Lynnfield board OKs backyard chickens

LYNN – The chickens can come home to roost.The Lynnfield Board of Health accepted an application for Dianne Cook of 8 Cortland Lane to own chickens on her property at Tuesday?s night meeting.Cook has owned the chickens without a permit since April and the Board of Health has received two complaints about the chickens, stating the birds were too loud and that there was an unpleasant odor about them.Cook says she didn?t know she needed to have a permit for the chickens. “I called the zoning board in April and they told me they needed to be 10 feet from the property line. I asked if I needed to know anything else and they said no,” Cook said. “In hindsight, it makes sense you would need a permit.”Currently, Cook only has two chickens. However, she started with five. Two of the chickens passed away and one turned out to be a rooster. Cook credits the rooster for the noise complaints. “I didn?t realize it was a rooster at first. It takes awhile for them to mature,” Cook said. “By July, it was obvious it was a rooster.” Cook no longer owns the rooster and says the chickens are quiet.?By dusk, they go to sleep and are so quiet. There is no noise,” Cook said.The Lynnfield resident raises the chickens for their eggs and is doing it with her daughter for educational purposes.Cook isn?t the only one in Lynnfield with chickens. The Board noted that raising chickens has become a popular trend in Lynnfield. “We get more and more applications to own them,” Board Member Gail Link McCausland said.Cook also claims that there is no odor coming from the chickens. The board accepted the application and there was no fine levied since she received incorrect information from the town. A health inspector will visit Cook?s home soon to see if guidelines are met.In other business, the Board of Health granted the Pillings Ponds Association permission for the association to take water samplings from the pond. There will be five samples taken and it will cost $385.The association has been testing the water for 10 years. “We feel as those it should be a safe environment and people need to know what is in it,” association member Evelyn Noto said.Currently, the pond is not open for the public to swim in. “Even though there are signs everywhere saying not to swim in the water, we know people do. Sometimes kids swim in it and people kayak on it,” Noto said.The board wanted to stress that no matter the results of the testing, it is still a non-swimming pond. “Our concern is that we don?t want someone who normally wouldn?t swim in the pond to swim in it because of whatever we find out,” Cumberland said. “The testing is just for monitoring purposes only.”