Update: By the way, South Milwaukee beat Shorewood-Messmer in WIAA playoff action Friday night, 21-13. More on that when I return. Go Rockets!
Barring a significant breaking news story, I’ll be taking a few days off from blogging.
But I leave you with a question: Should the city, with restrictions, allow residents to keep chickens? If not, why not? If so, what restrictions should we consider, if any?
Discuss. And vote in my new poll.
Thanks again for your continued support of this blog.
South Milwaukee Blog 
I think the idea of having chickens is a good one. also the people should have a inspection to make sure they are keeping them clean etc. I think milw has a rule 4 hens per household. It’s a healthy way to have organic eggs too.I’d get some but having a little dog and chickens wouldn’t mix..lol
keep in mind, for there to be “inspections” of the chickens, it would add a cost that as a community we cant afford. not only that, so many people get around rules as it is, this is just opening up a can that will grow into more issues that are not good. If you want chickens, move to a rural area where its not going to bother so many others in the neighborhood. the amount of “rosters” will rise to a number that no shelters can afford to handle, they have waaaay more now than they can handle, like so many have said allready…
IF we get stuck with chickens, I would suggest that the fees for the inspections be such that there is not a net charge to the city; they should actually add a little to the city coffers. The added benefit is that making it expensive means that those raising chickens REALLY want the chickens. They didn’t just decide it would be a good Christmas present for the kids.
once you allow this and change our animal ordinance next the kid who had the goat will want the council to change that part of the ordinance.
Nothing like hearing crowing in the morning and the sound and smell of fresh eggs on the griddle!
NO NO NO… want a chicken, buy it at KFC……. Everyone thinks “It’s Just A Chicken” , next thing you know we will have “Rosters”, Pigs, Cows etc…. They belong on a farm or in an area that neighbors won’t be bothered by the smell as well as the mess. Just opening up a can of worms if this is allowed. Bad bad idea..”
This is my opinion. I would appreciate if others have a different opinion that they share their opinion rather than attacking my opinion. Thank you.
Chickens as in male and female or just hens like most communities allow? Backyard farming that allows hens only produces an abundance of unwanted roosters as half of all fertilized eggs become male chickens. What do people do when they order 4 chicks and one turns out to be a rooster? When they figure out they’ve got a rooster they let it go in a park to fend for itself or if responsible they take the rooster to a rescue or shelter that already has an abundance of roosters from every other community that only allows hens. Yes, roosters crow (egg-laying hens can be noisy, too. Small roosters have smaller crows. I’d like the ordinance to include the keeping of one rooster with the hens. The ordinance could specify one small, bantum rooster, and roosters could have specific rules to be kept indoors (in a garage or shed) until a certain time of day. If we’re going to be a chicken allowing community then can we also be responsible for some of the other 50% of chickens hatched??
Inspections? Why? No one inspects houses to make sure dogs, cats, guinea pigs, parakeets, and finches are kept in clean, safe conditions. The city waits until there is a residential complaint to get involved with how a resident keeps those animals. Again, the ordinance can specify things that chicken owners need to provide a clean, safe environment, but it’s up to the owner to be responsible.
We are not a farming community. If I wanted to live next door to livestock, I would have purchased a home someplace else. As some of the other posters pointed out, how do we redraw the line? We currently have it drawn at “farm animals”. This would make that rather fuzzy. What’s next? Bringing the goat back again? Pigs? How about ducks? What’s going to happen when somebody decides they don’t need so many eggs any more? I can just see the activists going off their rockers when the hatchet comes out for a nice chicken dinner.
Speaking of which, is anybody going to look into what happens with the fox population? We are lucky to have Grant Park which is home to many species…of predators who like chicken dinner as well…
exactly…. it would draw so much attention to the foxes / chickens and when the foxes dont find chickens, they will go after family pets
Let’s take a look at the history of South Milwaukee and many of the other surrounding communities. This community, along with the urban sprawl that continues to this day, was originally a farming community. Our own South Milwaukee Historical Society acknowledges this by mentioning that the very building that they are housed in used to be a farm owned by Alfred and Mary Jane Fowle (sp. I know, but no pun intended) who’s family had a significant influence over the area as farmers and miller’s. See http://www.southmilwaukee.org/historical_society/History.html for reference. So the fact that we do, or do not, live next to “livestock” is irrelevant – farming is our history and, like so many other historical aspects of the community, should continue to be recognized (think of today’s resurrected farmer’s market as one example – area residents bringing their farmed products for sale and profit to market).
Livestock simply means domesticated “animals” raised for the use for profit. This definition can be applied to a pair of dogs bred to sell their puppies, or cats to be bred to sell their kittens or rabbits bred to sell their kits. All of which are currently legal to keep and raise in South Milwaukee. The fact that these animals have fur instead of feathers should make them exclusive? Dogs bark, cats are the single largest destroyer of American song birds and go feral after 9 months and when you get a rooster they will crow unless you are restricted to have only hens (personally I find a rooster crow a very comforting, relaxing and soothing sound even lying in my bed at 5:00 a.m.). Not for the faint of heart, but many of these same furry animals are raised as “livestock” for consumption and not “pets,” and, yes, here in our own back yard and not some far away distant Country. It might be time for many of the residents of this community to actually step outside their doors and talk to a few more of their neighbors to realize that chickens (and other animals and insects) have been, and continue to be raised in South Milwaukee, as livestock.
Yes, Grant Park draws in predators. You can define the deer that eat my garden down to a stump as a predator or the raccoons that knock over my trash or the skunk that digs up my yard for worms or the geese or ducks that eat my lawn. The fact that there are coyotes or fox are irrelevant in the balance of the Grant Park area. The assumption that the addition of chickens would skew the balance of nature and possibly add to the “Devil’s Cut” is the risk that individuals that raise chickens would have to take just as I run the risk of my dog getting sprayed by a wondering skunk through my yard. In nature God creates a balance.
These animals should be licensed (no inspection) by the City and are then subject to the rules and regulations outlined in the ordinances that define how domesticated animals should be properly kept and raised. Ignorance is no excuse for abuse or neglect nor is it any excuse for exclusion. Individuals interested in responsible husbandry are going to be keeping their animals healthy and clean. Relegating and restricting the responsible husbandry to communities outside the boundaries of major markets only denies a responsible small business owner or self-sustaining individual the freedom (and I stress FREEDOM since this is what our Country is based upon) to compete with large factory farms and overbearing government intervention. Besides, wouldn’t it be nice if our grade school children actually could see where eggs came from instead of ‘Googling’ it? Just a informational point for those that don’t know, you don’t need roosters to get eggs from a hen and you can’t get chicks from unfertilized eggs – no roosters, no chicks, just eggs. When a hen stops producing or you get an accidental Rooster from an initial chicken order it makes a great fryer. Hens stop producing eggs after about 3 years and roosters can be clearly identified before they start crowing – no need to send them off to a shelter when Walmart and Pick-n-Save are charging $7.00 – $12.00 for a whole fryer. See this NY Times article for whole fryer meal savings ideas (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/dining/whole-chicken-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts.html?_r=0). Or have we had to whitewash and sanitize our community that much to forget where our food originated? Growing up knowing where your food is produced gives you respect for it’s value and waste avoidance.
It is my concern that the current ordinances on chickens and bees were ramrodded through due to the “egg” that the current leadership of South Milwaukee got on their face from the not so distant “goat” incident. Therefore the current leadership made ALL “guilty by association” regardless of their responsible conduct by passing ignorant ordinances to save political face. Ignorance is no way to grow and work in a community. Let’s work together to come up with a responsible ordinance that will benefit the majority of individuals in the Community while allowing the freedoms we deserve as citizens of this Country.
Cool, you have you chickens for the eggs, just hope I don’t live near ya… Also, so I am a HUGE corn lover, think my neighbors would mind if I turned my yard “farmland” into a mini cornfield ?.. Got a lil tractor and have a lil corn Silo in front of the ole house ? Take out my concrete driveway and just run back n forth with the horse I want (because it used to be farmland, right ?) South Milwaukee also most likely had Dinosaurs, reptiles of unimaginable sizes, cavemen, etc…. Just doesn’t mean we want or need it now… If a child has no clue where an egg comes from , the parents need to go back to school… Not use “Google”…
The School districts are teaching our kids to live a sustainability and sustainable lifestyles so having chickens and growing your own food is doing just that very thing. Why would we not want to be independent of the Corporate industry and not have to be dependent on the corporations for our food. It’s less expensive and will help to pay for the overly priced Sick Care people are forced to pay.
Food For thought.
http://www.backyardfarmers.com/
Not a bad idea, however, that’s a far cry from chickens in your neighbors back yard….. Just NOT. Good idea in South Milwaukee….
SM Guy, I’d be willing to share my eggs with you. I make a fine omelet.
My wife and I are most definitely in favor of chickens and while we do understand that a rooster is not needed to get eggs, we do not have a problem should anyone’s roster wake us up at 5 AM. Our cat already does that most mornings and he has not been legislated out of town yet. Neither has the barking dogs all over this neighborhood or the free roaming ones we see occasionally. The yapping terrier that goes nonstop year round just down the block is still there despite being a royal pain. The fecal waste left by free roaming and even walked canines is a hazard in our parkways when you leave the non safety of the street to walk on the grass.
Wild animal feces from ducks, geese, raccoons, skunk , etc. does not seem to be an overwhelming issue for residents either, so why worry about chicken waste and chicken clucks. Chickens yield meat, eggs, feathers, eat bugs, and weeds, warn of predators or tresspassers, and are a friendly easy to care for animal, more so than cats or dogs for many people. They also do not need to be walked at 3 AM.
Chickens are also one of the best ways to gain a greater measure of resiliency in a community by enabling residents to raise and process food for personal consumption. Food does not come from Wal Mart and Pick and Save. It comes from someone or some thing in the case of corporations actually growing it or raising it. When we raise and grow our own food we gain a measure of independence over our food supply, antibiotic free, toxin free, humanely raised provender for ourselves and our children. The cost of factory farm raised foods are going up all the time while for most of us wages are not. For those of us on fixed incomes such as retirees this is going to be a big problem in the near future as in a few years or less, so the time to set up a rational city livestock program is now.
Those who want to raise corn in their front yards –go right ahead. Just don’t be spraying Roundup on it or neighbors may get very peeved.
We have redone our yard over the years to incorporate Permaculture design principles to raise fruits, vegetables, and nuts, as well as herbal medicinals. Our only problems here are squirrels and chipmunks Nature is coming back so get used to it. Last year we saw a big cat at the end of Sycamore near the tracks. Certainly we are not about to regulate pumas are we? We will have chickens here some day. Set in place an easy , accessible, and fair policy regarding the raising of small livestock. No on e is advocating here for cattle or swine. We have deer walking down the street and crossing Chicago Ave. Why have we not restricted them by putting up signs saying no deer crossing or even using sharpshooters like was done on coyotes a few years back. We miss the coyotes songs. Somehow the howling of ambulance chasing dogs is just not the same.
For all of you who are resistant to local food, local chickens, local anything, just keep buying your factory farmed food that was fed with Chinese feed contaminated with toxic protein replacements and get out of the way of the rest of us who really want a better life for our children. If you want to live in New York City then move there. This is the Midwest not some megalopolis. Roosters do not crow until adult by which time they are in the soup pot or on the grill. Hens cluck. Your dogs have an annoying bark. I prefer the hens clucking to a yapping mutt that leaves its wastes in public places and burns with its urine the plants along the edges of every street. Chicken wastes are garden fertilizer while your pets’ wastes are not.
Come on get real . This is about enabling a food shed for our city not enabling a dog and cat park.
Maybe this article can convince the our local leaders raisin our own chickens would be beneficial. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/08/16/fda-finally-admits-chicken-meat-contains-cancer-causing-arsenic/
Maybe this article can convince the our local leaders the reason having our own chickens would be beneficial. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/08/16/fda-finally-admits-chicken-meat-contains-cancer-causing-arsenic/
Just don’t use the rain water from the rain barrels to water the chickens. City won’t allow… they may give you a fine.
Yet another reason to allow chickens in South Milwaukee http://www.naturalnews.com/042894_USDA_China_imports_chicken.html
We need chickens in South Milwaukee, I mean the city of Milwaukee has them why can’t we
I have a friend in the City of MIlwaukee that has chickens, you are allowed four female chickens, He would be more then happy to show his home to city of south milwaukee officals. His chickens would give you a far better insight into the issue.
Yes chickens but no roosters
Yes to being able to raise chickens in South Milwaukee and yes to roosters with some limitations concerning their numbers. A 3 AM dog barking next door is no where as quiet as a 430AM rooster waking me to get up and go to work. Trains, roosters, coyotes, ,raccoons are all makers of nighttime noise as are ambulances etc. Living near Chicago Ave we get them all except the roosters. That is a sound that I personally would welcome hearing.