Backyard hens are a local zoning question in Saginaw County. The City of Saginaw allows permitted hens with roosters banned; townships set their own rules. On the county's farmland, the Michigan Right to Farm Act shields qualifying operations from nuisance suits.
Whether you can keep chickens or livestock in Saginaw County depends on your city or township zoning. The City of Saginaw allows backyard hens by permit, one permit per property, and prohibits roosters; repeated violations cost the owner the permit and the birds. Suburban townships like Saginaw Charter Township restrict livestock to appropriate zones, while Frankenmuth, Bridgeport, and the rural townships in the county's sugar-beet and dry-bean country allow farming outright. Above local zoning sits the Michigan Right to Farm Act, MCL 286.471 to 286.474, which protects a commercial farm following generally accepted agricultural practices from being declared a nuisance.
Keeping poultry or livestock against local zoning, or without the City of Saginaw's chicken permit, draws a zoning-enforcement notice and fines. Commercial farms following accepted practices are shielded by the Right to Farm Act.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Saginaw County, MI
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See how Saginaw County's chickens & livestock rules stack up against other locations.
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