ELSMERE, Ky. — A pilot program in Northern Kentucky allowing people to keep chickens at their home was a major topic of discussion this week at the Elsmere City Council Caucus meeting. One Elsmere resident who spearheaded the project is working to get the ordinance extended.
What You Need To Know
- Five Elsmere residents are taking part in the program, including Eric Bunzow
- Bunzow has owned five chickens since May 2023
- He began participating in the program after egg prices began rising in 2022
- The ordinance is set to expire this April, but Bunzow and others hope it gets extended
The program, allowing Elsmere residents to buy and raise up to six chickens per person under state law, is set to expire at the end of April 2024. However, the city council is considering creating an ordinance to make it permanent.
Realtor by day and chicken farmer at night, Eric Bunzow said his chickens are his pets.
“Every one of them is like a dog where they have their own personality," he said.
Bunzow feeds his chickens a high protein diet containing ingredients such as macaroni, fresh garlic, scrambled eggs and Brussels sprouts to ensure they can produce plenty of eggs, he said. This all started a couple of years ago when egg prices began increasing.
In 2022, a man on TikTok shared in a now-viral video with more than two million views that eggs were $8.99. However, according to the Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs reached $4.25 in December 2022 but started decreasing in April 2023.
“The application process was $100 and inspection by Code Enforcement B prior to the chickens' arrival," Bunzow said. "At that point, the rest is history."
Because of Bunzow and the program's success, the city council will consider increasing the number of chickens a resident can own in its new ordinance.