backyard chickens- a sure way to get you in trouble with your town

gregbesia said:

....I dont get why they have this laws on the books...

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Drop by the city clerks office and ask for a copy of the actual ordinance that was passed. Not the code book codification of the the ordinance. The passed and signed ordinance will have a bunch of Whereas: Whereas: etc statements in the beginning. They will tell you the official reasons. While you are there, chat up the clerk and find out the real reasons.

With chickens, you will probably find out someone had a rooster that started crowing at 3:00am and the owner wouldn't do anything about that. Therefore, the elected city officials passed an ordinance. Ordinances can be revised by the current elected officials.

Unfortunately for every 9 responsible chicken owners there is the one moron who does it wrong and impacts the neighbors. Its a lot easier to pass a law banning them, then to put detailed regulations in place to deal with the one moron. Realistically 1 acre is small for chickens if you are in development with minimal screening between lots.

Nice neighbors. Maybe lazy or skittish about confronting you? I have neighbors with a few chickens within fifty feet of my house, and if I had a problem with them, I'd start by talking with them about it.

So sorry. Nice coop. I've also an acre, and I've been pretty lucky with the neighbors. When I had to fence my chickens after a wandering dog attack, the neighbors started coming here to visit the chickens because they missed them. I have 2 roosters and they are really reasonable. A lot quieter than a chain saw or a lawn mower. A lot quieter than the 7!! terriers within earshot.

I don't know why anyone would complain about a handful of hens in that pen. Other than they need therapy.

If you want to fight it, I recommend joining backyardchickens.com and sorting through their many, many discussions on this topic.

My brother in rural Florida had his new insurance company limit him to 10 chickens!?! His neighbor has emus and horses for goodness sakes!

Possible cityfied sensibilities brought to the country.
Lots of stories of new developments next to farms where the new homeowners don't think they should have to deal with the smell, noise, or whatever.
Good friends of ours who LOVE having goats, chickens and all sorts of animals. They had some Guineas that ended up as chicken soup/stew due to the noise they made. None of their neighbors had complained.
Noise is in the ear of the beholder. Something like that.

Our town (Carbondale, IL) just passed an ordinance permitting chickens in town. A friend was the main push behind convincing our city council. They are limiting the number of permits during the first trial year to just a few households and you need a permit PER chicken (i.e. if a chicken dies you can't replace it without getting a new permit). At least he got the council to agree but no guarantee that more permits will be released next year.

He hopes that after the first year they'll relax the rules but the main one that everyone agreed on was no roosters. Some dufus will get unsexed chicks and end up with a bunch of roosters that piss off his neighbors and that'll probably be used as the excuse to not extend the program. We'll see.

I definitely like your coop, very nice design.

Berardino

To tackle the problem of the ordinances, one needs to attend some township meetings. There are regular meetings of the board monthly and the Planning Commission usually meets quarterly. Best guess is to attend a regular meeting and then go to the planning commission. Have some facts and some good arguments in hand before you attend and don't let the emotions get in the way of good argument.

sadly...towns can impose whatever ordinances they deem fit at any given time for the safty, well being and preservation of the town (some stick and some do not if they are attempting to override state or federal laws), but in terms of chickens... Im sure you can apply for an "exception" or "variance" from the board of health or whatever dept. your town says to apply to (talk to the clerk at town hall).

The problem is most towns/people frown on giving variances "after the fact", so it might be better to remove everything until you do this properly from step 1. I cant see a reason not to allow this for you except... (if you have ZERO roosters AND provided you DO NOT live in a subdivision)...one of the many drawbacks to living in a nice clean newer neighborhood subdivision is they dont tell you all the covenants that may go along with living there before you buy its just all the smallprint on those closing doc's you signed at the attorney office when you bought LOL (IE: no vehicles with commercial markings are allowed, no animals other then cats or dogs, etc.). other then that as long as you keep the chickens on your property, have a fenced area and enclosure and keep it clean and at least 50' from your home and neighbors then i dont see what problems they would have????

The first thing i would do is talk to your neighbors and be nice and forthcoming and ask each of them if their is anything you can do to make them feel comfortable with you having fresh eggs and a few chickens... you will find out who made the complaint and you may be able to avoid a battle simply by communicating and confronting your neighbors now (instead of at a town hearing). remember what your momma told you you catch more bee's with honey then vinegar (its wise advise when it comes to city hall and neighbors)

!!

I'd have a problem with the 11 kids in the school system. The chickens can stay.

chickens provide for the table at 5 months. And you get to cull the boys

Good fences make good neighbors.

~*~Kathleen~*~ said:

chickens provide for the table at 5 months. And you get to cull the boys

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Somebody get that axe away from her avatar.



I'll be back here in case you need help.

yooperdave said:

Good fences make good neighbors.

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Good neighbors make good neighbors.

I like my neighbors . . . but then again, I think they also like me.

So does a shotgun, bag of lime and a shovel.

yooperdave said:

Good fences make good neighbors.

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Great looking chicken ark, by the way! Maybe you can appeal for a variance, maybe have you girls classified at pets?
Shame the complainant didn't say something to you first, you could have bribed him/her with a promise of occasional fresh eggs.
I am planning on keeping a couple of hens or a beehive when I retire--I also plan on asking the neighbor if he would have any objections first, as County code here also states 1 acre per animal.

btuser said:

Somebody get that axe away from her avatar.
.

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Yah they don't let me take it to work.

nate379 said:

So does a shotgun, bag of lime and a shovel.

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3 S's. With a U.