Here a cluck, there a cluck, everywhere a cluck-cluck?

Don't count your chickens yet. Hamtramck city officials are having second thoughts on allowing residents to raise chickens.

Don’t count your chickens yet. Hamtramck city officials are having second thoughts on allowing residents to raise chickens.

 

By Charles Sercombe
For those who want to raise chickens in your backyard, it’s time to raise a squawk.
The city council is on the verge of doing an about-face on allowing residents to raise chickens, just a few weeks after passing an ordinance allowing it.
Go figure.
Three councilmembers who previously supported the concept are now trying to do a take back. Councilmember Mohammed Hassan submitted a resolution undoing a previous amendment that allowed households to raise no more than six hens in their backyard, as long as they are kept in a chicken coop.
His amendment would allow other forms of fowl, such as turkeys and ducks, but excludes chickens.
Councilmembers Anam Miah and Abu Musa also changed their minds about raising live chickens and forced a new vote on the subject.
Hassan wasn’t clear about why he had second thoughts, but it appears it has something to do with the concerns of some restaurant owners and friends. The Review asked him to clarify his new concern, but he refused to answer and walked away.
Both Miah and Musa declined to explain their new found opposition at last week’s council meeting.
The raising of chickens has become a trend in many communities, and it is considered part of the growing urban farming experience. It’s all about not only growing your own food, but also raising your own food.
Critics, though, and there is no shortage of them in Hamtramck, say the backyards here are too small and the chicken coops will raise a stink and attract rats.
The public will once again be able to weigh in on the subject at next Tuesday’s council meeting. A public hearing will be held on the new amendment and later in the meeting a final vote will be taken.
If a majority of the council decides to ban the raising of chickens, those you who planned to purchase a coop and chickens will have to cross the road, over to Ferndale where it’s allowed.
Or Detroit where, let’s face it, just about anything goes.

One Response to Here a cluck, there a cluck, everywhere a cluck-cluck?

  1. Pingback: Linkage: Hamtown Chicken Debate; Belle Isle Disc Golf; More!

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