Northern Virginia

Hi guys!

I'm in Woodbridge, VA! I'm new to this site and we currently have 4 ducklings, but will only be keeping 2 Here's my babies!

We've been in Fairfax County for over 20 years now.

Had backyard ducks. Still have bees. And at the moment, have a 10-day old emu chick.

Joesmoe3 said:

We've been in Fairfax County for over 20 years now.

Had backyard ducks.  Still have bees.  And at the moment, have a 10-day old emu chick.

Click to expand...

Didn't know they allow emus in fairfax. I've been trying to figure out a good animal as protection but only have two acres that my 100 chickens are on and worried about adding something else

These rules appear to be "don't ask/don't tell" enforcement.

If one is bad natured enough to have bad relations with the neighbors (or unfortunate enough to have bad natured neighbors) then there can be problems, though the County is slow to react.

Back when we were keeping ducks, there was a neighbor who let their dog run free, and gave our ducks problems.

A number of people were irritated by the dog, and had no problem with the ducks, so when when Animal Control (an arm of the Fairfax County Police Dept) wanted to take the dog owner to court, they asked us as the duck owners to file the complaint.

Even though the ducks are not allowed, the judge in court made a show to the defendant that Virginia law requires owners of waterfowl to protect their flocks by force of arms (this was a bit comical in the courtroom because the law being cited was in a leather bound book about a foot thick, and the judge made a show of it, saying, "I'm not sure about this" - and nodded at the clerk -- a young petite woman -- who displayed obvious effort as she carried the book over to the bench -- and it was a setup, because what he was citing had already been bookmarked), and after the judge read the applicable portion of the law, he looked up at the defendant, and said, if I were brought into his court for having discharged a firearm in Fairfax County (illegal here) in the course of shooting your dog, I would have to find him not guilty.

The Animal Control officer whispered to me, "We told the judge your duck was a pet, and he was o.k. with that."

And the emu makes no sound that would bother the neighbors, so I am not anticipating any problems.

I think ducks are our favorites.

The foxes are a real challenge around west county though.

We couldn't figure out a way to fence in the ducks without it looking like a jail, and just didn't have the resources to make a pond, which of course is what would be best to protect water fowl.

Best of luck with yours.

I am in Loudoun County, the laws are a little different out to your west. So long as you are AG3 +, I have 13 ducks, 2 Geese, and a bunch of chickens (not saying exactly how many as to incriminate myself) we have to pull permits and zoning to own fowl of any sort, anything under 5 acres cannot own roosters. Fortunate for me when I put my zoning paperwork in I wrote large fowl rather than constricting myself to only one type of fowl. I live in the western part of the county where the zoning police don't usually travel. I have a neighbor up the street who should be grateful for that because he didn't even know you had to have permits.