Can I have a small coop in Arlington Virginia?

I suggest you contact the person that would investigate animal complaints and ask them for the rules and how you can keep them. That may be the animal control officer or whatever they are called. You can contact city government, maybe the mayor's office or whatever your executive is called, but I'd call the police or sheriff, non-emergency, and ask them.

Sometimes you may get a pain-in-the-rear person, but I find most of them are helpful, just like people in general.

You can go to your library and ask the librarian for help looking up the rules. That's not a bad thing to do to have a heads up and maybe be better able to ask questions of the animal control officer, but a lot of times the laws are scattered around in separate sections. You may find one section that makes you think you can't have them but there may be another that gives you a way. And a lot of times, those are written in legalese which I have trouble interpreting. A big thing to look for is whether they are defined as livestock or not.

Good luck! And, hopefully, welcome to the adventure.

Hello Creeturefeeture! I'm in Arlington also...

 

Unless you have a HUGE yard, you can't keep chickens in Arlington. According to the zoning ordinances, your coop would have to be 100 feet from the street or lot line. So that means, almost no one in Arlington can keep chickens legally.

 

There is a group called the Arlington Egg Project that is working to get those zoning ordinances changed! Check out:

http://www.arlingtoneggproject.org

 

There's lots of information on the website, and a petition to sign. You can attend the meetings- 3rd Thursday of every month. And be sure to buy a t-shirt!  

 

There are stealth chickens in Arlington- I think that option would depend on your property situation, and your neighbors!

I live in Front Royal. . . Last place I lived i wasnt allowed to have chickens. . . but that doesnt stop me. As long as you check with your neighbors first(the people that would most likely complain, if anyone) and do not have any roosters crowing away in the neighborhood you would be fine with 2 hens. They dont make much noise at all, and virtually no smell unless you dont clean up periodically with having only a couple. I know Arlington is not going to budge on their rules unless you met the requirements most counties around here in NOVA are: up to 1 dozen fowl per acre. And have fun getting acreage in Arlington lol  I would say talk to neighbors, maybe even a bribe of some eggs every now and then, and then go from there. typically if you did get them, and got turned in, they would give you a short amount of time to get rid of them prior to it getting where you would be fined. Where I live now, by looking up the zoning reg's, I am not allowed to have any, my house is zoned residential where I cant have poultry. I have just over 1 acre of lane. I spoke with my neighbors and they were unaware that we were zoned for no chickens since my community is called Shenandoah FARMS! and my neighbors do not mind, they said this is the country, go ahead and have your chickens. So I am finishing building my new coop, and am going to end up having a flock of 2 roosters, and I hope 8 hens. I currently have 2 adult hens, 1 adult rooster, and 16 chicks that I will be picking the rest of my flock from and selling the rest.