It's a sad day :(

So, after talking with a friend of mine, he was surprised I was getting chickens in the city I live in. I stated that I checked the City Code and it does not mention anywhere that chickens are not allowed. It did say turkey, so thinking I was in the clear, I built my coop (as some of you might have been following). Anyway, he told me yesterday that chickens were not allowed up until 2015. Doing more research, I found that my city indeed passed an ordinance that chickens MAY be kept, but here's the catch:

Chickens can only be kept in "non-populous" areas of the city (I live dead center)
Chicken coops must be a minimum of 20 feet from the nearest property line (mine is about 3 feet)
You must apply for a permit ($300) and adhere to all inspections, have a predator proof coop(mine would be), and can have up to 5 hens, no rooster(I was only getting 3 hens anyway)
IF found keeping chickens without a permit, owners will be subject to fines, and repossession of any birds.



So all this work, for nothing. I know it was my own fault for not FULLY investigating, or even calling the town first, but I thought I was in the clear.

We are now considering switching to rabbits. I am not going to have an empty coop just sit there and rot. However, can't really find any good "rabbit forums" that discuss in depth like here does for chickens. I don't know if I need a mesh floor (which would entail me ripping up my linoleum floor to add mesh (for cleanup of course) or rabbit behaviors when it comes to pooping/peeing. If they have outside access, with they poop and pee out there, and not inside the coop? If someone can point me in the right direction, or even personal message me if you have experience raising backyard rabbits (pets, not meat)

Trying to turn lemons into lemonade here and keep the kids happy.

Here is the coop as it stands yesterday. I started adding the cloth prior to knowing about the chickens, but going to need it anyway for rabbits.

Get involved in lobbying for change. Go to city/town council meetings with model legislation and try to get something introduced.

That permit fee is rediculas. Ours here is only $10 to cover the cost of inspection once per year to ensure they are being kept healthy, not free ranging, etc.

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Wow, 80 views and 2 comments.

Thanks Backyard Chickens for all your help in the past. I will be sure to check back in the future if/when our new home/city allows chickens.

So sorry, what a sad experience. Bunnies are cute, though, and your coop looks very nice. I agree about working to change the local laws,. Living like I do in the boondocks is the best! Mary

So would you be willing to pay the $300 and go through the inspections, etc. if they were willing to grant a waiver? If no, then you are kinda boxed in and would need to move or move on.

Do you already have birds that would put you in violation?

If yes to the $300 and no to existing birds, you might consider going to the City and explaining what happened and ask for a waiver. I would not pay the $300 until I got some assurances the thing would be allowed. This follows the theory that it's easier to get forgiveness than permission.

Most likely the people who wrote your ordinance back when had no clue what they were doing. They likely made up their rules out of whole cloth and could not justify any of it with facts or real world experiences......other than the rooster part. Or perhaps they went the "abundance of caution route" and decided to technically allow it so as to appear accommodating, but make the rules so strict nobody would actually go through with it. Now that they have some experience to fall back on, they might be willing to relax things a bit.......or maybe not. Only way to find out is to ask.

Interesting footnote about urban chickens including roosters.........Key West, FL has them in abundance and they run wild and are part of the landscape. They roost in the trees, walk the streets and the roosters crow in the morning. I shot a picture one early morning of this fine fellow who was standing in the middle of Duval Street talking trash. I can't imagine the uproar that would ensue from the locals if they ever decided to remove them.

I'm sorry about your chicken issues I've kept rabbits before and they are easily littler box trained and or tend to use one particular spot. You may get a picky rabbit who chooses inside over outside but I've never had one that did. I think they would be happy in a Linolium floor type coop as long as you were using pine shavings/hay/straw on top. Honestly I would go for it... It looks like 1-2 rabbits would be comfortable in there(not knowing the measurements) depending on the breed. It is so tough to sex rabbits as babies, I've never had luck, and just FYI they have no preference as to family or not lol they will mate anything. I'm not sure how your run is secured on the ground side but a rabbit will dig out like crazy and can jump higher than you would think. I have always dug my runs down and lined the bottom with wire and layed dirt back on top. The one large run we had when I was young that wasn't like that had me constantly chasing loose bunnies... Best of luck to you!

The whole outside will be covered with hardware cloth, and I am now considering the ground as well. There is no way to lift this coop as it's very heavy now, so I will do my best to cover as much of the ground area as I can with cloth

Here's good Rabbit forum:
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/rabbits/