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Hens in the City: Regulations are being challenged as people take 'eating locally' another step
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
Amy Williams' hens spend the day out of the coop in her backyard in downtown Greensboro. She helped persuade city officials to loosen the restrictions on having chickens in the city.
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Published: November 7, 2008
GREENSBORO
On a cool, cloudy afternoon, the three hens scratch and strut around a fenced-in backyard in downtown Greensboro, making their way to a fig tree, where two of them hop on low branches and fluff their strawberry-blond feathers.
Amy Williams walks over to the hens' coop and opens a small door. "Oh, there's an egg in there," she said, reaching into a pile of straw and pulling out a brown egg, the creamy color of cafe au lait.
Williams' hens have brought her a lot of joy.
Every morning, she lets the hens out of the coop, and every evening, she checks to make sure that they've made their way back. Then she shuts the coop's door. Just watching the hens scratch for bugs relaxes her.
But having a few minutes of chicken relaxation has come at a price. Earlier this year, Williams and her boyfriend, Brian Talbert, found themselves fighting for the right to keep chickens. They also found themselves in the midst of a growing trend across North Carolina -- city dwellers who are taking "eating locally" beyond their vegetable gardens and farmers' markets by building coops and enjoying eggs from their backyard flocks.
The trend has ruffled some feathers.
City ordinances about keeping chickens vary widely across the state. In Cary, they're not allowed except on properties with more than an acre within the town's rural district. In Raleigh, chickens are so accepted that proud owners show off their backyard coops in a springtime tour called the Tour d'Coop.
In May, city officials recently voted to loosen Winston-Salem's ordinance. For $100, people who want chickens or pigeons but who don't have much land can now apply for a special-use permit through the city's planning office. The change was made to accommodate property owners recently annexed into the city. Their lots were too small under the city ordinance to keep poultry.
Without the permit, the ordinance requires a chicken coop to be placed at least 150 feet from all property lines. The average city lot is between 9,000 and 12,000 square feet -- too small to meet those requirements, said Kirk Ericson, a project planner with the city/county planning board. At a minimum, a property owner would need 22,500 square feet of land, or a little more than a half-acre, to make the setback. Practically speaking, a property owner would need more space for their house and, if they wanted chickens, a coop.
"That's why we need a provision like this. You may have a half-acre lot, but it's not going to give you enough," Ericson said. "And this just helps address the situation, where properties were formerly rural but now are in the city limits can still have chickens."
The Forsyth County Animal Control gets a steady number of calls about chickens, including complaints about them running at large. The calls tend to come from people living in recently developed areas, said Tim Jennings, the county's animal-control director.
It's easier to keep a horse or a cow within Winston-Salem city limits than chickens. Housing for horses and cows requires only a 50-foot setback from property lines. Owners of those animals can also apply for the special-use permit to get an exemption from the setback.
The urban-chicken movement seems to have more momentum in other cities.
Just two property owners have applied for the new special-use permits in Winston-Salem since May, said Chris Murphy, an assistant director of inspections. Neither one wanted to raise chickens -- one property owner had a horse, the other raised pigeons. Both permits were approved. "I haven't heard any great push toward (urban chickens), but that doesn't mean there isn't interest," he said.
Urban chicken lovers around the country post online messages on BackyardChickens.com under subject headings such as "Albuquerque: a model of urban chicken enlightenment" and "Sanford, NC family fined $1,300 a day for chickens."
"What do you think about keeping chickens in my garage?" one poster asked.
As people across North Carolina have become more interested in raising chickens, it's become clear that not everyone thinks a bit of country belongs in the city.
In July, Cary's council voted against looking into allowing chickens within the town's limits. In Durham, a group of citizens who call themselves HENS (Healthy Egg Neighborhood Supporters) are currently pushing for a change to the city's ordinance that would allow them to keep chickens. One local Realtor told The Herald-Sun that he was worried about what chickens might do to the appearance of some neighborhoods.
Williams thinks some anti-chicken sentiment is a reflection of race and class issues. "Poor people have chickens. Rich people don't. They think Hispanics and Asians are going to have chickens because they could in their countries."
In August, Talbert and Williams' efforts persuaded Greensboro city officials to loosen the ordinance covering backyard chickens and bees. Property owners with as little as 7,000 square feet of land can have hens -- as long as the coops are 25 feet from the property line and 50 feet from a neighbor's house. Roosters are banned. But chickens will lay eggs without the help of their male counterparts; they just won't be fertilized.
Local supporters of the ordinance change in Greensboro included Piedmont Triad Slow Food, not just because of the eggs, but because chickens eat pests and fertilize yards. "The more that we encourage people in all areas to raise at least some of their own food, the more we raise awareness of our agriculture," Laurie O'Neill, the group's communications chair, wrote in an e-mail.
Williams became an unlikely poultry protester last winter, after Talbert suggested that they get some chickens for their fenced-in backyard. Williams was hesitant at first -- she was scared of birds. But get the chickens they did, and soon, Dolly, Eleanor and Nancy (named after three First Ladies) were pecking around the backyard.
Then one of the couple's Jack Russell terriers attacked and killed Nancy. Williams and Talbert recruited Elvis, a rooster from Talbert's aunt's farm, to teach Tonka a lesson.
That's when the early-morning crowing started. A neighbor complained to the city. It wasn't long before Talbert and Williams got a letter from Greensboro inspections.
So began their six-month back-and-forth with city officials to change Greensboro's ordinance on chickens. "It was the principle. It was because other people wouldn't be able to have them," Williams said.
One weekend, Williams put on a chicken costume as she collected signatures in front of Deep Roots Market, a food co-op. She's a third-year law student at Elon University, where she's still known as the Chicken Lady.
One of Williams' neighbors told city officials that she was worried about farm smells and noise. But Williams said that chickens don't do as much harm to a neighborhood as barking dogs or couches on front porches. "Other things bring down your property value."
Chickens have another advantage, she said. Chicks are cheap. Williams' newest flock of Buff Orpington hens cost $5 each as young birds, and now they are getting mature. She can count on at least one egg a day from her most mature hen.
"People are getting back to basics like growing their own food, and it's partly economic," she said.
This summer, she planted her first vegetable garden. The tomatoes and sweet peppers went great with all those scrambled eggs.
■ Laura Giovanelli can be reached at 727-7302 or at lgiovanelli@wsjournal.com.
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