Some of my new Polish chicks, hatched by Broody Judy, one of my Olive Egger hens.

The fight to legalize backyard chicken keeping in my town has ended in VICTORY for chickens!

I argued the facts to the zoning board for a reasonable result until the bitter end, asking that they automatically revisit this regulation in one year so that no town resident would be required to shell out the 400+ bucks required to amend the language once all of the naysayers’ fears fail to materialize and irrational arguments are disproven. They agreed that was a good idea and unanimously approved it. I’m still disgusted with the way this issue was politicized by the town’s First Selectman and the steadfast bias of some of the zoning commission members in the face of facts contrary to their opinions, but the majority prevailed over the few.

This is the final regulation as passed. Effectively, if you live on 1/4 acre, you can have up to six chickens, if you live on 4.75 acres, you can have up to 91 chickens! It wasn’t a fast or easy process, but it’s done and I’m glad.