Chickens routed from roost, for now
West Side henhouse runs afoul of city ban
A West Side woman has been forced to hide her hens at an undisclosed location as she mounts a campaign to change a city law that some think is for the birds.
Urban chicken farming is a growing trend nationally. Many people like eating fresh eggs. Others say chicken waste makes an excellent compost material and garden fertilizer. Still others use chickens to help cut down on insects that can harm plants and produce.
Many cities allow people to raise chickens.
Monique Watts thought Buffalo was among them. She said she did her homework last year and found nothing in Buffalo’s code that prohibited fowl. So last summer, she bought five hens and built a small chicken coop in the backyard of her Rhode Island Street home.
Little did she know that she had scoured an outdated document. Back in 2004, the Common Council amended the law to prohibit keeping chickens, pigeons, turkeys, ducks or any other fowl.
Saturday morning, she saw a truck pull up to the curb and an officer get out of the vehicle. Watts said she thought it was the start of a long-awaited effort to rid her neighborhood of drug dealers.
“I had a brief moment of glory,” said Watts, who has worked with her husband, Blair Woods, on numerous efforts to strengthen the neighborhood.
But enforcers weren’t out to nab drug peddlers or other criminals. A city animal-control officer informed Watts that having hens was illegal. She was told that the city had received a complaint.
The city gave Watts until Monday to relocate them. She did just that, but she refused to say where her feathered friends are roosting.
Her mission now is to try to change city laws. She said she understands why localities might want to prohibit roosters, cocks or some other types of fowl. And she even understands why some cities require permits to keep hens.
“But it seems archaic to have a law that is so broad-stroked that it bans everything,” said Watts.
Peter J. Savage III, an aide to Mayor Byron W. Brown and a former legal adviser to the Council, said the ban, unanimously approved by lawmakers, resulted from chicken-fighting issues and health-related considerations.
Penalties would range from confiscation of the poultry to fines of as much as $1,500 and even 15 days in jail.
Corporation Counsel Alisa A. Lukasiewicz, the chief lawyer in City Hall, began researching urban chicken farming about a month ago, after Buffalo’s accountability panel received a letter from an out-of-town woman asking about the issue.
While research shows the trend growing in cities across the nation, legitimate concerns remain, Lukasiewicz said. Houses in cities like Buffalo are close together, she said, and chickens could cause smells or noise.
Watts says that, if her hens have ruffled some feathers, no neighbors have complained to her. No one visiting the henhouse has detected any odors, either, she insisted.
Watts vows to make her case for changing Buffalo’s law during visits this week with city officials. Urban chicken farming, she said, is permitted in many other localities.
Lukasiewicz conceded dozens of examples but said many cities also have restrictions. Some impose a limit on the number of chickens that can be kept on properties. Other ordinances require the poultry to have a certain amount of running space and to be kept at certain distances from homes.
Council Majority Leader Richard A. Fontana, who sponsored the 2004 law banning all fowl, said he was willing to listen. Fontana, who represents the Lovejoy District, said the ban resulted, in part, from complaints about odors from a property that housed chickens.
“But maybe we could look to see if there are some exceptions that are allowable,” he said.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments