James Hogg wrote: > I am hopeful about the cities allowing chickens. > OK City of Ithaca and Town of Ithaca lets do it too.
Raising chickens is already perfectly legal in many parts of the Town of Ithaca. The City is a different matter. As a result of some correspondence on this subject back in January, I did a little online research and came up with the following list of commonly cited benefits for changing zoning laws to allow backyard chickens and a corresponding list of commonly cited objections. People who would like to push for a change in the City of Ithaca's prohibition of backyard chickens may find this initial overview useful. Jon ################################################################## BACKYARD CHICKENS: COMMONLY CITED BENEFITS Food security Eggs from backyard chickens are a secure and sustainable source of high-grade protein that doesn't rely on transportation. They are also much cheaper than eggs of comparable quality bought at the store. Chickens can subsist largely on bugs and food scraps if necessary. Individually owned chickens have historically sustained people though hard times and continue on occasion to do so now. If we're entering a depression, economic forces will make household ownership of chickens highly desirable. Nutritional quality Backyard eggs can be much higher in nutritional value than factory-farm eggs. Recent research published by Mother Earth News found that eggs from chickens allowed to forage naturally have, on average, seven times more beta carotene, three times more vitamin E, two times more omega-3 fatty acids, and two-thirds more vitamin A than their factory farm cousins. Such eggs also have one-third less cholesterol and one-quarter less saturated fat on average. And eggs from backyard chickens typically contain no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Freshness Backyard eggs are obviously fresher than any other kind. By contrast, industrially produced eggs can be a couple of weeks old by the time they reach supermarkets. Waste management Chickens eat all sorts of food scraps that otherwise would go to local landfills. In the Flanders region of Belgium, chickens were part of a program that raised the region's recycling rate in rural areas by 72 percent. Chickens produce their own waste, of course, and in industrial settings, chicken manure presents a major environmental problem. In backyard settings, it is a valuable soil amendment. Pest control Chickens are voracious consumers of fleas, ticks, grasshoppers, and other insect pests. They also keep down weeds and aerate the soil. Educational value Chickens provide an opportunity for children to see where their food comes from. Growing up with these animals as both pets and food source goes a long way toward inculcating a respect for animals and an appreciation of what they give us. Involvement with chickens introduces children to facts of life, death, sustainability, and food production. Ethical treatment of animals Industrially raised chickens are often debeaked, kept in stacked "battery cages" with less than 8 square inches per bird, and given feed laced with antibiotics and arsenic. Backyard chickens, on the other hand, often have the status of pets, and in some places (for example, New York City) are legally considered to be pets. Entertainment Chickens can actually be quite engaging pets, and people already have the right to own pets that are far more problematic. ################################################################## BACKYARD CHICKENS: COMMONLY CITED OBJECTIONS Objection: Chickens keep people awake. Response: The noise that people object to is caused by roosters. Hens create far less of a noise problem than parrots or dogs. Many (perhaps most) people believe that roosters are necessary to egg production. In fact, they have nothing to do with it; roosters are required only for producing more chickens. The noise problem is usually dealt with simply by prohibiting ownership of roosters, though some ordinances also separately prohibit the breeding of chickens just to be on the safe side. Objection: Chicken manure smells bad. Response: Odors (and flies) can be a serious problem in keeping any animals, chickens included, if the owner is not responsible about cleanliness, food storage, and waste disposal. Reasonable setbacks can help with this, but most ordinances simply make proper upkeep a legal requirement. Composting chicken manure can be carried out quickly and odorlessly if done correctly. This is mostly an educational challenge. Like noise, odor is really a code enforcement issue. For example, the ordinance governing the keeping of chickens in South Portland (Maine) requires that odors and noise must not be detectable at the property lines. Odor problems increase with increasing number of chickens kept; for this and other reasons, most recent ordinances set strict limits on the number that can be kept by any individual owner. A typical limit is three or four hens, sometimes varying upward depending on the size of the lot or density of the zoning. Objection: Chickens create unsightly back yards. Response: Chickens are no more unsightly than any other domesticated animal, so the issue here is the appearance of the henhouse. Again, this is a code enforcement problem. For example, the South Portland ordinance requires that henhouses must provide adequate shade and be made of the same type of material throughout -- sheet metal and waste board are banned -- and painted uniformly so they "shall be in harmony with the surrounding area." Clearly there is nothing to prevent the same kind of control over accommodations for chickens that zoning laws typically exercise over those for humans. Objection: Enforcement of codes relating to chickens will increase municipal expenses. Response: Code enforcement can be paid for through permit fees, which typically range from a one-time charge of $8 to an annual fee of $25 (per owner) plus another one-time charge of $25 for approval to build a henhouse or chicken pen. In addition to funding the incremental cost of enforcement, permits also make enforcement easier by clearly identifying the owners, and where permits are required for approval, they both fund and provide the opportunity to enforce code requirements regarding construction, materials, and appearance. Objection: The emergence of deadly avian influenza in Asia and Eastern Europe was due in part to people living and sleeping in the same area as chickens. Response: Americans who raise chickens generally don't sleep with them or allow them in the house. Most municipalities that allow chickens ensure this by mandating that the chicken coop be located some distance from the nearest residence, 25 feet being a typical requirement in urban settings. Considering the number of chickens that are kept in proximity to human dwellings, the worldwide incidence of avian flu is extremely low. One is as likely to contract worms from a pet dog or Trypanosoma from a pet cat as get avian flu from an infected chicken. In fact, avian flu does not currently exist in the U.S. It could be brought in by infected geese or ducks, but if the chickens are not allowed to mix with migrating flocks, the risk of infection is vanishingly small. Chickens do carry some diseases that can be transmitted to humans, most commonly salmonella, but they do not pose a significantly higher risk to humans than other common pets, such as dogs and cats. For example, most cases of salmonella among children in the U.S. result from handling lizards. If henhouses are well maintained, there is little chance that chickens will spread disease. Nonetheless, people who raise chickens must be aware of avian diseases and symptoms and have veterinary care available -- not so much to protect humans as to prevent epidemics among other chickens in the area. If chickens were allowed in high density zones here, Cornell Cooperative Extension would have an important role to play in making individuals aware of this problem and in promoting clean practices generally. Objection: Opening up back yards to chickens will set a precedent for the introduction of more farm animals -- goats, for example. Response: A variety of pet animals are already allowed in back yards. The reason their presence doesn't lead to the introduction of goats (for example) in zones where they are not allowed is because keeping goats in those places is illegal. Changing our zoning regulations to allow a few hens in those places won't change the legal status of other farm animals. It must be noted that there is a certain amount of arbitrary prejudice in objections to particular animals based on the fact that they have agricultural uses. No one objects to pigeon lofts in cities, despite the fact that a large flock of pigeons presents greater potential noise, odor, dirt, and disease problems than a small flock of hens. And neither chickens nor pigeons cause noise, odor, dirt, or disease problems remotely as serious as those we take for granted in connection with dogs. There's no such thing as a rabid chicken. Objection: For a variety of reasons, people don't want chickens slaughtered near where they live. Response: Many ordinances explicitly prohibit the slaughter of chickens in urban environments. Owners must take their chickens to separate facilities. Objection: Chickens may attract predators such as coyotes. Presumably the concern here is for the safety of other pets. Response: It is true that chickens must be protected against predation, especially by raccoons. But their presence probably doesn't attract predators like coyotes any more than the uninvited squirrels and rabbits already present in most people's yards. Objection: Neighborhoods may be overrun by people wanting to keep chickens. Response: In practice, this is not a problem. Keeping chickens in our climate requires a substantial investment in housing and equipment (around $500 to get started) and a continuing investment in time. Ann Arbor, a university town not unlike Ithaca, recently passed an ordinance allowing chickens in the city. After months of vocal public hearings leading up to the decision, officials were stunned to receive just three permit applications in the five weeks after the ordinance took effect. At the moment, this question is more about decriminalizing an activity that relatively few people are interested in than opening the door to a flood of backyard chicken farmers. Further expansion of this practice in the future would be evidence of serious and widespread economic hardship -- in which case, implementation of suitable regulations and procedures allowing people to raise their own food will be seen as an example of prudence and foresight. Objection: If the goal is to provide community food security, it can be more effectively accomplished through community farms or local cooperatives. The Town of Ithaca contains plenty of land already zoned for this. Response: There can be little doubt that collective egg and meat production is a more efficient use of resources than trying to make every household literally self-sustaining. But implementing successful collectives requires the resolution of a number of difficult issues, not least of which is the assignment of responsibility for problematic aspects such as cleaning and waste disposal. More to the point, this objection ignores the host of perceived advantages (see list above) that make some people want to raise their own chickens. Maintaining a sense of perspective In assessing potential problems associated with keeping chickens in urban environments, it's important to remember that chickens have been allowed for years in many cities in the U.S. without causing any noticeable problems. Chickens are legal in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston -- the four most populous cities in the country -- and dozens of other urban areas. In NYC and Los Angeles, there are no limits at all on the number of chickens that can be kept (though as usual, both cities prohibit the keeping of roosters, and NYC requires that the chicken area be kept clean). Chicken ordinances recently adopted in Seattle, Portland (Oregon), and Madison (Wisconsin) have drawn praise and few complaints. In practice, the problems anticipated by people opposed to allowing backyard chickens rarely materialize, and well-written ordinances provide adequate recourse when they do. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
