SouthEast Michigan: Where can you raise chickens and where can you not

GraceT said:

Do you only have to "say" your practicing GAAMP's or is there any documentation you have to have?

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If you want a letter from the state acknowledging that you are compliant you need to contact the RTF program at MDARD. Details about what you can do to expedite the process are here: https://www.michigansmallfarmcouncil.org/gaamps.html

Are chickens/hens allowed in Warren, Mi? I really would like to raise some, even if only a couple.I'm a big animal lover.

I can't believe what I am reading. I was born and lived in Michigan until 2002 and never knew chickens were allowed. The places that I see that is allowed I used to live in some of the cities there. I used to live in Wayne, Romulus, Westland, Taylor and Belleville and Ypsilanti. Romulus and Belleville would be the places I think they would allow certain amount of Hens since it's not in the city limits like Wayne and so on.

I moved out West and never had Hens until three years ago. We live outside of the city limits where we live and we have no restrictions at all only inside the city limits which is one Hen per 2000 square feet of lot. We have around 40 thousand square feet at our place in the country which we could get more Hens it we wanted to but don't, we have 7 right now. Someone I know had some Hens in the city limits here and were told they only can have one so they had to get rid of the other Hens they had. Anyone moving should check their codes for the city that you live in before even getting any Chickens, Ducks and so on. The great thing about living on property in the country is peace and quiet, no robberies, break-ins and so on so theft is very little or none. We do have a school here that is not in the city but, the city also has schools too.

I live in Pontiac can we have chickens in our backyard to raise

Feathers Acres said:

I found that hard to believe, considering im in Clinton Twp. and im not allowed to have them and in Detroit cock fighting is illegal, so chickens are not allowed altogether. If your in my area and think we should be able to raise chickens, we need to make a group or something because its outrageous that only 10 miles away in Chesterfield they have all the farm animals in the world! I cant be in 4-H because of this! and im only 30 minutes from Armada also, again all the farm animals in the world

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Im in Clinton Twp and have chickens! Had them for a year now! They cant stop me cuz the right to farm act protects me. Getting some ducks this year! As long as I have a good plan for waste, shelter, etc....they cant stop you!!

I wanna start a poultry farm here in Clinton Twp,Mi...but idk the stupid ordinances. Will the RTFA protect me? My reasoning is, wanna be more self sufficient and don't wanna have to work a 7am-7pm job. Any ideas??

hillbilly280234 said:

I wanna start a poultry farm here in Clinton Twp,Mi...but idk the stupid ordinances. Will the RTFA protect me? My reasoning is, wanna be more self sufficient and don't wanna have to work a 7am-7pm job. Any ideas??

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My personal opinion is that the RTFA should protect you, based on what the law says and on how the courts have interpreted it.

However, if you are a "Category 4" site MDARD will almost certainly not recognize this, and neither will your township. In that case you would have to go to court to prove that you are protected.

Michigan has a long history of folks going to court to demonstrate that our Right to Farm Act is broadly written and protects all commercial farm operations, including those that are small, and those that are in residential areas. These cases include Papadelis in Troy, Papesh in Shelby Township, and Buchler in Forsythe Township. It may be that we are due for another.

Does this go for ducks too?

Duckymomma82 said:

Does this go for ducks too?

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Yeah pretty much. All poultry. Turkeys, geese and gamebirds too.

Dearborn is a no unless you're on a street where everybody else has chickens