Posted on 05/25/2008 4:54:23 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A Madison council member wants to change an existing law that could get a lot of clucking.
Ald. Marcia Rummel, District 6, hopes to change Madison's 4-year-old chicken ordinance to allow people living in multi-family dwellings to keep chickens. Currently, the law enables only people living in single-family residences to have the fowl.
"My goal is to allow more people to have chickens who want chickens," said Rummel in an interview.
The draft proposal currently adds two-family detached dwellings into the ordinance. But Rummel said she's like to find a way to include multi-family households to the law. The amendment is in preliminary stage and has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
Backyard chickens have become popular in Madison, boosted this year by a documentary on the phenomenon, Mad City Chickens, which debuted at the Madison Film Festival in March.
The movie tells stories of urban chickens, and the issues surrounding them.
Chicken keeper Alicia Rheal said she's heard a lot of chatter about chickens since the film.
"Those who were on the fence were waiting to see if it was going to work and what problems would arise," Rheal said of the increasing interest in keeping chickens. "You don't have to be a farmer to do it."
One of the drawbacks of the current city law is that it restricts chicken keeping to only residents of single family homes.
She also said the ordinance could change to allow up to six chickens per residence instead of the current four.
Currently, Madison's ordinance allows those who acquire a $10 license to keep up to four hens. Roosters are not allowed. Nor is slaughter on site. Chickens need to be in a coop, or enclosure, a minimum of 25 feet from a neighbor's home. Birds must also be registered with the Department of Homeland Security, for disease tracking purposes.
Rummel noted the Mad City Chicken movie for heightened awareness of urban chicken keeping.
"My co-worker just moved and she wanted to have chickens but could not," explained Rummel. "Other people are also interested and I'm trying to get them hooked up."
Rummel is seeking input on how to add dwellings with multiple units into the proposal.
This month, officials in Ann Arbor, Mich., proposed legislation for urban chicken keeping based on Madison's regulation.
For more information on chicken keeping in Madison, go to www.madcitychickens.com.
Of course, it's a "cultural thing" and I'm just an uneducated bigot!
(I raise laying hens outside of 'The People's Republik of Madistan' and no, my hens are not, nor will they ever be, registered with Homeland Security. The day it's demanded it becomes 'Butchering Day.')
If anybody is allowed to keep cats which wander around and stink off neighboring yards or pit bulls barking and killing people I do not understand why ban chicken, this is a discriminatory practice!
And the Vietnamese quietly smile as they chase the feral cats and dogs with meat clever in hand..........
NEXT UP: UNpaving of roads to save on repairs. Mud incentive available through the Chavez Inner City Destruction Project, apply at the nearest third world Embassy kiosk!
Our leadership bend over backwards to placate illegals, and treat American citizens as chumps.
I wonder what "anchor" chicken tastes like.
News headline, 2010:
AVIAN FLU DECIMATES MADISONS POPULATION
Chicken Fanciers Hardest Hit
DG
“I haven’t tried it, but I imagine people will be smothering chickens with pillows. “
I smother mine in gravy.
I would hate to be a chicken, and have to eat with my pecker.
......Bob
LOL!
*GROAN* :)
The government of Madison, Wisconsin is just a bunch of dumb clucks. We already know that they are a bunch of chickens.
Urban Chickens?
Sounds like an awfully expensive, smelly, messy, and labor-intensive way to get free eggs.
Same old candidate’s routine, “a chicken in every plot”.
As a renowned Reverend might be heard to say-
“Madison’s chicke-e-ens .... have come home ... to roost!”
This may be catering to illegals, but I don’t see why Madistan should have an ordinance limiting chicken ownership to single dwellings.
This should be left up to the landlord, whether he will allow pets or chickens.
I think self-sufficiency in food is not a bad idea. It makes more sense in the country than in the middle of Madistan, but if people want to raise a few layers, why not?
We had a few ourselves, cared for by one of my kids, until the dogs broke in under the fence and ate them. My youngest son is about to try again, in a hopefully weasel-proof traveling chicken coop up in the pasture.
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