The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

April 24, 2010

Mankato City Council to take second look at chickens

No vote expected during work session

By Dan Linehan Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Like chickens yet?

About 13 months after the Mankato City Council voted 4 to 3 to reject an ordinance that would allow residents to keep chickens, a pro-fowl coalition is back. And the council is giving the issue another look.

Council members won’t make any votes during the Monday work session, but it should reveal whether hens — banned from the city in a 1949 ordinance — have a future in Mankato.

“No, I haven’t changed my mind at all,” Councilman Mark Frost said.

He’s had more constituents tell him they don’t want to live near chickens, and the continuing budget hardship leads him to the conclusion that now is not the time for “urban chickens,” as the movement is known.

Councilman Charlie Hurd remains in the let’s-give-it-a-try camp.

“I very much understand putting problems on the police but my hope is there wouldn’t be any problems if people are cognizant of their neighbors,” he said.

“Shouldn’t people be able to have pets of their choice as long as they don’t bother the neighbors?” he said.

Supporters this year have approached the city with a few caveats: no roosters, and no more than six hens.

A staff report on this issue brings up some predictable negatives like smell, proper care and protection from predators.

It also says between 20 percent to 50 percent of chicks sold as hens turn out to be roosters.

“These unwanted roosters are often given to animal shelters, released into the streets, and, in a growing number of cases, sold for cockfighting,” the report says.

Companies that sell chicks typically ground up the newborn roosters for feed or fertilizer, according to the report.

The pro-chicken group, Mankato HENS (Hens Enriching Nutrition and Sustainability), says most people’s experience of chickens is on a farm or major poultry operation where hundreds or thousands of chickens are kept in poorly ventilated barns.

Six hens, they contend, produce less waste than an average dog.

They also argue other Minnesota cities that allow urban chickens haven’t seen the volume of complaints opponents warn about.

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