Sign the Petition
Background (Preamble):
This petition relates to the keeping of backyard ducks and chickens in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its authors wish to show the city there is broad support for residents’ right to responsibly keep a reasonable number of birds on their property.
Some background on the birds: The ducks are named Potassium, Ferdinand, and Penelope, and the chickens are Henrietta and Frances. The breeds—Cayuga ducks and Wyandotte chickens—were specifically chosen because they are quiet and docile and make great pets. During the day, they enjoy foraging for food in the yard; any slugs, bugs, or mice that they catch supplements their diet of vegetarian pellets. At night they sleep in a small wooden coop about the size of a refrigerator box. Each bird has a distinctive, lovable personality and is cared for a great deal. They are so healthy they’re still laying eggs in the middle of winter!
In the coming weeks we will be meeting with the city and our neighbors to ensure that we’re not in violation of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinances. Decisions made regarding our case may affect everyone who currently keeps or wants to keep chickens or ducks in Cambridge. We hope this petition will signal to the Cambridge City Council and Board of Zoning Appeals that we, the birds’ owners, are not alone in finding this issue important, and that these birds can be kept without negatively impacting the surrounding neighborhood.
Petition:
We, residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts, believe it should be within the right of the residents of 218/220 Putnam Avenue as well as other backyard chicken or fowl keepers in Cambridge to responsibly keep a reasonable number of hens on their residential property.
Sign the Petition:
Click here to sign the petition. Or visit: http://gopetition.com/petitions/cambridge-backyard-ducks-and-chickens/sign.html
Please allow these petitioners and all the residents of Cambridge to keep a reasonable number of hens or other fowl on their properties. Not only are chickens clean and quiet (certainly compared to a barking dog), they provide people with companionship, eggs, and a small sense of self-sufficiency that is admirable and valuable. A well-cared for flock of hens is a wonderful presence in any neighborhood, and, if reasonably maintained, does not create any kind of nuisance.
Seriously this is like the tulip tree debate of ‘02! The city council has much better ways to spend its time and money. If you want to regulate fowl being kept in the city that is logical and fair, but banning it all together when there is no clear sanitation issue is silly.
I love the video of the sleeping ducks – From what I have read you could not have been more
responsible. You are certaily loving. When I die I want to come back as a duck in your back yard.
A reasonable number of domestic fowl, maintained at a high standard of care, is a fine addition to a backyard garden. However, The responsibilities and costs–shelter, food, inoculations, veterinary care, etc.– required to keep a pet that may live ten years is not negligible. No one should undertake caring for a chicken or duck with any less seriousness than caring for a dog or cat. I would urge regulation appropriate to the welfare of these animals. They’re more like dogs than goldfish.
Having raised chickens myself, I know what actually goes into doing it and the pros and cons. I believe that if you have the space in your yard, you should be allowed to keep ducks and chickens, as long as it is kept clean and the animals are well cared for, which seems to be the case here.
Let them stay, and let others keep chickens and ducks if they want and have the space, more connection to life for a city dweller, the better!
I am 1000% behind you. We should be able to use our land responsibly for whatever we wish. Happy birds are much less disruptive than barking dogs. Creating our own food is a noble and increasingly necessary undertaking.
I blogged about you here:
http://feedmelikeyoumeanit.blogspot.com/2010/02/urban-chickens-and-ducks-on-trial-in.html
and will tweet, facebook, etc.
Not sure yet whether I can come to the hearing, but I will try.
Chris commented on my blog post and said: ” A well prepared, rational and calm presentation to the Arlington Town Meeting carried the day even over objections from the Health Department. You might want to connect with http://backyardchicks.com/ ”
Wanted to make sure you saw this…
It’s allowed in Belmont, Beverly, Concord, Essex, Lincoln, Newton, Somerville, Southborough, and Wakefield (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/articles/chick_chick_hooray/) and Arlington is on the way (http://backyardchicks.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1). The New Yorker is writing about it (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/28/090928fa_fact_orlean). As for disease and contaminated food, I’m much more worried about factory farming/CAFOs. Come on Cambridge!
Please allow these petitioners and all the residents of Cambridge to keep a reasonable number of hens or other fowl on their properties. Not only are chickens clean and quiet (certainly compared to a barking dog), they provide people with companionship, eggs, and a small sense of self-sufficiency that is admirable and valuable. A well-cared for flock of hens is a wonderful presence in any neighborhood, and, if reasonably maintained, does not create any kind of nuisance.
[...] as "working professionals, teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, and students," are circulating an online petition to declare that: We, residents of Cambridge, Massachusetts, believe it should be within the right [...]
Please protect the right of Cambridge residents to keep birds on their property. These ducks and chickens seem to be kept well – but the neighbors seem to make a huge stink. Don’t let a few noisy neighbors make it a citywide issue, the city council has more important things to debate – like whether they will elect a mayor in 2010.
Please help work to educate people that well-kept birds are not only not a menace, but an asset to a community. As far as health concerns go–I grew up with chickens and cleaned out the coop from a young age, and my very fastidious and probably overprotective mother and father would never have had chickens on the place if they had been a health threat.
I agree, so long as they are responsible, there is no reason that they should not be allowed to keep the birds.
yay chickenz and duckz and anything that doesn’t come wrapped in plastiQue that will one day blow up in our faces
Keeping chickens is a very enjoyable endeavor. My chickens are pets with a benefit of providing my family fresh eggs. I find it very pleasing to look out my window to see them scratching the ground and foraging. They are relatively quiet and are kept clean. They are very entertaining, as well. Please allow Potassium, Ferdinand, and Penelope, Henrietta and Frances to reside at the home they have always had.
Please let these people and others in Cambridge have pet fowl. You can easily control the situation by limiting the number of birds that anyone has. 10 or less is a good number.
We love our chickens and wish others that same joy and rights. Please allow these animals the right to be raised.
I fully support the right to keep chickens and ducks. What could possibly be wrong with that? Someday I hope to keep a few egg-generating, clucking pals of my own.
Cambridge should take the lead on creating clear and simple guidelines for allowing residents to responsibly keep poultry in our yards and Boston should follow. Let’s be forward thinking about this.
I see nothing wrong with this as it is not outlawed in neighboring towns. The chickens and ducks pose no risk to the community as long as they are confined in their owners’ yard.
Save the chickens!
Chickens (and ducks) make great backyard pals, they’re quiet, cute, and produce great eggs. There is NOTHING wrong with allowing cambridge citizens to own chickens if they take care of them well and are responsible. SAVE THE CHICKENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally support raising your own chickens or ducks on your own property ! So long as they are not keeping neighbors up at night or causing serious odors- If dogs and cats are allowed- so should ducks !
Thank you Kerri we couldn’t agree more!
I support you and our fine feathered friends, the ducks and chickens.
I support you as well! I think this is a great initiative and it looks as though I’m just in time to go to the hearing tomorrow Feb 11th at 7:30 at the cambridge senior center (806 Mass Ave). The best way to put a regulation on the issue is probably to set a maximum on number of birds (or any animal, for that matter) per square foot of property size. Keeping fowl is not a sanitation problem as long as they are not near a watershed (which is easy enough to determine within the zoning grid) and have appropriate soil space.
Thanks Kat, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
I have raised birds for 10 years in an urban environment and can say they are safe pets that post no health hazards. If homeowners are allowed to keep dogs and cats on their property and allow dogs and cats to roam in side yards, the same should be true for chickens and ducks. The waste generated by 25 pounds of birds (5 birds x 5 pounds per bird) is far less than for a 25 pound dog, and many people in Cambridge keep 100- pound dogs. It is hypocritical to raise concerns about health and smells related to chicken waste when animals such as dogs that are allowed in Cambridge have a greater waste generating potential.
I totally support personal freedoms like the right to keep animals on your property, and would be 100% on board with this–except my neighbors have chickens, and I’ve personally experienced the downside. They wake me up almost every single morning with their cock-a-doodle-doing, often starting as early as 3 AM, so after a late night when I’m finally trying to get to bed, they start making a racket that keeps me up unless I use ear plugs. We’ve talked to the owners, but they say it’s their right to have them and there’s nothing they can do to keep them quiet. I’m still generally in favor of being allowed to keep fowl, but I think some consideration needs to be given to the issue of noise, and since it’s apparently impossible to do anything about the noise once you have the fowl in your backyard, and since it would be inhumane to except owners to put down or give away noisy fowl, maybe the only way to avoid the noise issue to have them banned. And yes, I know this is an unpopular opinion, so sorry to fowl owners. All I know is what I’ve experienced.
There’s nothing better than fresh eggs from free-range chickens! Keep up the great work
Thanks Elizabeth! I think a lot of people don’t appreciate how little of an impact the birds actually have. They just assume we’ve got a factory farm in our back yard.
Ryan, we certainly understand that you don’t want to be woken up at 3 AM. The noise factor makes urban hen keeping and urban rooster keeping two very different issues. All of our birds are girls, and we specifically chose breeds known to be quiet to keep the impact on our neighbors to a minimum. They do make some quacking and clucking sounds, but they are usually quiet and only rarely get to be any louder than the ambient sounds of city traffic.
People can have loud barking dogs but not quiet female chickens? Humm…don’t see the sense.
Health is Wealth. Fresh eggs, organic fertilizer, pest control and a bit of the outdoors each morning is what our children need whether or not they have the luxury of living on a farm. Responsible poultry owners are no different than responsible dog owners or responsible parents. Communities should be able to establish reasonable regulations so that people can live together in a shared and healthy environment. An outright ban lacks courage and creativity.
…if only my schnauzer could lay eggs.
I have a great screen-saver of geese in winter snow on Boston Common. Really beautiful. And don’t we “Make Way for Ducklings”?
I can tell you hens are good watchdogs, They can intimidate anything from possums to great danes. They love spiders and caterpillars.
What is the neighbor’s problem, exactly?
If the animals are healthy, well cared for, and loved; then what is the problem? Cambridge needs to focus its attention on the economy and crime and let responsible animal owners be.
I fully support residents of Cambridge keeping a reasonable amount of ducks, chickens, guinea hens, etc. The benefits of fresh eggs, pest control, compost, etc are well known, not to mention companionship. I have neighbors with very noisy dogs, and there is no BZA meeting to discuss the rights or wrongs of that. These birds are much less of a nuisance than many other pets.
Farmers’ rights!
HI ALLISON!!!!
I can’t sign your petition b/c i’m not a cambridge resident right? but i will ask people i know to sign it. Good luck with everything- if there’s anything i can do let me know.
I approve of this petition.
Good luck with everything
I think any City ordinances concerning the keeping of animals should focus on behavior rather than species. Ducks and chickens can be quieter and less intrusive than some dogs or cats.
I love mother nature and I am apalled that the community of Cambridge does not!!
We have raised various breeds of chickens and have 2 ducks. It is a wonderful experience that has enhanced the lives of our family…teaching responsiblity…and being able to eat fresh eggs. Our friends and family also enjoy us sharing the eggs with them. For those who choose to take this adventure on, it should be there choice.
Why is it ok for hundreds of geese and ducks to live wild along the river (not to mention the thousands of pigeons who inhabit our Squares, and the seagulls who come in from the Harbor), but a handful of domesticated ducks and chickens suddenly present a HAZARD?????
Thanks for the response, Blake. My only issue is the rooster noise, so I’m all for the keeping of female fowl. Good luck!
It’s all about being responsible. Thankyou for being responsible Animal owners (companions) you clearly love your pets.
I own an apartment at 48 Crescent St, Cambridge, and I wish there was more small, sustainable urban agriculture in my town. I visited 220 Putnam Avenue, and was delighted to see there was a small coop in the backyard. The ducks and chickens were silent and healthy, and the yard was very neat. I’m delighted that my neighbors are working so diligently so that wonders such as urbanhomestead.org can happen – not in California, but right here in Cambridge. I want to be proud to live in a neighborhood that supports such well executed DIY living. I learned about animals and agriculture from my visit.
I agree 100%. I see nothing wrong what so ever with responsibly keeping these wonderful birds. I know a few people on my bird groups who have ducks and chickens and really enjoy them. They help eat bugs in the yard, they are not loud, they keep them sanitary, and they are very affectionate. People have dogs and sometimes are irresponsible, not cleaning up the feces which reeks and allowing them to bark continuously, chew up fences, get out and tear up peoples garbage, etc. Chickens aren’t nearly as bad as dogs. And then there are cats. I have pigeons, legally, responsibly, and no ones complained, yet the neighbors all have cats who run the neighborhood and come into my own yard and have picked off and killed a great many of my pet pigeons, not to mention they are decimating the wild bird populations. If people have a problem with a couple of chickens, they should take a look at the problems and damage caused by irresponsible cat owners!
Birds make great buddies. See my picture on facebook above with my late fowl friend, Mr. Turk. You guys look like you’ve made a great home for these creatures. Thank you for caring!
Keeping local ducks are so wonderful. I have done so here in Cambridge port in the late 90s and there was never a problem. It’s clear that any constraint placed on the keeping of these ducks will violate the standards that our community has developed over time. We are a happy bunch, here in Cambridge, and we’re proud of our eccentricities. And as a man who grew up in cambridge, went to school in Cambridge public schools, and is now a business owner here in Cambridge I am happy to say that I’m confident that these ducks are here to stay.