Going to court in Kansas

[Anderson Lowe]

Greetings all,

I am heading to trial April 5th for the charge of harboring a rooster in the city limits.

The Ordinance does specifically state no roosters when I purchased my overpriced permit, however we all know how hatching and chicken math catches up to us all.

I have contended and pulled definitions on Cockerel VS Rooster as part of my defense as the culprit bird was 7 months old.
I actually no longer have the culprit bird as it was arranged to leave before the citation was even issued.
This has turned into a principal issue with me.

They offered to drop the case if I paid the 86.50 court cost

Curious what others have done with rooster issues.

Thanks

 

[eggbert420]

$86.50 is a lot less expensive than a lawyer, and that is what you will need if you are going to use that defense.

 

[rosemarythyme]

IMO you should just pay the fine and be done with it. Definitely make sure that before you hatch/get more chicks in the future that you have a plan in place for any males that might pop up.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi.

What do you mean by a matter of principal? You knowingly broke the ordinance and are trying to find a loop hole.

Even if you already had your plans to get rid of him, the city had already spent the man power to investigate and process the matter and are still gonna spend more to fight your willful, lets call it a mistake instead of neglect.

Yep, we all get caught up in chicken math, Guilty!

Just pay the fine, don't waste your time. And count it as a cheap lesson learned. Either have an exit route for your cockerels before they start crowing, get crow collars, or don't hatch. But even then hatchery pullets do end up being cockerels sometimes. And inside many cities it is not allowed to slaughter or butcher an animal, if you did decide to eat your extra boys.

We didn't have roosters when in the city. And now we eat our extras but the survivors start crowing dark and early, 3:30 am. My neighbors are far enough away that they enjoy what they do hear during the day. But all know if they have an issue I will do everything I can to make it work for us all. Our ordinance (county not city) says it's fine to have as many birds as you want until your neighbors complain...

Stinks that big brother has their hand in everyone's pocket.

Do you have to pay for your permit every year? We never had to have one, I went by the old city ordinance. But as more people wanted to keep chickens they were talking about implementing something like that. Partly in order to pay for their vector (rodent) abatement team because many chicken owners leave their feed open and accessible for all the free loaders to fill up on and multiply with a steady endless supply of grain that they love so much.

Wish I could agree with you as a fellow chicken keeper... but not on this one, sorry. Still, don't spend anymore time steaming over this... life is too short and you can't get your time back or make more of it once it's gone.

Good luck either way and best wishes!

 

[lutherpug]

I agree with everyone else's assessment so I don't have anything to offer on that front. I'm shocked that this is such an issue in Halstead, however. I grew up in Wichita so I know the area. Not like Halstead could be considered truly urban by any stretch. Did a neighbor complain?

Admittedly, I haven't been to that part of Kansas for close to a decade but I was surprised when I saw your post/location.