Manatee County Approves Backyard Hens!

After a long campaign led by Manatee CLUCK, the Manatee County Commission voted on June 4th to allow single family homeowners in the unincorporated county to have up to four backyard hens.

Detail of artwork by Old Miakka artist, Jean Blackburn, which may be seen at Bradenton Riverwalk

The vote was 4-2 with Commissioners Chappie, Gallen, Bustle and Whitmore voting for Whitmore's motion. Commissioners Benac and Baugh voted against. Commissioner Benac conceded chickens could be pets, but voiced concerns about the impact on neighborhoods. Her position evolved more than Commissioner DiSabatino who seemed stuck on her position that chickens can only be farm animals. 

Commissioner DiSabatino had a conflicting appointment, but prior to leaving reported she would have voted against the motion -- shattering any illusion that she was open-minded since her announcement preceded the public testimony.

There was some confusion regarding the draft ordinance because staff had submitted CLUCK's preferred limit of 12 chickens and the Board seemed intent on voting on staff's preferred alternative, which was four hens. The motion that passed also increased the side setback from 20 to 25 feet. 

Much credit is due Rob Kluson who combined professional expertise and volunteer dedication to shepherd the process and keep Manatee CLUCK chicken advocates motivated for several years.

Manatee County joins Hernando and Pinellas counties and the City of Sarasota as governments that have recently voted to relax regulations on keeping backyard hens. 

The ordinance wording may be found by clicking on this highlighted text. 

CLUCK asks: Are Chickens Farm Animals or Pets?

At commission meeting after commission meeting (most recently in Manatee County from Commissioners DiSabatino and Benac) we keep hearing that chickens are farm animals and, therefore, cannot be pets. But it's not complicated, so we made up the following graphic summary.

When people talk about "farm animals" they are frequently flashing back to picture books they enjoyed as children in the last century. As kids we learned about picturesque farms as repositories of the diverse pantheon of domestic animals. On the farm the pig said oink, the ducks said quack, the cows said moo, and the rooster said cock-a-doodle-do. In those days farm animals were hard working -- cats lived outside and were "mousers", dogs helped with herding, security, or hunting.

Grandfather's Farm, illustrated by Rojankovsky

The farm animals shown in this book include horses, cows, rabbits

ducks, sheep, geese, pigs, turkeys, goats, chickens as well as DOGS and CATS!

But these complex compendiums of animal husbandry are now primarily historic nostalgia. Instead of diverse crops and livestock, most "farming" is now specialized with people focusing on particular species. Pigs are raised in confined animal feeding operations, milk cows on dairies, and chickens are raised by the thousands in battery cages for eggs (see top left picture above) or in long broiler houses.

Meanwhile as farming changed, our relationships with the so called "farm animals" started shifting. Once odor-supressing kitty litter was invented, cats were welcomed indoors. Mousing became secondary to companionship. Dogs that had lived in kennels or chained to dog houses came inside. Pot-bellied pigs were welcomed not as bacon on four feet but as pets.

A Google search for the compound term "pet chicken" brings up over 400,000 results. To see some pet chickens, click here.

Although the number of layer and broiler chickens being raised commercially dwarfs the number of backyard pet chickens, CLUCK suspects that number of people that own pet chickens probably outnumbers the number of chicken producers.

It is worth observing that  Susan Orlean, Martha Stewart, Alice Walker, Julia Roberts, Paula Deen and Tori Spelling are not farmers, agriculturalists or commercial egg producers. And it is not just women that have pet chickens-- add to the list Sam Neil, Teddy Roosevelt, John Cleese, William H. Macy, and Robert E. Lee. These are people (with the exception of Robert E. Lee who had to travel under challenging conditions) who could have any pet they want, or even a Michael Jackson style mini-zoo. They chose chickens.