Permit Backyard Chickens in the Town of Penfield, NY

Allowing residents to own a small flock of hens has a myriad of benefits, including:
1. Pest control: Chickens eat an enormous number of insects, such as ticks, fleas and mosquitoes (all of which can spread disease). Additionally, they can consume pests that are harmful to the home and landscape, such as grubs, beetles and termites. A 1991 scientific study showed that chickens who scavenged for 30 minutes to an hour among tick-infested cattle in Kenya had eaten significant numbers of ticks. Each chicken had 3-331 ticks in its gizzard, with an average of 81 per chicken.
2. Ecological benefits: Backyard chickens act as nature’s composters; readily consuming leftover food scraps and redirecting a significant amount of waste away from landfills. A flock of 4 chickens can easily consume over 100lbs of kitchen scraps in a year. One of the byproducts of this is chicken manure, which is an excellent organic fertilizer for use in gardens and lawns. Owning chickens can also contribute to reducing the use of synthetic chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers. Finally, shifting egg production to the backyard would eliminate some of the significant pollution caused by factory egg farming.
3. Food security: By allowing community members to raise a small backyard flock of chickens, it makes a readily available source of healthy protein accessible to many who might otherwise struggle to regularly provide this nutrition for their families. This would also lessen the dependence on the cruel and environmentally unfriendly practice of factory egg farming.
4. Lifelong learning: with many children currently being home schooled, teaching them to raise and watch over a small flock of backyard chickens is an excellent educational opportunity. It provides the chance to foster responsibility by caring for a living creature, and instill an appreciation for where food comes from.

Currently, the local ordinance states that:
The use of a parcel of land of five acres or more for gain in the raising of agricultural products, livestock, poultry, and dairy products. It includes necessary farm structures and roadside stands within the prescribed limitations and the storage of necessary equipment. It includes also the use of a parcel of land of less than five acres, except that on such parcels, the raising of fur-bearing animals, livery or boarding stables, dog kennels and the raising of livestock and poultry for sale and slaughter is excluded and therefore prohibited. No housing of poultry or stabling of livestock or storage of manure or other odor- or dust-producing material shall be allowed within 100 feet of any lot line.
Ch 250: Zoning and Land Use/Ch 250 Art II: Definitions/250-2.2: Terms defined.

We feel that raising back yard chickens should not require the lot be classified as an agricultural parcel. Many of our neighboring towns; including the City of Rochester, the Town of Brighton, East Rochester, Irondequoit, the Town of Pittsford and the Village of Webster; all allow for a resident to have a coop on a parcel of land less than 5 acres in size with reasonable limitations. In fact, as of 2011, 93% of US cities allowed raising of backyard chickens; including New York, Denver and Los Angeles.

We propose changing the town ordinance to allow any lot size to own a reasonable number of chickens, with limitations on quantity, housing, setbacks and any other health and safety concerns provided by the town.