Almost unanimously representatives of nine of 12 southwest side Lansing neighborhood associations said “no” to an ordinance change by the City Council that would allow residents to raise chickens in their backyards.
It’s a topic that has gained steam in the city with increasing talk about allow residents to raise their own chickens.
The straw vote of resident sentiment was taken at the “Second Saturday” meeting held every month by Third Ward City Council-member A’Lynne Robinson who has been consistent during her tenure in office to ask residents for their input on ordinance changes.
Concerns expressed by allowing chicken raising in the city included: odor, noise, details and limits in the ordinance, city resources needed to enforce the ordinance and the spread of disease.
A draft ordinance allowing this has not been readied for the public yet, said Robinson.
This Flip video includes some of the discussion where concerns and questions were raised and this Lansing State Journal story includes additional details.
What’s your opinion? Should the city allow this? Leave a comment.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Chickens will draw in raccoons and other varmits; we do have the occassional fox in Lansing.
Thanks Wes.
Chickens if housed correctly draw in less raccoons or other varmits than the neighbors leaving their trash out. As far as odor and noise, small coops of 5 or less have very little odor, and hens make less noise than dogs.
I have 5 hens in Lansing. I clean my coop once a week. It does NOT smell. I noticed mice at first, so I bought new containers for the feed and put wire under the coop = no more mice! My chickens are hens, not roosters, and they make no more noise than the birds in the trees. I know city residents that have multiple cats that roam the neighborhood, spraying everywhere…now thats a nuisance! By allowing residents to have their own chickens, they are able to provide food for themselves, teach children valuable lessons and create compost material for gardens (which will also help feed them). Just because you are uneducated about keeping chickens and you think its a bad idea, it doesnt mean everyone else feels the same. Just my opinion. I personally would rather know where my food comes from. My child had a friend over and they gathered eggs together. This child said “eggs dont come from chickens…they come from kroger!” What?! Lets get back to reality people.
Kris-thanks for the comment. It’s helpful in understanding this new area of urban agriculture. I’m curious. Do you live in the city? Wes
Wes,
Yes, I do live in Lansing, near Ingham Medical. If anyone is interested, I have a few websites that might help out a little. The first is http://www.meetup.com/LansingBackyardPoultry/. This website consists of local residents (and some non-local) that chat online about their experiences with their own backyard hens. Its great for questions and concerns. They also hold meetings to discuss things like coop designs, chickens for sale, 4-H and much more. Another would be backyardchickens.com. That site has SO much info about anything and everything. Its very helpful. And last but not least, home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html. This will give you a general idea of laws in your area. Chickens are definitely not for everyone, but if we can find ways to make it work, I say give it a try!!
Kris-thanks for the links. Thanks for helping to bring a lot of us up to speed on a new facet of city living. I will check them out. Wes