12 pm to 4 pm
- Poultry Facilities - Sun. March 15, 9 am to 5 pm
- Intro to Poultry - Sat. April 11, 9 am to 1 pm
- Poultry Facilities - Sun. May 10, 9 am to 5 pm
- Advanced Poultry - Thurs. June 11, 6 pm to 9 pm

In addition, Northern Colorado Feeders' Supply will be holding a COW (Chicken Owners' Workshop) on Friday, March 20th. Details will be posted on the Fort Collins chicken blog when they become available (http://fortcollins-urbanhens.blogspot.com).

Vote YES for backyard chickens

There's currently a poll (about whether or not the city council should allow backyard chickens) on the left-hand side of the Times-Call site, but you have to scroll down quite a bit to see it.

http://www.timescall.com/index.asp

The question is:
Should the Longmont City Council allow residents to apply and pay for
a limited number of backyard-chicken permits?

Please vote YES!

Thanks for voting. :)

Quick update on City Council meeting

Just a quick update for now. Overall, last night's study session went well. The City Council will likely vote on the backyard hen ordinance in February. You can read about the meeting in today's TimesCall article - Backyard chickens likely to involve cost.

More about the Jan. 20th City Council Study Session later.

Mark your calendar for Jan. 20

The proposed backyard hen ordinance will be discussed in detail at the city council study session at 7 p.m. this Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the City Council Chambers, located in the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark St., Longmont. Ben Ortiz, the city planner who has been in charge of all of the research regarding the proposed ordinance, will be in attendance. All chicken supporters are very much encouraged to attend, as well as sign up to speak in support of the ordinance. Your statement when you speak can be as short and sweet as, "I support the ordinance," or, directed to the city council, "Please support this ordinance."

Thank you all for your continued support! Hope to see you at the study session. :)

Longmont's lack of chickens on NPR

Longmont made national news again, this time on National Public Radio's (NPR's) All Things Considered this weekend in City Folk Flock to Raise Small Livestock at Home by Megan Verlee. Verlee discusses the urban hen trend in Denver and across the country.

This was Longmont's mention:

Some municipalities have bucked the agrarian trend. Just north of Denver, the planning board for the city of Longmont, Colo., recently gave the thumbs-down to a chicken ordinance. According to Jon Van Bentham, the board chairman, concerns ranged from unsightly chicken-coop construction to noise and smell, to slightly more dire topics.

"Avian flu came up," Van Bentham says. "Again, that's maybe kind of a nightmare scenario, but that's one of the places where folks are concerned that it comes from."

You can listen to the 4 1/2 minute broadcast or read the entire article here - City Folk Flock to Raise Small Livestock at Home.

Sign the chicken petition outside of Vitamin Cottage Jan. 10 & 11

Longmont Urban Hen Coalition members will be standing in front of Vitamin Cottage (1739 Main St., Longmont) collecting signatures on the backyard hen petition this Saturday, Jan. 10 (from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Sunday, Jan. 11 (from 3 to 5 p.m.).

The petition will be presented to City Council at the Jan. 20th study session.

Please stop by, sign the petition and show your support for urban chickens. :)

If you can't sign the petition in person, there is an online version of the petition available as well. Please sign only if you are a resident of Longmont and have not signed the paper petition, and include your street address in the comments.

Update on Jan. 6 City Council Open Forum

Dr. Mikki Hand attended the city council open forum last night, representing the Longmont Urban Hen Coalition. Dr. Hand presented her case and asked city council to vote in favor of the ordinance to allow backyard hens in Longmont.

Her comments were well-received by the city council.

Brian Hansen said, "I want to thank you very much for all of your input on this matter. I think there's been a lot of fear of the backyard hens and I think as much information as we can get out there as we can is very helpful. And so I really do appreciate how much you've come forward and told us a lot of the details people haven't thought about."

Gabe Santos brought up the idea of having a community chicken coop at Sandstone Ranch, etc. He also pointed out that this ordinance is not a "slam dunk" and that this will take time to please people on both sides of the issue.

Sarah Levison asked for the copy of the USA Today article (where Longmont is mentioned) and for a copy of The Natural History of the Chicken that was on PBS the other night (it can be viewed on YouTube in six parts). She also said, "One of the things that's really surprised most of us is primarily the issue seems to be highlighting the fact that we are woefully inefficient and insufficient in our code enforcement issues totally in this city. ... It's pretty much common knowledge we don't have enough code enforcement officers in the city. To me that's one of the fundamental issues that's been brought up because of the backyard hen issue so i think that's a discussion of priorties in the community that we need to have as part of this ordinance as well."

Mary Blue, the only council member who attended our Eggs on the Table meeting a few weeks ago, and had been on the fence or even opposed to the ordinance, said about the meeting, "It was a very interesting program. ... I'm glad I went. I went to learn. I thought the presentations were very thoughtful. They were high quality, intellectual comments. Particularly the child from Lyons that could name all of these chickens by name that their family owns. It was most interesting." She also added, "I'm slowly being swayed."

What's next?
The proposed backyard hen ordinance will be discussed in more detail at the city council study session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the City Council Chambers, located in the Civic Center at 350 Kimbark St., Longmont. Ben Ortiz, the city planner who has been in charge of all of the research regarding the proposed ordinance, will be in attendance. All chicken supporters are very much encouraged to attend this meeting.

Longmont is in the news again - this time USA Today

From the USA Today article:

Longmont, Colo., city planner Ben Ortiz says elected officials in his city of about 85,000 near Fort Collins are considering whether to let residents raise chickens. Ortiz says many residents have cited financial sustainability as a major reason. "There may be some pent-up demand for this kind of thing," he says.

Read the rest here: Chickens given roosts in urban backyards