Legalize Laying Hens in Estherville!

Nothing better then fresh eggs in the morning. I would take them over dogs and cats any day.

The city of Minneapolis, as well as many of the suburbs surrounding allow backyard hens! An agricultural community should embrace its heritage and culture by adopting an ordinance that allows this.

Those chickens aren't bothering anyone

We need to get this in our town.

No reason we can't have them

Yay chickens!!

Growing and raising food on your own property is not a new idea, it's an American tradition with roots in the 'victory gardens' of WWI and WWII.

I would have chickens ! No reason why we can't . As long as you take care of them, I see no reason why not

I grew up with chickens and honestly I never remember them being loud or smelly. In fact.. I barely noticed they were there.. The dog Kennel we had on the other hand I remember having to do much more maintenance to. Being a farm community it does seem kind of silly we can't have chickens.

Big cities like Littlton CO allow laying hens. C'mon E'ville!!

These were my ideas that were written regarding the first discussion concerning chickens in town: The new chicken rules should have been printed in the paper before the first vote was cast. The last vote results were 184 against and 163 in favor...not actually a landslide defeat! So...the older generation remembers when the chickens were legal in this town and running around freely. Roosters were chasing kids etc. The new rule would have them confined to a coop. Some people think that chickens smell horribly. Not the case if you have 6 or less. The floor of the coop would be covered in wood shavings. Just a FYI, dogs produce one pound of poop per day and four chickens produce half of that a day. The other myth is that property values would go down...ha! This one makes me laugh because you either have a "trashy" neighbor or you don't. Either their property is clean or it isn't. Let's say you live in a neighborhood that has houses that are worth about $150,000 to $200,000. And now your neighbor wants a few chickens. Do you think that they going to put up some trashy looking coop? I'm guessing that they are going to have something cute and trendy. Another myth is that they attract rodents. Well correct me if I am wrong, but I think we already have rodents in this town. I would love to see a mouse try and survive a chicken coop without getting pecked to death. If people keep their coops clean, this will not happen. ALL animals in town have to have a clean living environment, to include: rabbits, cat litter boxes, dog kennels, fish aquariums, etc. Also, the noise level for the squawk after laying an egg is 70 decibels. Lawn mowers and barking dogs register at 90 decibels. Roosters are only good for making more chicks and being loud....so they wouldn't be allowed. In the newspaper it said that if the flock gets sick and dies Estherville Foods would have a stop-movement order in place and would shut down business until a cause is determined. During that time, business i

I see no problem with it. If I had a home of my own I would definitely consider getting some of my own. There are some loud dogs in my neighborhood, some that bark all day long. Therefore no reason hens should not be allowed. I do agree with making sure proper clean up and care takes place. Best of luck with this petition!

Daughter has them in CO, son had them in Seattle. Should not be an issue in an agricultural state!

I want me some chickens!!!

I think this is an ok thing for Estherville. Why would this be considered a problem when we are expected to tolerate the stench of animal carcasses being burned? This would be a good thing for families that want to raise hens for eggs to use and sell.

Chickens are the perfect pets. Everyone should be allowed to have them. They don't bother anyone else.

If I were younger I'd be interested in raising backyard chickens! When we moved here 43 years ago, a neighbor had chickens. Caused no problems even though he did have a noisy rooster!

Sounds like he went through all the right hoops to begin with so there should be no issue!

I see no reason laying hens shouldn't be aloud in town as long as they are cooped up.

Please let people have chickens they are no problem