Cape Girardeau city staff will review a proposal that would allow residents to keep up to six hens on their property.

The City Council asked the city staff to review the request made by resident Andrew Bard.

Bard and about 40 supporters of his request showed up at Monday night's council study session to urge the council to lift its ban on keeping chickens in the city limits.

City attorney Eric Cunningham said the city does allow property owners to keep chickens in the two agriculturally zoned areas of the city. But otherwise, property owners can't keep chickens in the city.

Bard, of 230 Bellevue St., began keeping hens in his yard in July. He had six chickens until a raccoon killed three of them.

But Bard was forced to relocate the remaining three chickens to a friend's farm in Oak Ridge after being cited by the city.

He said he plans to resume keeping hens for eggs if the city council approves a measure to allow such activity.

Bard submitted petitions in support of his request, including 192 physical-signature petitions and 415 online signatures.

He urged the council to enact an ordinance patterned after one in Columbia, Missouri. As in Columbia, the proposal would ban the keeping of roosters. Bard added he would like the measure to include an additional provision that would require hens to have one wing clipped to prevent them from flying out of their enclosures.

Bard said before the study session he had spoken individually to council members. He is optimistic the council will approve his request.

But Monday night, only Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard voiced support for the measure. Other council members remained silent on how they would vote.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the council doesn't want to see more nuisance problems in the city.

He said, "We have to listen to all the citizens."

Bard said when he had six hens, they were laying about five or six eggs a day.

"Literally, every morning I was eating eggs out of my backyard," he said.

He added it took about two weeks for him to consider the hens his pets.

Ward 1 Councilman Joseph Uzoaru said he had heard from constituents who were worried keeping chickens in residential yards could lead to unsanitary conditions.

Bard said such worries are unfounded.

Bard said he cleaned his chicken enclosure and coop once or twice a week. He said he used some of the chicken waste as compost.

Any disease risk is limited to the owners, and only if "they don't wash their hands," he told the council.

He quoted an email from the city of Columbia that indicated there had not been a single case reported of a chicken-related disease in that community in the nearly seven years since the city allowed residents to keep chickens.

He said Columbia animal-control officers handle about 10 to 15 calls a year that deal with chickens in some way. The typical calls involve the illegal keeping of roosters, he said.

Bard said Columbia has not had a single call related to unsanitary conditions or bad odors involving chicken coops.

Based on the experience in Columbia, Bard said he doesn't believe allowing a limited number of chickens on a residential property would pose a serious nuisance in Cape Girardeau. He suggested the city likely would have no more than five nuisance calls a year.

"I don't see it as being a burden," he said.

Bard said many cities in Missouri allow their residents to keep chickens.

"We are the only one around here that doesn't allow this," he told the council.

The cities of Poplar Bluff, Perryville, Jackson and Scott City allow chickens, subject to certain regulations, he said.

In the St. Louis area, the cities of Ladue and Chesterfield allow residents to keep chickens, Bard said.

While Cape Girardeau bans the keeping of chickens in all but agricultural areas of the city, the current ordinance is enforced only on a complaint basis.

As a result, Bard and his supporters said there are residents who keep chickens in their yards and never have been cited.

Bard said last month he was cited as a result of an accidental discovery of his chickens by an animal-control officer.

His neighbors have expressed support for Bard's request and indicated his chickens never were a nuisance.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.