Britton and I wrote a guest column for the Greeley Tribune about the backyard hens, and they published it yesterday!
Here is the print version
Backyard Hens Guest Column Published
1 Reply
Category Archives: Pets and Animals
Greeley Chicken Ordinance Update
A backyard scene a while back
Well it appears things are moving right along with the Greeley chicken ordinance. I didn’t realize it, but apparently this last weekend the Tribune gave their approval of backyard hens with their Op-Ed article. We also received a Weld County Food Bank Letter of Support for backyard hens. I thought it was a great and thoughtful letter. I have copied the text here so it will be easy to read:
January 04, 2010
Becky Safarik
Greeiey Community Development Director
City of Greeiey
Dear Becky,
I am writing, as a representative of Weld Food Bank, in support of the ordinance to allow Greeley residents to raise backyard hens. Our mission at Weld Food Bank is to engage the community in the fight against hunger, a mission that dovetails with the benefits of residents raising chickens.
In the past year we have seen a substantial increase in the number of people requesting services from our facility. So much so that we are breaking distribution records we never wanted to break. And while we continue to be blessed by the generous donations from members of our community, this current rate of growth is not sustainable. As such, we are always looking to the future for creative new solutions to the ever growing need in our community and we see raising backyard hens as one of those solutions.
Allowing residents to raise chickens will provide additional food security for Greeley residents. It is important that our community has access to nutritious and safe food that helps to promote a healthy lifestyle. Raising hens allows a family to be self-sufficient by guaranteeing a long term food source, resulting in this increased food security. A self reliant resident who raises these hens will be less dependent on other food sources while simultaneously promoting a health conscience environment and promoting local food production.
Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.
Assistant Director
Weld Food Bank
Britton and I also submitted a letter to the editor of the Greeley Tribune with our opinion of chickens. They wrote back and said they would like to add it as a guest column! I thought that was great!
So, things are moving right along, please help if you would like and join our Facebook page on Greeley Backyard Hens for further updates.
Fort Collins Backyard Hens Article
Video of our chickens this summer
Britton stumbled upon this great article about Fort Collins’ Backyard Hen policy. So I had to email the author, Mike Taylor, and see if he had any interest in helping us with our cause. He said he is definitely interested in watching what comes out of Greeley and may even write something in his magazine. He sounds like a very interesting person, and in fact lived without going to the grocery store for a month with the help of his garden and backyard hens!
Here’s a news video of his experiment. I tried to embed it, but it won’t work, so here is the URL…
http://www.cobizmag.com/videos/view/mike-taylors-life-off-the-grid/
Low Key Snowy Christmas in Greeley
We have had a very low-key quiet and SNOWY Christmas in Greeley this year. We got about 8-10 inches of snow in the last couple of days. The white Christmas is pretty in its own way, but so cold! We finally put the heat lamp in the chicken coop last night because as I mentioned earlier, two of the girls are molting and must be pretty cold. Unfortunately, when Britton put it in at about 10pm last night (with negative 10 degree weather), he put it directly into the coop and this woke them up. They could not sleep with the light glaring in their faces and ended up sleeping on the shelves of the greenhouse. Today we moved it out of the coop itself and just into the greenhouse. Hopefully that will keep it warm enough without keeping them awake.
Omelette with the heat lamp
Yesterday we also went over to Britton’s parent’s house for Christmas. We opened a few gifts and decorated some sugar cookies. It was pretty fun.
Our cookie creations
Decorating some cookies with our niece and nephew and Britton’s sis
Then today we went over to my parent’s house and opened gifts and had a nice meal. We spent time with my Grandma, brother, his girlfriend and my parents. The best gift of all was hearing that my dad’s PET scan came back with very good results! We also got some goofy presents including some fake crowns that made for a good picture.
My crazy family
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Britton and Cassie 🙂
