Well, we were busted last week.
A police car pulled up in front of our house, and nice young officer walked up to me while I was cleaning out our van. My first thought is PANIC...what have I done that would call for a police officer to show up? My first emotions are always terror that a truant officer will try to take my kids away because I homeschool. Thank goodness it was nothing so gargantuan.
Well, I didn't have to wonder for long about what was going on.
The officer said, "I've been by here several times trying to get a hold of someone. I need to ask you a question. Do you have chickens?"
Whoops. My heart sank. We wondered if this would be coming. A sneaky rebellious thought whispered in my mind that I could say "Chickens? What Chickens?...You must be hearing the wild turkeys that roost in our neighbors yard"(And they do, too!)
But I just smiled at him and said, "Why yes, we do!"
He looked taken aback at my forthright willingness to own up to the illegitimate action. "Well," he continued slowly,"do you know that they are prohibited in Dallas?" (They are allowed in many cities across the U.S., including Portland!)
"Not exactly, no..." I fessed up that we had tried to find out if they were legal and had heard conflicting reports, but that we had asked all of our neighbors if they were okay with us getting chickens, and they all seemed totally fine with it.
He then told us why he was there. He said that they had received numerous complaints about our chickens being a "possible" nuisance. He said the complaints were about them smelling bad. He asked me, "Your chickens, they smell bad, don't they?" I protested and answered,"No! Our chickens don't smell bad at all, but our rabbits do! But Rabbits, I know are allowed in town."
Then he continued by saying, "Your chickens, they are noisy, aren't they?" It was so weird how he phrased the questions, as if he were trying to get me to confess to horrible crimes. "Actually," I answered" They chickens only make noise once a day. When they lay an egg they cluck for a few minutes, but other than that they are silent. Their clucking is much quieter than a dog barking, and they are totally quiet at night!"
The officer was actually very nice and seemed very sympathetic. He said he was there representing the city manager, since they liked someone with a badge to go out to the house to make it seem more official.
The police officer gave us a copy of the city code and then told us to call the city manager with any questions. In an attempt to avoid further conflict of any kind, we removed all 6 chickens from our yard to my sister's farm. It was a very sad day.
I really miss our chickens. I miss the eggs, it's true. But there are so many other things in our family that this effects! It was Courtney's daily outside chore to feed & water the chickens and gather their eggs. Now that opportunity for work and service is gone. I also miss the feeling of eco-friendliness as I fed ALL my food scraps to the chickens. Now all that food has to go down the garbage disposal. It's just depressing. Scott was trying so hard to be self-sufficient, and it felt so good to do as much as we could within our own backyard. It was quite a blow to have that taken away because of complaints.
But the most disturbing part of the whole deal is this: we try to keep up good neighbor relations. Since we've had the chickens, we've talked with all the neighbors regularly about them and asked if they were bothersome. We shared our eggs with everyone freely, and tried to keep the lines of communication open in case of any problems. We promised all of our neighbors that if the chickens annoyed them, we'd happily get rid of them to keep the peace. After all that negotiation and people-pleasing, I guess it felt like a back stab to have a neighbor(s) make numerous calls to the police incognito. I suppose I can understand them being embarrassed or hesitant to be own up to their feelings in front of us. But I can't help feeling a smidge betrayed. If someone had a problem with our animals, I would have felt so much better about it if they had just told us openly. I wouldn't have felt as bad about losing the chickens. Yes, I would have been sad... but I wouldn't have been mad! * Sigh * I guess if it were me complaining about a neighbor's noisy dog I'd rather tell the police than the person. Anonymity is safer, it's true.
Now we have to wonder which neighbor was offended in secret. And about who will complain next when they realize it wasn't the chickens who smelled bad. What's next? Our rabbits taken away? Our greenhouse? My kids? They are noisier than chickens! I feel like protesting, "My Constitutional Rights are being Violated!"
Okay, I know I'm ranting and raving now. I know that' s a part of living in a neighborhood in a suburban town. You have to abide by the city ordinances for the good of all. I understand that most people live in suburbia because the want to avoid country annoyances and city entanglements. It's just extra hard for us when #1 we're trying to be self-sufficient and live on one income with 5 kids by producing as much of our food as possible. And #2 Scott wishes with all his heart to live on a farm and have the freedom to do with his land as he pleases, and that makes it double difficult when you have to obey such city ordinances. But we don't have a choice since we can't afford to live in the country without being in a ramshackle metal single wide trailer.
I think I'm becoming a bit more Libertarian in my views that government should be more limited in people's personal lives. It's a lot better use of our tax money to put drunk drivers and robbers in jail than it is to be the chicken police and take people's property from them.
Scott and I need to consider the possibility of following the example of Salem by starting a petition to change the city ordinance. The city council in Salem will be voting on whether to allow up to six chickens and no roosters. If the group there is successful in changing people's minds about chickens, then we'll have a good chance in Dallas of doing the same. We'll see what happens!
Thought for the day: Quote from Thomas Jefferson:“What more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned” and, “If we can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they must become happy.”
