GUILFORD, Maine — Haylee Williams didn’t realize she was breaking the law when she decided to raise a few chickens on her family’s property in Guilford a few years ago.
As it turned out, an existing ordinance prohibits raising any type of livestock or fowl in residential neighborhoods.
So Williams circulated a petition to have the law changed to allow families to keep up to nine hens — no roosters — for their personal use, provided that they adhere to guidelines on safety and cleanliness.
Williams, a senior at Piscataquis Community Secondary School, attended the Nov. 19 Guilford Planning Board meeting with her parents and presented the petition.
“I went to surrounding towns and pulled different information out of their ordinances, and a lady from the city of Bangor has also been helping me,” said Williams. “We’re open to suggestions on how to proceed.”
The board said they were receptive to the change, but the final decision would be up to voters at the annual town meeting in March.
Planners did suggest some fine-tuning to the document. Lou Sidell questioned the provision that prohibited the henhouse from being placed in a front yard.
“Some people only have a front yard — they have nothing in the back of their home,” Sidell said.
Williams said that she had no problem deleting that phrase.
She said that she also would add a provision specifying the minimum square footage per chicken needed for the enclosures. Guilford Planning Board Chair Matt Sutton, who used to raise large flocks of chickens, said that the Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association recommends a minimum of 2.5 square feet per bird.
“But there comes a point that if you give them too much space in the winter, they’ll want to flock together for warmth, and you have a chance of a stray getting out,” said Sutton.
Richard Panciera, who also has experience raising fowl, said that if chickens are too confined “and they start pecking at each other, you’ve got a problem.”
Other planning board members suggested that the provision prohibiting the sale of eggs also be deleted.
“You wouldn’t get that many with nine hens, anyhow,” said Panciera.
Other highlights of the petition include a rule that the chickens “must be kept in an enclosure or fenced-in area at all times during daylight hours. Enclosures must be clean, dry and odor-free [and] kept in a neat and sanitary condition at all times.”
The birds must be secured “within a henhouse during nondaylight hours,” and there are strict rules on removal and storage of chicken manure.
Overall, the planners praised Williams for her initiative and said they would forward their recommendations to the town manager and board of selectmen.
Other towns in Maine have adopted similar ordinances.