Friday, September 11, 2009

Fowl Occurances - Chickens in the City

From Washington, DC, channel 5,


DC Family wants to Raise Chickens


CAPITOL HILL - Big cities across the country are re-writing laws regulating the ownership of chickens. Many people want to produce their own food again. But Washington, DC is not one of those cities. Caryn Ernst, her husband Josh Silverman and their young daughters Leah and Ada want to change that.

Their eight hens were recently confiscated by animal control officers and sent back to the northern Virginia farm where the family got a dozen fertilized eggs earlier this year.

The Silverman's built a hen house and chicken coop in their backyard on Capitol Hill. But the law requires any hen house be at least 250 feet from the nearest property line and 50 feet from the nearest dwelling - including the owner of the chickens. On Capitol Hill and in most Washington neighborhoods meeting those requirements would be next to impossible.

That's why the Silverman's say they're working with the office of DC Councilmember Tommy Wells to try to get the law changed.






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