We, the undersigned citizens of Snellville, GA believe that small-scale chicken keeping is a healthy, economic, and sustainable way to feed and enrich our families and our community. Besides making great pets, hens provide us with fresh eggs and encourage local sustainable living.
Homesteading is a life style of self-sufficiency. We need to match this and allow it within reason.

 The ability to raise chickens offers educational opportunities for our children. Chickens serve as a natural alternative to pesticides by eating bugs and insects, including fleas and disease-spreading ticks. Chickens also eat weeds, and chicken manure serves as an excellent fertilizer for lawns and gardens. These many benefits are why both Gwinnett County and Dekalb County now permit their residents to raise hens, as do our local cities of Norcross, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chamblee, and Sandy Springs.

Many of the fears that people have regarding allowing chickens in residential areas stem from experience with or knowledge of large-scale chicken farming, which in no way reflects small-scale chicken keeping. Hens are no more disruptive to residential tranquility than dogs.

According to the American Poultry Association, backyard chicken keeping can reduce household food waste by 40% as chickens can consume kitchen scraps (American Poultry Association). Furthermore, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization states that small-scale poultry farming plays an important role in food security (UNFAO).

We respectfully request our City Council of Snellville to adopt the current Gwinnett County chicken ordinance allowing:

"Hens as pets and for egg production, not for butchering. Roosters are not permitted and residents must keep their birds in an enclosed yard or a six-sided pen in their backyard. No chickens are permitted within 50 feet of a neighbor’s building. Residents who live on 12,500 to 24,999 square feet can have up to five; those on 25,000 to 39,999 square feet can have up to eight; and those between 40,000 square feet and 2.99 acres can have up to 10. There is no limit on the number of chickens one can have on three acres or more."