Detroit ordinance would legalize animal keeping for chickens, ducks and honeybees

You could soon see more chickens pecking around residential areas within the City of Detroit.

The Detroit City Council has been working for more than a decade on an ordinance that would allow residents to own chickens, ducks and honeybees, in an effort to help Detroiters expand urban farming.

City Councilman James Tate, who introduced the ordinance, said the reality is that plenty of Detroiters are already keeping these animals in their residential yards.

This would simply make it legal.

"Whether we talk about Chicago, whether we talk about New York — I mean, you name it — we will be one of the more recent major cities that will take on animal keeping an legitimize it," Tate said. "But the dirty little secret is, there's so many people in the City of Detroit are doing it without any issue at all."

"Most times neighbors don't know any issue, or don't have any concerns," he said. "And when they do, that's when it's important for us to get involved as city government."

Tate said the goal of the ordinance is to legitimize -- not criminalize -- residents who want to ensure that they have the best food options for their families, as well as having more freedom to do what they want with their land.

"The main function and main goal of the ordinance is to allow for sustainability, allow for families to know where their food is coming from, to participate in this ecosystem in a way that they have not been able to do so in the past, or certainly not been able to do so without the cover of darkness, so to speak," Tate said.The proposed ordinance would allow chickens, ducks and honeybees only.

A maximum of eight animals would be allowed. This can be a combination of ducks and chickens or all ducks or all chickens. A maximum of two honeybee hives would be allowed.

Not allowed are would be the following: Goats and sheep (both of which were removed from consideration as result of community feedback), turkeys, roosters, pigs, cattle, hornets or wasps.

Farm animals would not be allowed to be kept as pets inside the home.