Chickens in Clovis, California

[chanceymillardo]

Today someone from animal control came over, told us we cannot have chickens in our backyard, wrote us up, and gave us a violation form. Animal control told us that someone complained about our two chickens. The law basically says you cannot have them unless they are used for research, education, fairs, and rodeos. It also says that you can have them if they are in the zone established by the city.We have had them for over a month and someone just now decides to call it in. They rarely make noise and I clean their droppings all of the time. What is the zone? Is there anyway that I can change the law?

 

[Wynette]

It's always best to check on laws/regulations prior to getting chickens, of course, but check this section - it should be very helpful to you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/37/local-chicken-laws-ordinances-and-how-to-change-them

 

[chanceymillardo]

I am wanting to go to a city council meeting here in Clovis, California and does anyone have any good facts, statistics, arguments, ANYTHING to put into my presentation?

 

[LisaRN]

Did you go to a meeting? I am from Clovis as well and want to get backyard chickens, but am worries about the neighbors.

 

[chanceymillardo]

I have not gone to a meeting. I do know that chickens are legal in Clovis, as long as they are within the "zoning area", which I'm struggling to find.

 

[cgoodloe]

I had 18 birds and had them for 2 yrs before someone complained. City if Clovis told me to get rid of them and 2nd offense would cost me $600. So eone else in my neighborhood has them. Heard them this morning. Tempted to hunt them down and warn them. My neighbors all said not a problem but then one called on me. I have no idea how to get regulations changed either so I let my noisey dogs bark outside all day to annoy whoever called on me. No more bark collars for my girls. They are worse than chickens. So the neighbors can live with barking not cackling. They can't make me get rid of my pups. I could have a pot belly pig in city limits. How is that ok but not chickens?

Today someone from animal control came over, told us we cannot have chickens in our backyard, wrote us up, and gave us a violation form. Animal control told us that someone complained about our two chickens. The law basically says you cannot have them unless they are used for research, education, fairs, and rodeos. It also says that you can have them if they are in the zone established by the city.We have had them for over a month and someone just now decides to call it in. They rarely make noise and I clean their droppings all of the time. What is the zone? Is there anyway that I can change the law?

 

[SylvrFlwr]

I am also wondering about this. Is anyone taking active steps to bring backyard chickens to Clovis, CA? Are they already legal (the online ordinance I found says it is outdated), perhaps? It looks like there was a local group attempting to legalize backyard chickens a couple of years ago, but I cannot find anything posted online about it since then!

 

[elsie33]

I have lived in my home in Clovis Ca for 23 years. Recently, my cats were going crazy and there was a rooster in my back yard. Turns out my neighbor has chickens and roosters in his backyard and they clip his wings but he still hops the fence. My husband likes to have his morning coffee on the patio and had told me he was annoyed by this crowing. Well, while I don't appreciate feeling like I'm in a third world country when I thought I was in the suburbs, we all do annoying things and in the grand scheme of things, this is not a big problem. I'm sure they don't appreciate our music so it's best to live and let live. As long as they aren't cock fighting, I won't complain.

 

[Halaster]

I am also wondering about this. Is anyone taking active steps to bring backyard chickens to Clovis, CA? Are they already legal (the online ordinance I found says it is outdated), perhaps? It looks like there was a local group attempting to legalize backyard chickens a couple of years ago, but I cannot find anything posted online about it since then!

There is nothing new as far as I can find searching around. Received a $100 ticket today for having 2 hens which got me looking more into it. It is very frustrating since neighbors on all sides of us has dogs that are far far louder than the hens could ever be. I see multiple posts in places about people going to meetings to talk about it, but no one ever follows up with how things went. There are at least two other people in my neighborhood who have chickens that can even be seen wandering the sidewalks sometimes, but they have apparently had no issues with tickets.

Since there were specific exceptions that were passed at some point for pot belly pigs and ducks I wanted to look into that but can find absolutely zero information about how those exceptions came about.

Very disappointing that there appears to be zero traction on this in Clovis at all, even though we are smack dab in the middle of an ag area with a college that has lots of ag focus.

No one actually even talked to us, we just received a ticket in the mail.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

No one actually even talked to us, we just received a ticket in the mail.

Are your chickens in the back yard behind a fence? How did anyone see them without trespassing? I would tell AC I have no idea what they are talking about. And no you cannot come in my yard without a search warrant.

Gary