The Sanchez Herd Fights City Hall!

As I said, last week, I appeared in a newspaper article in the Toledo Blade on Easter Sunday 2011, in an article praising the Backyard Hen movement.  I was asked by the gentleman who gifted me my girls and I was proud to be interviewed because I believe in the place of animal companions in our lives and rural and urban areas.  I believe fully in the backyard hen movement.  But shortly afterwards, the then-Code Enforcement Officer of Bowling Green, told me that the Director of City Planning had seen the article and decided to cite me.  I received a warning letter on a Saturday in mid-May and on that Monday morning, I was in her office, trying to keep my hens.

She told me that I'd mis-read our town ordinances and that hens were agricultural animals.  It turns out that my town talks about hens in three separate ordinances.  I looked in two.  The first ordinance describes prohibited animals and includes gamecocks, but not hens.  And the second ordinance openly discusses how homeowners can keep poultry, but must confine them like their cats and dogs -- a leash law, if you will, for backyard hens.  These laws were old and part of our city for a long time.  In 1975, I guess, my city decided to draft an agricultural ordinance defining poultry as only permitted in agricultural not residential zones.

The Director of City Planning told me that the City Prosecutor wanted to see me, so I went immediately to his office and he told me that he wanted me to draft an ordinance proposal for the city to consider for backyard hens.  He and I discussed how that would be easy to do since SO MANY cities around the United States were accepting hens as part of urban animal companions.  I told him I would be happy to do so, it would be an honor.

So, I researched the issue and spoke to the alderman who drafted Madison, Wisconsin's ordinance and in July 2011, I delivered a friendly respectful letter to my city council, Mayor, and Director of City Planning with my draft proposal which laid out a nice backyard hen ordinance and suggested that they drop the word poultry from their agricultural ordinance.  And thus began the nightmare!

I Love My Beautiful Girls!

I got Thelma and Louise as pullets in August 2009.  And I surrendered them to dear friends in November 2012.  So, I only had my girls for a little over three years.  I lost them because of a heartless city administration which I found unbelievably cruel and unkind about the fact that they were requiring me to give up my living loving animal companions.  But that's a story that I'll tell you about next week! For now, let me say on this beautiful Sunday, that these girls were lovely, kind, funny, sweet, hilarious, playful, courteous, generous.  I thoroughly absolutely enjoyed my time with them!

We Work on Our Urban Farm!

This Spring and Summer, I enjoyed working in my garden and expanding it.  I'm trying to develop more butterfly garden space and produce more of my own food.  Anyway, the hens were allowed to explore the yard whenever I was home.  And I'd so enjoy sitting in my garden and working in the rows and I'd look up and the girls would be along the fenceline with me, looking at me, preening, digging, eating bugs.  We had so much fun together.  I can say from the bottom of my heart that there's nothing quite as nice as having a few hens and your dog in your yard as you work on your garden.  It makes life so sweet!

We're All Better!

Here are some early Fall photos of my healthy girls, after a summer of medicine, gardening, and loving!

Louise Gets Sick!

In the middle of the summer, after Thelma got sick, Louise got sick too.  So, I ended up having an extended summer of tending to hens.  But we recovered and got well.  And as I said, the experience brought me and the hens closer.  They learned how to be held close and take their medicine.  They learned the routine of care. And they learned that I wanted them to feel good and well.  It was weird to be going through the experience of caring for sick hens as I knew that I was fighting city hall for the right to try and keep them.

Thelma Gets Sick!

I have many things to write about my beautiful hens.  We've had a very eventful two years.  In April of 2011, I appeared in a newspaper article, talking about how wonderful backyard hens are.  The director of city planning in my town saw the article and pulled me into a nightmare.  She had the Code Enforcement Officer cite me in May.  My little Easter article put my girls in danger.  The Saturday that I received that article, I knew that my days with my hens were numbered.  But the next posts over the next few weeks will tell about our adventures together and the friends who came into our lives.  Anyway, this summer, we had a very hot summer and Thelma ended up getting bumblefoot and a belly problem.  So, I took her to an exotic animal and bird wellness center staffed by one of the world's best avian veterinarians and a vet who used to serve the Toledo Zoo.  The avian vet is also the animal welfare veterinarian for research animals at BGSU.  So, that was an adventure in and of itself.

This summer I learned how to take good care of my girls.  Every day, four times a day, for over 30 days, I had to give my girls pills and syringes and rub ointment on their feet.  We learned how to trust and love each other even more through that work.  I love my girls!