Nothing can stand between a mom and the love for her child.
Even when what stands between your child and their happiness is the city Board of Appeals.
All because of a pet chicken.
When Amy Martin met with city officials from Bangor, Maine, she knew she had one shot to get them to understand her son and his need for his emotional support chickens.
C-Jay Martin, 25, has autism, epilepsy and an eye condition and is immunocompromised. The usually outgoing C-Jay, his mom said, had been experiencing anxiety and depression ever since the Covid pandemic had sent the family into isolation.
Amy said that she had researched online and found that chickens were sometimes used to help people with autism.
Amy Martin and her son, C-Jay Martin, with his emotional support chickens Stella, Pepper and No Name Chicken at their home in Bangor, Maine. Photo by Cig Harvey
She quickly contacted city officials for permission to have the chickens, but with no answer months later, she went ahead and got the chickens for C-Jay who had not improved and still remained depressed and anxious.
Bangor doesn’t allow backyard chickens within the city – so Amy would have to speak to the board and get special permission.
Director of code enforcement for the city of Bangor, Jeff Wallace, said that as much as he wanted to approve the request, the only way to do so was through the appeals board.
From the very first day, if I could have (let them stay), I would have,” he said.
C-Jay had already bonded with the six hens, named Popcorn, Cheek, Stella, Salty, Pepper and her sister, who is yet to be named.
Amy said she had noticed right away how the chickens helped her son. The first day she got them as chicks, C-Jay stayed by their cage, patting them gently and holding each on the palm of his hand.
So that day, after months of paperwork and phone calls, Amy stood in front of the board and pleaded her case. It was simple, she said, the chickens could bring her son joy.
She wasn’t alone, though. Other residents rallied to her side and spoke or wrote letters in favor of letting the family keep their chickens.
A neighbor, Martha Gladstone, wrote a letter to the board saying that while dogs leave feces on lawns and cats in the neighborhood dig into flower beds, “hens stay put.”
C-Jay Martin with his chickens. Photo by Cig Harvey
“Wouldn’t it be nice to bring a little joy in the life of someone who has suffered lifelong?” she asked.
“They’re not a nuisance,” another neighbor said at the meeting.
Chickens are friendly,” said another.
“I took them a bag of chicken feed instead of a bottle of wine,” a third neighbor said, asking how “with all the evil and unrest in this world,” wasn’t this a simple, right thing to do?
It worked.
The board voted unanimously to let them keep the chickens.
Amy and C-Jay are glad that the worry is over and the chickens are able to stay and continue to support C-Jay.
“When he’s sitting outside listening to an audiobook, or just hanging out in the backyard [with] the sun shining, he always knows where they are because he can hear them,” Amy said. “He’s never really alone.”
Watch below for a look at this heartwarming family and their support chickens.