Draft of a chicken ordinance for Muncie!

We think the following draft of a chicken keeping ordinance addresses the key concerns of chicken keepers, their neighbors, and all city residents. Please comment on how this can be improved.

ON THE KEEPING OF CHICKENS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS
Keeping or harboring of chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) permitted pursuant to the following:
(a) No more than 8 (eight) chickens per residential lot permitted,
(b) No roosters shall be permitted,
(c) No chicken may be maintained, enclosed or fenced in the front yard of a dwelling or within a dwelling,
(d) Cages, hutches, coops or other confinement shall be at least 25 feet away from any neighboring dwelling,
(e) No chickens may run at large in the city (see Sec. 90.21 Fowl running at large),
(f) Chickens must be maintained to prevent noise or odor that causes detriment to the health, safety and welfare of neighboring persons and properties.

Sections of existing code that pertain to chickens:
•Sec. 90.19. Keeping or harboring of live stock prohibited in certain residential areas.
―Point (5) needs to be amended to except chickens.
•Sec. 90.22. Impounding of animals and fowl; sale of same.

(Backyard chicken concentrating on a fair ordinance; via sfweekly.com.)

Understanding Chicken Keeping

Check out this great resource from the good folks at the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts for all those conversations you've been having with people who oppose the idea of keeping chickens in the city.

Excerpt:

Human Disease issues

· Avian influenza of the type contagious to humans has not been found in North America.

· Should avian influenza ever reach North America, it would more likely spread where chickens have contact with the droppings of wild and migratory fowl, such as ponds frequented Canada geese. These are conditions not likely in a small city backyard where only a few chickens reside. [http://www.pandemicflu.gov]

· Salmonella (common enterobacteria, can cause foodborne/gastrointestinal illness) is the other primary concern associated with chicken and eggs. Chickens are no more likely to carry it than parakeets and pet reptiles. Good hand-washing practices are always important after handling animals and their waste. [CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov]

Enthusiastic backyard chicken support in Chicago

Family Farmed panel on backyard chicken keeping was packed with over 150 people and more outside. It seems a large number of city-dwellers are ready to jump on the bird wagon. Also, a city coop tour is being organized. If a densely populated city can manage all of these birds, I don't foresee them becoming problematic in Muncie.

Chicken Ordinances All Across the U.S.

Some cities have ordinances that forbid chickens (like Muncie), some have ordinances that permit chickens (like Evansville), and some have no ordinances regarding chickens at all (like Indianapolis). If Muncie changes from the first group to the second group, we will join the company of the following cities:

Fayettville, AR
Little Rock, AR
Flagstaff, AZ
Gilbert, AZ
Albany, CA
American Canyon, CA
Anaheim, CA
Bakersfield, CA
Berkely, CA
Campbell, CA
Davis, CA
Downey, CA
El Cajon, CA
Irvine, CA
Lakewood, CA
La Puente, CA
Lafayette, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Mountain View, CA
Oakland, CA
Petaluma, CA
Poway, CA
Redwood City, CA
Roseville, CA
San Carlos, CA
San Jose, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Mateo, CA
Temple City, CA
Vallejo, CA
Arvada, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
Denver, CO
Atlanta, GA
Clive, IA
Des Moines, IA
Sioux City, IA
West Des Moines, IA
Windsor Heights, IA
Nampa, ID
Boise, ID
Bloomington, IN
Evansville, IN
Lawrence, KS
Topeka, KS
Wichita, KS
Louisville, KY
Baton Rouge, LA
New Orleans, LA
Belmont, MA
Brockton, MA
Cambridge, MA
Lynn, MA
Northampton, MA
Somerset, MA
Wenham, MA
Westwood, MA
Baltimore City, MD
Camden, ME
Falmouth, ME
South Portland, ME
Ann Arbor, MI
Benton Harbor, MI
East Lansing, MI
Lansing, MI
Traverse City, MI
Elk River, MN
Minneapolis, MN
Rosemount, MN
St Paul, MN
Missoula, MT
Columbia, MO
Kansas City, MO
Kirksville, MO
St Louis, MO
Asheville, NC
Chapel Hill, NC
Durham, NC
Raleigh, NC
Lincoln, NE
Omaha, NE
Red Bank, NJ
Albuquerque, NM
Santa Fe, NM
Henderson, NV
Las Vegas, NV
Binghamton, NY
Huntington, NY
New Hempstead, NY
New York City, NY
Smithtown, NY
Cleveland, OH
Toledo, OH
Tulsa, OK
Albany, OR
Coos Bay, OR
Corvallis, OR
Eugene, OR
Lake Oswego, OR
Milwaukie, OR
Oregon City, OR
Portland, OR
Stayton, OR
Catawissa, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Shaler, PA
Aiken, SC
Nashville, TN
Austin, TX
Dallas TX
Fort Worth, TX
Garland, TX
Houston, TX
Irving, TX
Laredo, TX
Murphy, TX
Richardson, TX
Round Rock, TX
San Antonio, TX
Brigham City, UT
Salt Lake City, UT
Falls Church, VA
Fairfax City, VA
Burlington, VT
Battle Ground, WA
Bothell, WA
Camas, WA
Everett, WA
Lynnwood, WA
Mill Creek, WA
Olympia, WA
Seattle, WA
Spokane, WA
Tacoma, WA
Vancouver, WA
Woodinville, WA
Ellsworth, WI
Green Bay, WI
Madison, WI
Laramie, WY

(Sources: The City Chicken and independent research on a few city codes.)

What about avian flu?

Small flocks are the solution, not the problem.

Dr. Michael Greger author of Bird Flu -- A Virus of Our Own Hatching, an examination of bird flu and what it means to us, writes, "To reduce the emergence of viruses like H5N1, humanity must shift toward raising poultry in smaller flocks, under less stressful, less crowded, and more hygienic conditions, with outdoor access, no use of human antivirals, and with an end to the practice of breeding for growth or unnatural egg production at the expense of immunity. This would also be expected to reduce rates of increasingly antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as Salmonella, the number-one food-borne killer in the United States. We need to move away from the industry’s fire-fighting approach to infectious disease to a more proactive preventive health approach that makes birds less susceptible—even resilient—to disease in the first place."
(This is an excerpt from Urban Chickens Network. To read the entire post, see http://www.urbanchickens.net/2009/04/urban-chickens-solving-spread-of-bird.html)