Submitted Photo Aletheia, Eva, Magdalana, Sara and Valorosa Bloom, left to right, enjoy a friend’s pet hens in this photo taken by Sara’s husband and the girls’ father, Micah Bloom, in 2016.

An ordinance allowing backyard hens will be going to the Minot City Council.

A committee studying the city’s animal ordinances heard arguments for and against hens before voting 5-1 Thursday to forward an ordinance for council review. The ordinance to be drafted will be similar to an ordinance in Fargo.

Opponents called it “opening up a can of worms for neighbors.” They raised concerns about salmonella, noise, odors and the greater burden placed on the animal control officers.

Tanya Mendelsohn, animal control officer, said she and Minot’s other animal warden are busy already. Adding another animal will only increase the workload, she said.

“We are going to get so many calls. I can just picture it already,” she said. In addition, Mendelsohn said, there will be time involved to inspect properties to ensure they are properly set up to handle chickens.

The Fargo ordinance requires annual permits, sets out specifications for coops and fences, requires a three-foot setback from the property line, limits numbers to four hens and requires adult supervision if hens are outside of coops and runs. The Minot committee also is interested in adding a requirement for neighbor notification before permits are granted.

Randy McDonald, committee member and executive director of the Souris Valley Animal Shelter, said the shelter is willing to facilitate finding shelters for unwanted or stray chickens but it is not set up to house them. Sara Bloom, a committee member and advocate for chickens, said Facebook communities and other resources are available for locating housing.

Bloom also sought to counter many of the concerns surrounding the potential for irresponsible hen owners, from which stem odors, predators and disease. She said backyard hens require an investment of time and money that isn’t be taken lightly.

“It just takes a lot more thought and consideration to have hens than it does house pets,” she said.

She noted salmonella is a preventable illness with proper hygiene. Opponents raised the concern based on statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reports salmonella is estimated to cause one million foodborne illnesses in the United States, with 19,000 hospitalizations and 380 deaths. This year as of Oct. 5, there have been 1,120 cases associated with backyard poultry, hospitalizing 249 people and leading to one death. Two of the cases involved North Dakotans.

Some residents voiced concern about living next to a coop, while another resident spoke of having kept backyard hens in another city behind a privacy fence. She said neighbors had no idea she had hens until they saw her carry out the coop when she moved.

Having made a decision on hens, the committee will move on to dogs next week. A meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday to discuss the current ordinance’s prohibition of certain dog breeds. The meeting is being set up as a forum with spokespersons to address opposing viewpoints followed by a question-and-answer session. More details about the meeting will be coming soon.

The committee previously had voted to recommend the council consider an ordinance allowing certain nonvenomous, noninjurious snakes as pets in city limits. Committee recommendations could go to the council as soon as December.