This Tuesday, July 27, 7:00 p.m. at the Main Assembly Room, City County Building, the fate of Knoxville's chickens (and future chickens) are in the delicate balance of our City Council Members. On June 15th, City Council Members hashed out the newly proposed chicken ordinance whether to legalize hens within the city limits of Knoxville.

Though many mainstream Knoxvillagers didn't become aware of The Great Chicken Debate until that night, the Knoxville Urban Hen Coalition (KUHC) has diligently worked to educate about and gather support for chickens.

The KUHC has done everything in its power to be out in the open about their cause. The KUHC group began online on February 2009 at the Knoxville Permaculture Guild. Shelagh Leutwiler posted the first comment on February 25th, and Brandy Slaybaugh started the first online discussion on April 21st. WBIR documented the first meeting on April 19th and made quite an effort to follow the story, but when KUHC began negotiations with the animal control board, things seemed to quiet down with the news stations for a while. Over the past 17 months, the KUHC has been featured on all three news channels, The Knox News Sentinel, The Metro Pulse, The Knoxville Journal, The West Side Shopper News, The Agrarian Urbanites, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The KUHC has attended two First Friday's with one being the screening of the movie Mad City Chickens at Remedy Coffee House and was sponsored by Three Rivers Market. The KUHC has also been present at many Saturday Market Square Farmers' Markets to gather signatures, to educate, and to dispel the myths associated with backyard chickens.

The KUHC has been like the Who's on Horton's dust speck screaming, "We are here!" There has been plenty of opportunity for dissenters to speak up, but instead, after a year and five months, a few people are trying to create a ruckus. Most of the arguments, fears, and concerns being raised are easily answered if folks would listen, take the time to go visit a chicken coop, or talk to a person has no more than the ordinances limit of 6 hens. Even if folks didn't know about the KUHC, they did after June 15th, and the name Chad Hellwinckel is easy to find in the phone book. Since June 15th, neither the KUHC nor had Chad Hellwinckel received one phone call or e-mail to clarify any questions, comments, or fears. NOT ONE! Besides Chris Woodhull, no other City Council Members have requested a coop tour either.

A beardless Chad at the first KUHC meeting.

One woman stated, "I talked to my aunt and uncle who raised hundreds of chickens and they said..." Well, yes, I imagine those chickens did smell, and I bet they did have rats. That's because your aunt and uncle ran, what I would consider, a commercial or industrial type set-up. Now, if said woman would have contacted the KUHC or called Chad Helwinckel (We understand that in 2010 not everyone has e-mail.), someone would have been more than happy to show their coop and their girls. You know why? Chicken owners are proud of their chickens, and because chickens are cool, friendly, quiet food producing creatures who liked to get pet and picked-up. I'd rather have 6 cooped chickens next door than a pit bull with a chain to a tree.

Chickens are useful creatures. 6 chickens do not smell. 6 chickens produce less poop than one medium sized dog per day. The poop isn't like dog or cat poop. It's kind of watery and dries out and turns to soil in a few hours. And let me reiterate, it doesn't smell! I know- I've cleaned out the coop at Beardsley Farm as an AmeriCorps volunteer. A well kept coop doesn't stink. If someone goes to long without cleaning their coop, they'll pay the price because it is kind of gross, but only to the person cleaning the coop. It doesn't stink outside the coop. I keep talking about the poop because this seems to be a reoccurring fear amongst objectors.

The other great fear is rats. "If people don't keep their food locked up, we're going to have rats running around everywhere." This fear came from the same woman, whose neighbors leave cat food out. She claims to have rats in her yard due to the cat food, and she is afraid that if people get chickens, the rat populations will multiply. At $7 a bag for feed, if people decide to supplement their girls' diets, then I'm pretty sure that they are going to make sure that feed is properly contained. Also most people who go through the efforts of paying $50 for the permit to build a coop, buy the materials for the coop, then purchase their chickens are going to keep care not to allow rats to mix in with their girls. The owners don't want rats in with their chickens. All the chicken owners I know (city and county), love, I mean LOVE their chickens like pets.

Besides, if there is a problem, guess what? There is an ordinance that gives you the right to call Animal Control and Officer Pappas. But according to Animal Control in other cities whose ordinances have been in place for ten years, they have had very few calls. If you would like to call any of these people yourself, the information is at KUHC under download MYTHS AND FACTS.

From Chad Hellwinckel at the Knoxville Urban Hen Coalition: "This is the final vote. And it should be suspenseful! City officials worked out the final details of the ordinance Friday. Please download the revised ordinance, read it over at the Coalition page , and post any comments you may have on it!

Please mark your calendars! I know the vote has been delayed a couple of times before, but we are really going to try to get a vote this coming Tuesday.

A large crowd last time really helped. Please come and bring a neighbor!"

If you are unable to attend the meeting on Tuesday, July 27th at 7:00 p.m., please take a minute to phone, write or e-mail your representatives and the at-large representatives to voice your approval of the ordinance to legalize hens in Knoxville. If you don't approve, then please educate yourself before Tuesday's vote or try to visit a coop. At this point, I don't think the KUHC can get you in to see one, but dissenters have had 17 months to try and find a real good reason not to approve this ordinance. Let's just say, I haven't seen one yet.

The Agrarian Urbanites: FINALLY, The Vote We've All Been Waiting For!