Backyard Chicken Plea Fowled Up

A dozen supporters of the right to keep chickens in backyards smaller than two acres joined Joseph Pond at last Tuesday's Board of Commissioners meeting to ask that the chicken issue be placed on the list of proposed zoning amendments to be voted on in January.

Pond showed Commissioners a picture of a 1918 U.S. Department of Agriculture flyer that encouraged citizens to keep chickens as food supply during World War I. His arguments, and those of three supporters who spoke, did not sway Commissioners who voted against adding the issue to the January list of proposed zoning amendments.

Despite repeated attempts, and a dismissed lawsuit against the county, Pond has not been able to get a county variance change so that his family can keep their backyard chickens.

He was forced to give away 10 egg-laying hens after being cited by code enforcement on Nov. 18 for raising them on a half-acre lot in Northeast Cobb.

"The Code Inspector came by the house today to make sure that my illegal hens were removed from my property," Pond said in a statement Monday. "I am 'legal' under the Cobb County zoning ordinances."

Pond was told to remove The Backyard Chickens Alliance of Cobb County banner displayed on his fence. "They said that my banner was against code," he said.