Owning chickens in a township where they are illegal?

[Nimbletoes]

Hello! My wife and I live in Chesterfield Township, MI, and it has always been our dream to have BYCs. We own our home and are on two acres, but our township outlawed BYCs in the late 1990s. We have noticed several of our neighbors have BYCs, some of which openly graze in their front yards. My wife talked to a police office recently, and he told her that we could get chickens so long as we got written permission from our neighbors on either side of our property. Does anyone here happen to have any information or know what he was talking about?

 

[LilFinnGirl]

Hello! My wife and I live in Chesterfield Township, MI, and it has always been our dream to have BYCs. We own our home and are on two acres, but our township outlawed BYCs in the late 1990s. We have noticed several of our neighbors have BYCs, some of which openly graze in their front yards. My wife talked to a police office recently, and he told her that we could get chickens so long as we got written permission from our neighbors on either side of our property. Does anyone here happen to have any information or know what he was talking about?

Have you read through the actual livestock/poultry ordinance for your township? For us, we are technically inside city limits but the boundary laid out in the actual law does not extend to our property.

Or it may be an old law that is no longer enforced but hasn’t been repealed.

If you got the okay from both the police and neighbors, I say go for it!

Good luck!

 

[Kiki]

I'd go talk to the neighbors who have chickens and ask them all what they did.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I'd go talk to the neighbors who have chickens and ask them all what they did.

If you do that you can also ask what predators they’ve had issues with, or any other problems they’ve run into.

 

[Nimbletoes]

This is all good information! How does the Michigan Right to Farm Act play a role on this?

 

[LilFinnGirl]

This is all good information! How does the Michigan Right to Farm Act play a role on this?

Unless you are getting chickens as a commercial source of income, I don’t think it would apply here.

286.472 Definitions.
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Farm" means the land, plants, animals, buildings, structures, including ponds used for agricultural or aquacultural activities, machinery, equipment, and other appurtenances used in the commercial production of farm products

But, I may be wrong! I’m far from being a lawyer, lol.

 

[Nimbletoes]

How would I go about checking if the law is not enforced/not repealed, and checking my boundary lines? Obviously I don't want to raise any suspicions, either! But I'd like to do this legally if possible.

 

[Nimbletoes]

Here are the ordinances from my local township. Thoughts?

https://ecode360.com/documents/CH3504/public/753039643.pdf

https://ecode360.com/27826996?highlight=fowl&searchId=23987048259423290#27826996

 

[LilFinnGirl]

How would I go about checking if the law is not enforced/not repealed, and checking my boundary lines? Obviously I don't want to raise any suspicions, either! But I'd like to do this legally if possible.

You can check with your local ordinance officer, but having the police say you just need to check with your neighbors is a pretty good indicator that it isn’t enforced.

You should be able to look up your municipalities’ ordinance code and read for yourself to check the boundaries of where it applies.

If your neighbors already have chickens, it’s a pretty good indicator they won’t have a problem with you having some too.

 

[LilFinnGirl]

How would I go about checking if the law is not enforced/not repealed, and checking my boundary lines?

https://www.chesterfieldtwp.org/DocumentCenter/View/3833/Clearzoning-Ordinance-?bidId=

This seems to be a helpful guide to see what your property is zoned as, and which ordinances would apply.