John Gear Salem Feb 2, 2009 13:54 pm

Hi, I have a query about fostering sustainable behaviors in a very specific group of people, a city council, and then a larger group (the general populace).

I'm involved in an effort to get the City of Salem, Oregon, to allow people in single family homes to have up to five laying hens for egg production. There are tons of good sustainability reasons for this, as Portland, OR; Eugene, OR; Madison, WI; Ann Arbor, MI; and other cities have realized.

Is there any research or experience out there on how you can take the fear of chickens (hens, more precisely) away from city council members and their constituents? We're citing all the cities where chickens have been allowed without big problems, but the council members keep imagining horrible conflicts with neighbors, bad smells, old cars and trailers used as coops, etc.

(Oddly, the city will allow you to keep a pot-bellied pig of up to 100 lbs., but not chickens! I guess it's easier to get approval for an animal when it's the chic craze pet of the jet set, while chickens are seen as declasse.)


John Gear
United States
http://lovesalem.blogspot.com/