Video: New Albany Aldermen Consider Ban on Chickens in the City

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NEW ALBANY, Miss. (WCBI) – Chickens and Roosters running loose in the streets have ruffled some feathers in New Albany. Citizen complaints have Aldermen considering an ordinance prohibiting residents from keeping the birds.But some bird owners are crying “fowl” at the ban. Allie Martin has more.

Several times a day, Lauren Paige Tate and her one year old daughter, Ellie , visit the chicken coop in the back yard of their North New Albany home.And older brother Grayson collects eggs from the hens.

“We want our kids to know that eggs don’t just come from the grocery store.”

The Tate family promotes “sustainable living” which basically means providing your own food, at a low cost. It is a movement that is growing more popular in urban areas. Many towns and cities, such as New Albany, are trying to protect the rights of property owners while making sure the backyard animals aren’t a nuisance. Right now in city limits, the only animal banned from backyards is swine. However, a complaint from a neighbor living within 300 feet of a household with animals, other than household pets, will force the homeowner to get rid of the animal.

While Lauren’s husband, Zach, built this coop, complete with a protective cover, for the chickens, other neighbors don’t keep their fowl in an enclosed area, and that, Lauren Tate says, causes problems.

“I want to be respectful of others. I wouldn’t want anyone’s dog running around and the way that chickens can be a nuisance is getting in gardens and stuff, that’s why we like to keep ours confined.”

New Albany aldermen are considering proposals that could ban poultry entirely, or permit them only in agriculturally zoned parts of the city.

“We will probably find a safe place for our hens, for someone who lives outside of the city, and I think that’s what a lot of the chicken owners have said they were going to do.”

Still, Lauren says she and her family will continue educating others about the benefits they’ve found from sustainable living raising backyard chickens. In New Albany I’m Allie Martin WCBI News.

The next meeting for the New Albany Board of Aldermen is set for August fifth.