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Cheyenne Group Seeks To Lift Backyard Chicken Ban

Chickens
Chickens

A group in Cheyenne hopes to reverse a city ordinance that bans backyard chickens in the city limits. The group calls itself CLUCK, which stands for Cheyenne Local Urban Chicken Keepers. They have scheduled meetings with Cheyenne city council to write a new ordinance to allow as many as four hens to be kept.  Laramie County horticulturalist Catherine Wissner is working with the group. She says the fresh eggs and garden compost that chickens provide is great.  But they also make wonderful pets.

“Chickens are pleasant little animals to have around,” Wissner says.  “They’re very comforting. There’s almost a therapy with them as far as being calming. I’ve got a girlfriend who, her son had a chicken that was so calm and docile, he was able to turn it upside down and put it on his head and wear it as a chicken hat.”

Tawn Howe is a member of the group who grew up on a farm and agrees that chickens are good company. But for her, the fresh eggs are also important.

“I like being able to feed my family high quality eggs. There’s a huge difference between the ones that have been shipped in from who knows where and raised who knows where. I want to be in control of what I feed them.  And have those nice, beautiful, golden yolks.”

Howe says the group will provide education to the community about how to safely raise chickens and will find homes for any unwanted birds. She says the group isn’t interested in raising hackles with the city. Their proposed ordinance would continue the ban on roosters, which they concede are too noisy to keep in city limits. 

They will meet with Cheyenne city council this weekend.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
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