Cherry Hill resident Brad Bricker and his family have been raising chickens for seven years.
An avid gardener, Bricker said his chickens have become a huge part of his home life.
“The chickens were the missing piece of the puzzle for me,” Bricker said. “It also helps me be able to fill the big picture of gardening. All of their waste and egg shells all go into compost. We eat a lot of eggs. I give a lot of eggs to people.”
However, Bricker recently heard residents are not permitted to have chickens at home.
After hearing this, he and other residents decided to join together to try to create change.
In mid-March, Bricker helped start a group called “Cherry Hill Chickens.” A Facebook page was created with a few dozen followers joining. On April 11, the group made its first public appearance during Cherry Hill Township Council’s caucus meeting.
Cherry Hill Chickens’ appeal to council was simple: Allow residents to keep chickens in their backyards.
No chickens allowed
When Bricker first decided he wanted to start keeping chickens at home, he went to Cherry Hill Township to make sure he was not violating any zoning ordinances.
“They told me there was nothing about chickens on the books for zoning,” Bricker said.
Bricker assumed chickens were permitted and began raising them. He said he has never had any issues with neighbors or the township.
However, he was alarmed when he heard stories from residents who began saying they were receiving citations for owning backyard chickens and were told to get rid of the animals.
Angela Hulfish, a resident in the Old Orchard section of Cherry Hill, recently received a warning from the township about her chickens. She said a township zoning officer visited her home at the beginning of April. She was not given a citation, but was warned she was not allowed to have chickens on her property.
“We’ve owned our chickens for just over a year,” Hulfish said. “Before we got them, we did a lot of research on ordinances and zoning. We were unable to find an ordinance that stated Cherry Hill didn’t permit chickens.”
Members of Cherry Hill Chickens came to last Monday’s meeting confused about the township’s rules on chickens. Cherry Hill Township does not have an ordinance specifically prohibiting chickens. However, township solicitor Robert Wright told the group township zoning ordinances say animals are not permitted on residential properties unless they are explicitly permitted in an ordinance.
Gwenne Baile, founder of a group named Camden County Chickens, supported Cherry Hill Chickens at the meeting. She said many local towns’ ordinances regarding farm animals are outdated and were created to keep new suburban families from putting farms in their backyards when new developments were being constructed decades ago. She added the movement of residents keeping chickens in backyards is fairly new.
“The backyard chicken movement has been existence for probably 10 to 12 years all across the country,” Baile said.
Chicken talk
Mayor Chuck Cahn and members of council asked Bricker, Hulfish and Baile numerous questions about backyard chickens and a possible ordinance permitting them. Haddon Township, Barrington and Woodbury are three area towns that have passed ordinances permitting chickens the last couple of years.
Baile, a Haddon Township resident, was instrumental in getting a pilot program started in her hometown.
“We‘ve had it for six months,” Baile said. “We’ve had no complaints for anybody that’s had them.”
“I did a lot of research,” she added. “It took five years to get our pilot program passed.”
Bricker and Hulfish informed council about the benefits chickens have had on their homes. Hulfish said the chickens lay dozens of homegrown eggs for her family to eat.
“We got them as a healthy food choice for our family,” she said.
Bricker added chickens are very eco-friendly. He said the family uses its compost scraps to feed the chickens rather than adding to their trash.
Cahn and council brought up a few concerns. The most talked about topic was health and whether the township would have to do inspections of chicken coops. The concern was whether the chickens would possibly spread illnesses.
Baile informed council other towns that allow backyard chickens do not require inspections of coops. Bricker added residents’ chickens are generally healthier than chickens coming from a big factory.
“There’s never been any major health issues,” Bricker said about his chickens.
Noise was also a concern. Baile said chickens generally can only be heard up to 30 feet away. Both Bricker and Hulfish say noise has never been a problem with their chickens.
“Only I can hear them and only if my window is open,” Hulfish said.
Bricker and Hulfish said their neighbors have never complained to them about the chickens and have never heard of complaints from other township residents. No community members spoke out against backyard chickens at the meeting.
Hulfish also felt backyard chickens are a missing piece to a township priding itself on sustainability. She said Cherry Hill Chickens reached out to Sustainable Cherry Hill for its support.
“Cherry Hill holds a silver certificate for sustainability,” Hulfish said. “Backyard chickens falls right into that.”
Cahn said the township would look into the chicken issue. Hulfish and Bricker said the group would meet with the mayor sometime in the next couple of weeks.
“It does require some time and some effort to look into it,” Cahn said to the group.
In the meantime, Bricker and Hulfish are holding their breath. Both are worried they may lose their chickens before a possible ordinance is passed.
“If there’s no complaints on the records, I don’t know why it’s a problem to have chickens,” Bricker said.
Hulfish did express optimism about getting an ordinance passed down the road, however.
“I feel like the council was pretty interested in listening to what could happen in our town,” she said.
