MARCH 31 - APRIL 13, 2017
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Andy Schneider, known as the “Chicken Whisperer,” hosts the “Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer” web radio show. He’s also formerly of Dunwoody and remembers the fight over backyard chickens from years ago. “If done correctly and responsibly, backyard chickens can be a great thing ... it’s always about the responsibility of the property owners,” he said. Among the top concerns he hears as he travels around the country to cities considering adopting ordinances legalizing chickens are the following: 1) If we allow chickens, what’s next? Cows? 2) Chickens attract rodents. 3) Chickens smell bad. None of these arguments is based in fact, he said. If a person arguing that backyard chickens will lead to a cow problem is able to point to a city with a cow problem, then Schneider said the argument should be addressed. Rodents, he said, are attracted to food and water sources, such as cat food bowls left outside or bird feeders and bird baths. Chickens do not attract rodents, he said. Chicken waste – not chickens themselves -- can smell bad, but if people clean their coops regularly, there will be no smell. Schneider likened this argument to cat or dog poop in a person’s yard – all of it should be cleaned up. “I’ve had all kinds of curveballs thrown at me. The uphill battle is education,” he said. “People need to take all the facts and science-based data and not these kinds of arguments. “We’ve come a long way,” he added. “We don’t do chickens like we did in the 1930s, just like cars have been improved since the 1930s.” Henegan was on the City Council in 2010 and was one of the three who voted in favor of legal backyard chickens. “I am still pretty much pro-chicken,” he said. “But I will listen to what everyone has to say. ... I may be swayed yet.” He said that while he voted in favor of backyard chickens seven years ago, he made a vow to not be the proponent to bring it back up again. But he did all the research and due diligence years ago and still feels confident in supporting an ordinance that would legalize backyard chickens for Dunwoody residents. “I’m looking forward to hearing from the Girl Scouts,” he said. Deutsch said she believes there is a lot of confusion about what it means to have backyard chickens. Having backyard chickens is “not a small undertaking,” she said, and arguments that chickens are dirty and smelly are not valid when it comes to coops in people’s backyards. Code enforcement would also ensure backyard chickens do not become a nuisance, she said. “You can’t have free range chickens in Dunwoody like you can on a farm,” she said. “It’s a really different scenario.”
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