MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin families flocked to the Capitol on Wednesday to support a bill that would allow them to have backyard chickens regardless of which town or city they live in.
Currently, local governments set their own regulations for the keeping of chickens. A bill written by Republicans that has some bipartisan support would require local governments to allow at least four chickens on residential properties.
“I’m kind of excited because if it gets passed then we can have chickens again,” Cal Bock, 12, said.
Bock and his family got chicks in 2022, which they raised as laying hens. He built a coop with his father and says he did plenty of research to make sure he knew how to care for them.
“It taught me how to care for an animal and like, how to be responsible,” Bock said. “You gotta let them out every day, and then we feed them our leftover vegetables.”
Roughly a year and a half after the Bocks got their chickens, they learned that the city of Greenfield, where they live, prohibits backyard chickens. They were told to get rid of their pets.
“The city came and let us know that we couldn’t have them,” Rebecca Bock, Cal’s mother, said. “We had to find a home for them, which we did in Muskego, to a farmer, and we actually sold the coop.”
The Bocks aren’t alone in their experience. Several other families offered up similar stories in testimony on the bill on Wednesday.
“This is about giving more Wisconsin families a chance to be self-sufficient, sustainable, and connected to their food sources,” said Menasha mother Rachel Dowling, whose sons have been raising chickens.
Under the bill, local governments could still require permits and establish other rules for the keeping of chickens.
“I would like to make sure that every Wisconsinite has the ability to use their property to support their families,” Republican Rep. Shae Sortwell, the bill’s author, said.
The bill is opposed by the City of Milwaukee and League of Wisconsin Municipalities, neither of which testified on Wednesday.
In order to become law, the measure must be passed by both chambers of the Republican-controlled Legislature and then signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. In the last legislative session, this proposal did not get a vote.
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