“Too many honeybees can negatively impact wild bees in the vicinity,” says Úna FitzPatrick, a senior ecologist for the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
Maeve Elliott began raising her four pet hens Purple, Banana, Waffles and El at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, when her parents, Nathan and Jackie, acquired them to help give their daughter some companionship and structure during a time lockdowns and distancing.
Maeve’s “side-eye queens” have given the family “a wonderful learning experience, lots of laughs and the best fresh eggs that we’ve ever had,” Jackie Elliott said during a public hearing prior to council’s vote on Thursday.
They were under the impression the hens were permitted in the township, until a zoning officer informed them chickens were a violation of an old ordinance that prohibits residents from keeping farm animals on less than 10 acres in a residential zoning district. Pet chickens were considered farm animals in the vaguely worded ordinance, and if they did not get rid of them, they would face fines of up to $500 per day.