Hawaiʻi County Council lawmakers are considering a proposal that would let residents produce eggs in their backyards.
County law currently only allows chickens to be raised on agricultural land, but Bill 52 would let residents have “household henneries” for non-commercial egg production.
Councilmember Matt Kanealiʻi-Kleinfelder, who had introduced a similar measure, said it’d be helpful for food resilience, especially in a time when prices for basic goods are on the rise.
“We see skyrocketing egg prices and we seek agricultural resiliency and all these things that we're doing in the county, except you can't have chickens on residential property — it just makes zero sense,” he said.
“If kept right and in the right numbers, you're not going to have a lot of bugs. They actually eat coqui frogs… centipedes, they eat all that stuff and they make eggs out of it.”
Up to two hens would be allowed on properties up to 3,000 square feet in size, and one additional hen would be allowed for every extra 1,000 square feet.
The hens would have to be confined to a coop or other enclosed area. No roosters would be allowed under the bill.
Those who keep hens would not be able to sell their eggs.
The council voted to send the measure to the County of Hawaiʻi’s planning commissions for further vetting.
