The Grandville City Council wants to enforce more ordinances on its citizens.  Today it is about backyard chickens. Many of our citizens have these wonderful creatures.  They are more than just poultry, they are pets. Please read my petition as to why we should NOT have an ordnance on backyard chickens.

For me personally, they are almost like a therapy. When I am stressed, or feeling overwhelmed,  I will sit with my birds for hours at a time and decompress. They have also been very beneficial to my children as well. With quarantine especially, they were a bright spot to look forward to. The chickens have taught different forms of empathy, responsibility,  hard work, and dirty work that can still be fun, along with life lessons. Lessons that cannot be taught with just our dogs and cats.  If my family were to lose a majority of our flock, it would be devastating on a much deeper level. 

There are many benefits to having chickens. One obvious reason is for the eggs. Now the current proposal is for six hens, for most families who do a fair amount of cooking and baking, that is not enough eggs per day without needing to supplement with store bought eggs. A fresh laid egg has more health benefits than a store bought egg. Also, you have the added benefit of knowing what the diet and health of your flock has been, so you know what you are eating.  You do not know that of your store bought egg. Many of the eggs you buy from the store,  come from chickens that are raised in cages,  never see the light of day, and have a minimal quality of life.

Pest control is another large benefit. You can safely  move your flock around your property while using a covered chicken tractor, or other covered run options, allowing them to scratch and eat insects, and other undesirables without the need for pesticides, or other chemicals that could cause harm to wildlife or pets. 

Chickens actually help with the composting process, decrease waste, and help enrich garden soil naturally. You can give chickens your table scraps, vegetable peeling and more, they love it! So less goes in the trash, and inturn less goes to the landfill. Another added bonus is as long as your lawn has not been treated with pesticides,  you can give your lawn clippings to your chickens. They will scratch looking for bugs, eat some of the grass, while in the process turn the clippings and start the composting process for you. You may then add this to your garden to enrich your soil and have richer, healthier, chemical free food to feed your family. 

Noise levels are a concern to many. Hens are quite quiet.  They do have an egg song they produce after laying an egg, but after, they are quiet again. Decible readings of a hen is around the same as a conversation, ranging between 60-70 decibels.  A roosters crow is about as loud as a dogs bark, at about 90 decibels. There are benefits to having a rooster in a flock as well.  He will defend his flock with his with life against predators, he also keeps the hens more relaxed since he is always on watch. Roosters help maintain a healthy flock order, which correlates to happy hens.   

With proper chicken care, there is little to no odor from hen houses and runs. Chickens are very sensitive, and to maintain proper chicken health, their housing and run must be kept clean. 

Please, will you sign this petition to help prevent this ordinance from going through? We need your support to keep our chickens and be allowed to feed our families. 

With the current unknown factors with inflation, and with how food shortages occurred/limits of what families could buy this past year, due to  Covid shut downs,  I want to know I have a fresh food source to feed my family. I know I can depend on my larger flock to do that in way of eggs. 

https://ferndalechickens.com/2012/05/18/myth-chickens-are-noisy/​

https://www.naturallivingideas.com/20-convincing-reasons-to-keep-backyard-chickens/