Allow Backyard Chickens in Odessa, Texas

The city of Odessa, Texas restricts residents from raising backyard chickens. As an agricultural, family-oriented community it only makes sense that Odessa should embrace the practice of urban backyard chickens!

Families that raise backyard chickens can form lasting bonds with their chicken enthusiast friends and neighbors. Raising chickens is a wonderful family activity and an excellent opportunity to teach children that their food doesn't grow on a grocery store shelf. It’s important that kids have a connection to their food (preferably healthy food) and understand the farm-to-plate chain.

By signing this petition, you’ll be telling Odessa's City Council Members that you want to be able to raise your own chickens organically, free of hormones and antibiotics, and let them enjoy a grassy backyard instead of the terrible conditions so unfortunately common in factory farm chickens.

Even if you are not interested in owning chickens, you can still benefit from this change in ordinance. Neighbors love to share and with an ordinance that allows up to ten hens, your own chicken enthusiast friends will be up to their beaks in eggs.

The two most common concerns residents have regarding urban chickens are noise and smell. Hens are very quiet animals. They will proudly call out when they have just laid an egg, but a hen's call is less obtrusive and more pleasant than a dog barking. Roosters, however, can be quite noisy which is why you'll find them omitted from most city ordinances that do allow backyard poultry. The good news is, you don't need a rooster to keep backyard chickens. They lay eggs daily without the aid of a rooster. As for smell, it is true that any animal leaves behind waste. Just as dog owners are expected to clean up their pet's waste, so should chicken owners. In fact, the very same ordinances that allow for chickens in our surrounding communities require chickens be kept in sanitary conditions just as other pet owners are expected to do.

The benefits of having happy hens clucking around far outweigh any of the concerns. Chickens for Odessa, a local movement of residents, urges you to join our fight. Use your given rights to vote for this change and sign the petition to bring chickens to Odessa!

www.Facebook.com/ChickensForOdessa