NASHVILLE, Tenn. -
Neighbors in one north Nashville neighborhood believe one resident is tipping the city's chicken ordinance by having dozens of chickens on his property.
In January, Metro approved an ordinance that allows residents to keep two to six chickens on their property depending on the size of the lot. The ordinance also strictly prohibits roosters.
Recently an anonymous complaint was logged at the Metro Health Department about a Nashville man who has 70 chickens and nearly three dozen roosters on his lot.
Seventy-one-year-old Hilary Hood has lived on Youngs Lane since 1969. Hood told Nashville's News 2 Investigates he has always raised roosters and hens and that it is his hobby.
On Wednesday he was summoned to court by the health department in what is said to be the city's first real test of the new law.
The retired Metro sanitation worker said he was exempt from the original ordinance, which prohibited chickens in residential areas in 1979 through a grandfather clause, and that he remains exempt from the new ordinance under the clause.
"I've been here 40 years and I have had chickens ever since I been here," Hood said.
Metro Health Department spokesman Brian Todd told Nashville's News 2 Investigates there is nothing in the ordinance that states anything about a grandfather clause.
Health department officials said Hood will need to prove to a judge that he had chickens at his north Nashville home since 1979 when Metro first prohibited chickens in residential areas.
"We need proof and then the judge will decide," Todd said.
Long time neighbor Gus Church can vouch for Hood and his chickens.
The elderly man said he has known Hood most of his life and he has always had chickens and roosters at his home.
"I would be glad to sign up to say that Mr. Hilary has always had chickens," Church said. "I would be lonesome without them."
The Metro Health Department said Hood was not cited for health violations involving the chickens, saying they appeared to be well cared for.
Hood said he waters the chickens and roosters and cleans them every day taking special care to reduce odor and keeps their water sanitized.
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