Taking stock of chickens in St. Clair Shores

ST. CLAIR SHORES — At the St. Clair Shores City Council meeting on April 7, residents came out in support of allowing egg-laying chickens within the city’s boundaries.

Residents spoke during public comment at the end of the meeting with each person allowed five minutes to speak on topics that are important to them. The morning of the meeting, a post was made on Facebook asking residents to come out and speak on the topic. It garnered a lot of attention with 365 comments at the time of publication, some in support of chickens and some against it.

St. Clair Shores resident Brian Dyer said he’s requesting a study group about a potential ordinance change related to backyard chickens. He addressed a couple of comments and concerns on the Facebook post. Some of these concerns included noise, rats, predators and smell.

“I would like to ask, aren’t dogs, cats, pigeons and quails, which the city already allows, (known to) present the same dangers?” Brian said.

He went on to say that the city allows bird feeders.

“And chickens are essentially fed by bird feeders. So as long as we’re containing everything, then it really shouldn’t be an issue,” Brian said.

He also brought up the benefits of having chickens, including nutritious eggs and the fact that chickens eat pests like mosquitos.

St. Clair Shores resident Erich Dyer said he did have “renegade” chickens for around three years and didn’t have any complaints from neighbors.

“Got about eight to nine eggs a day. Eliminated every bit of food waste I have, and I have six young children, so there’s a lot of food waste,” Erich said.

He said owning chickens was a joy and that it went very well.

St. Clair Shores resident Alex Gobar said he grew up in a country area in Ohio where a lot of people had chickens. He said the only issues they had there were predators and that there aren’t as many in the city. He claimed that if every household in the United States had three chickens, it would eliminate the egg industry in the country.

“If you just allowed three chickens and all that it would help sustain a household even if the eggs do drop down to a $1.99 a carton again,” Gobar said.

He also said chicken care is something that can be passed down to children.

“So they actually learn where food is coming from instead of just going to the market and just picking up whatever’s there, so they actually can see it,” Gobar said.

Councilman Chris Vitale said during his council comments that he’s open to “reasonable accommodation.”

“I’m not committing to anything until I see language and guardrails and things like that,” Vitale said.

He went on to say chickens are usually used to teach children about animal husbandry and called it useful for that situation.

Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Rubello said during his comments that he’s open to hear what the residents say.

“Like Mr. Vitale said, no promises, but I think it’s worth talking about,” Rubello said.

Mayor Kip Walby said at the end of public comment that he hears the public.

“We are going to do more research here,” Walby said.

He explained the next step would be a study session.

“We do understand it,” Walby said.

He also said that this is not a done deal but that they would like to get more information about the situation.