GREEN COVE SPRINGS | Some Clay County homeowner associations say they don’t object to residential backyard chickens per se, but just don’t want the fowl in their planned neighborhoods.

The associations voiced their objections through a spokesman to the Clay County Commission during a public hearing Sept. 8 about a proposed county ordinance that would allow residents to keep up to four hens, but no roosters, at a single-family home under certain conditions in residential unincorporated areas.

Residents would have to get a county permit to keep backyard chickens. Chickens would be allowed only for personal use. People couldn’t breed or sell chickens. Nor could they sell the eggs or chicken feces for fertilizer. The chickens would have to be within a fenced area during the day, and an enclosure at night, according to the measure.

The County Commission will hold a final public hearing, then could vote on the ordinance at its Sept. 22 meeting at the county Administration Building, 477 Houston St., Green Cove Springs.

About 25 residents have asked about the possibility of keeping backyard chickens in residential areas over the past few years, county staff previously told the Times-Union.  Read more: