Loved reading through your post (story) and seeing your garden grow! Sorry to hear about your chickens. There was a story similar recently with a family in the same scenario (city limits). Their story gained a lot of attention and ultimately the city council has now looked into revising the "no chicken" rule.. Not sure what happened as we have since moved (out of city limits).
Anyways, look forward to seeing your 2013 garden post :)
Thanks for reading! It was sad to give away our chickens and ducks. We tried our best to get our property rezoned but it was denied. :-(