‘A tasteful execution’: Cedar City considers end to prohibition on in-home chicken slaughter

CEDAR CITY — Cedar City Council intends to vote to change city ordinances to allow individuals to slaughter their residential chickens.

This file photo shows a chicken at Red Acre Farm CSA, Cedar City, Utah, April 4, 2022 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

On Wednesday, the council heard a proposal from Planning Commission member Carter Wilkey to remove the prohibition written in Chapter 26, Article 4.

“Let’s talk about some chickens,” he said, adding that he was asked to present the issue by a member of the public.

“As somebody who owns six chickens, and we enjoy our chickens — our kids go out to collect the eggs every day, they feed the chickens, they love it,” he said. “We — my wife and I — feel it’s a good learning experience for them.”

After two to three years, Wilkey said chickens slow down their egg production and eventually stop laying. To add new chickens to the flock, he must get rid of the old ones.

This file photo shows backyard chickens in St. George, Utah, June 8, 2017 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

“According to this, as it currently stands, I will be breaking the law by killing my chicken and doing anything with it at that point,” he said.

Additionally, when an individual buys chicks, there is no guarantee that they will all be female, as it can be difficult to tell when they are young, Wilkey said. The ordinance prohibits the keeping of roosters.

“Am I just supposed to take it out to the desert and shoot it? Am I supposed to just let it go? … For me, it’s purely a logistics issue,” he said.

While the ordinance was likely to prevent the creation of commercial slaughterhouses in residential areas, Wilkey said that is an unlikely outcome, as residents are limited to owning six chickens for noncommercial use. Additionally, Wilkey and Councilmember Ron Riddle agreed that egg-laying chickens often do not have enough meat for cooking.

File photo: chickens at Red Acre Farm CSA, Cedar City, Utah, April 4, 2022 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News

Many people want to raise chickens and collect eggs, City Manager Paul Bittmenn said. But there are “plenty” who don’t want to see chickens slaughtered in front yards, which is one reason the prohibition was put in place.

“The compromise was to say, ‘OK, have the chickens, but your neighbors don’t necessarily want to see you beheading a chicken in your front yard — or any other method that you choose to end the life of your animal,'” he said.

Riddle said that he is for changing the ordinance but said that some might be concerned about potential odors.

“I think we need to be wise with what we’re doing,” he said.

The city “really clearly” has a code enforcement issue, Councilmember R. Scott Phillips said, as many people are killing their chickens in residential areas already but said the verbiage should be considered to ensure no one is doing so on their front lawns.

Stock image, St. George News

“We have to be sensitive about this and reasonable in what our expectations are for common sense,” he said.

Wilkey suggested adding language to the proposed ordinance prohibiting residents from slaughtering chickens in their front yards and said he’d like to open up the public hearing so others could share their “thoughts and feelings.”

Mayor Garth Green called for public comment, but Councilmember Craig Isom noted that no one approached the podium and suggested altering the ordinance.

“I would just say we could add wording for a tasteful execution,” he said.

The council is expected to discuss the proposal and vote on its approval next Wednesday.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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