State reps take aim at anti-poultry zoning

Hens could lay in Michigan’s residential backyards under a bipartisan bill introduced in the state House in January.

House Bill 4049, introduced by Rep. James DeSana, R-Carlton, would allow up to five chickens per quarter-acre of property, with a limit of 25 chickens in residential areas. Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, is a co-sponsor.

“Eggs are too damn expensive right now, and this legislation could make a real difference,” Morgan said in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The bill would allow people living under residential zoning restrictions to keep egg-laying hens on their property. If enacted into law, the bill would override local ordinances that ban hens in residential areas.

Any number of hens higher than the limit specified in the bill would be subject to local zoning laws. The bill would not ban local governments from enforcing nuisance laws on noise, hours of operation, or advertising. The bill allows cities to ban roosters, if they choose, because of possible noise complaints.

Response to bird flu has led to the slaughter of 6.5 million chickens in the last year, bill sponsor DeSana said in a press release, contributing to a spike in retail egg prices.

A 2019 law that took effect Dec. 31, 2024, is another factor influencing the price of eggs in the state. It requires all eggs sold in Michigan to come from cage-free hens.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is reviewing the legislation and doesn’t have a stance, according to Jennifer Holton, chief emergency management communications officer.

The city of Midland bans chickens and livestock within city limits. However, the much larger cities of Detroit and Ann Arbor allow chickens. 

Emily Dudley, a Midland resident, supports the bill and would like it to apply to people who own less than a quarter acre of land.

Dudley is preparing to lobby the Midland City Council to allow chickens, she told CapCon in an interview. She added that it is important for children to learn to raise animals and become more self-sufficient.

Dudley pointed to gray areas in the city‘s safety standards, which treat soil as safe to touch but presume that it is unsafe to eat animals raised on that soil.

Gardens and fruit trees are not prohibited, Dudley noted, and they grow in the soil.

Midland City Council members did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Midland, the home of Dow Chemical Company, bans chickens out of concern over potential dioxin contamination, according to a two-page fact sheet from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

“Chickens can consume dioxins when they peck at the soil and eat insects from the ground,” according to the state document on poultry and livestock production. The fact sheet notes that Midland's ban does not apply along the lower Tittabawassee River or the downstream section of the Saginaw River.