The Chicken Trials

This has gone way out of hand. I live in Islip Town NY, the chickens codes protect me, the neighbors and the Chickens. Although there are 2 neighbors who may have friends in the town of Islip who have Charged me with Malice. In the Islip chicken code I can have up to 15 birds of any type or sex, yes that means Rosters, I have 4 Chickens and 1 Roster. They are trying me on a law that was written for people that have indoor birds like Parrots or Cocktails . The code they are using is Noise ordnance Animal/ Birds which carries a $1,500 fine and or 15 days in jail.

I have been brought in court 4 other times about the chickens and have won. Had SPCA at my door 23 times and they have found no wrong doing. Suffolk Country Police Department 14 times for chickens and Islip town code enforcement 40 times at my house and they both have found no wrong doing. So, the 2 same neighbors went to the Islip Town Lawyer to bring me into court for noise.

I had to hire a Lawyer and are back in Court on Oct 7th at 2 pm. I could pay the fine but it would kill anyone else in Islip from raising chickens in the BACK YARD.

If any of you have anything I could use in court, please let me know.


Louis2645

Although that seems rather bitter sweet given the situation.
I am clear across the country from you but you may have some luck posting it in your states thread here...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you

This thread was helpful to me when I was looking at getting chickens and may have some more info too.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/37/local-chicken-laws-ordinances-and-how-to-change-them

Hopefully something can be resolved so you no longer have this battle.

Where I am if there were complaints about noise they would consider the chickens a nuisance and I would be forced to get rid of them. Same goes for my dog. I am really wishing for the best outcome for you.

Oh MY!!! Where to start?!
I am small town Cornelius, Oregon where there is absolutely no chicken/rooster ordinance period! So they instead cite us on a noise ordinance.
I have a long story beginning with the citation itself. They cited my husband after he repeatedly told them they were my chickens, and the city/police/even the municipal court told us the other office had to re-issue the ticket. In the end, it was never re-issued. Problem being, my husband doesn't do chicken court. He's a quiet man and that's just the way he is. Needless to say, court didn't go well.
I have a small flock of large bodied hens and a pair of Sultans (rare and endangered), my Sultan Rooster is the supposed noise problem. The noise ordinance reads like this:
(1) Permitting any animal to cause annoyance, or a disturbance at any time by repeated barking, whining, screeching, howling, braying or other sound that is heard beyond the boundary of the owner’s or keeper’s property;
Some see this as vague! Some see this as very specific! I see it as both and for sure I see it as, if consistently enforced being the end of keeping any animal in this city!!
We of course lost in trial, but let me back up. Three days after my husband plead not guilty on the citation, which by default leads to a trial, we are hand delivered a letter from the police chief demanding we remove our rooster from city limits within 7 days! This is before we had even received a trial date! As I see it, this is a violation of our right to due process! And it is! But no one really thinks this is a big deal...they must do it all the time! Before this, I had ordered records of all police calls, records, officers reports, etc. All I receive back is the original ticket and the demand letter with a note saying the officers had no notes...They sure referred to their notes during trial! Should we have had those reports, we could have proven then and there that the lady who does the complaining, yes, there is only ONE neighbor who complains, that my rooster wasn't even on my property on at least one of the dates she complained..they were at a 4H gathering with my grandaughters. By denying records is a violation of the FOIA Freedom of Information Act! Again, I guess no big deal! I managed to pick up another citation for re-homing them on the 11th day instead of the 10th day but at this point I don't know if they will re-try this case.

I truly wish I knew what could be done...what we could USE in court as a defense, but at this point, I don't! My little roo is actually pretty quiet as far as roosters go! But they are soooo misunderstood it's unbelievable! People hear the word Rooster, and they hear the word ''cock fight'' and not, protector, manager, loyal, beautiful, pet, friend!
How did you get through your other trials? I feel I will mess things up for future small flocks as well, should I mess this up!
I'd like to keep in touch. Please share what you learn and I will do the same!
Good Luck

your issue is simply put; a rooster only crows every few hours undisturbed normally; that does not constitute CONTINUOUS noise nor is 1 rooster a PUBLIC nusiance to anyone except a crazy neighbor who is jealous of you or hates you for some underlying reason; a rooster is expected by nature to crow every so often a fact every school-kid knows; so if you are permitted to have roosters or even if its not said that you CANT have roosters they cant say anything about it; however if you do not have a separate code for poultry then yeah the noise ordinance can be made to stick; here on long island in town of islip there are separate codes for poultry and for birds; here they are outright trying to break the law to see if theyll get away with it!if so theyll keep doin it till someone stands up to them or exposes it like we are; in ny he with the fattest wallet or that can finance a campain fund for someone or make money for some offical is the one that wins;even if they break the written laws to do it; if it was a neighbor i suggest you look at your local harrassment laws to see if your neighbor could be liable in a civil courtroom like ours is;

l

Louis, I hope true justice prevails. I know how warped justice can be, I lived in Chicago for the first 22 years of my life. Left a few decades ago and never looked back. Even the small towns have fashioned their own rules, that change at the blink of an eye. Donate to campaign funds or cross the right palms with enough silver, and the law can go your way. At least until someone "donates," more than you.

Somewhere, somehow, there must be a true champion of justice that would take this case non-gratis. I only wish I knew someone to help you.

Louis2645 said:

This has gone way out of hand. I live in Islip Town NY, the chickens codes protect me, the neighbors and the Chickens. Although there are 2 neighbors who may have friends in the town of Islip who have Charged me with Malice. In the Islip chicken code I can have up to 15 birds of any type or sex, yes that means Rosters, I have 4 Chickens and 1 Roster. They are trying me on a law that was written for people that have indoor birds like Parrots or Cocktails . The code they are using is Noise ordnance Animal/ Birds which carries a $1,500 fine and or 15 days in jail.

Click to expand...

Where I live, just because chickens are legal that doesn't mean they are immune to the noise ordinance (just like barking dogs). If they are loud when the noise ordinance says you have to be quiet, neighbors can complain and the cops can write you ticket.

I just heard the TOWN OF ISLIP is proposing a ban on roosters at a meeting/vote that is supposed to be on tuesday nov 18th at 2pm at islip town hall!!! this would be a devastating blow to our freedom as americans to be self-sufficeint and have productive breeding flocks. most backyard suburban poultry breeders propigate rare or endangered heritage breeds both american and exotic alike. not having at least 1 rooster will halt fertile egg and chick production with no way to propigate our future flocks of our own bloodlines or derive part-time income that makes the flock pay for their own supplies and helps us keep up with bills that do not get cheaper every year. we are the members of the communities that feed the neighborhoods when lights are out for weeks and supermarket shelves go dark and empty and gas pumps shut down stranding us within the confines of our own neighborhoods without food or supplies; such as superstorm sandy that kept most areas of long island in the dark for 3weeks or more;(LOTS OF FOLKS still not back in their houses due to the red tape and delays in goverment disaster releif help!!) we fed our families and neighbors for free without worry during that trying time,and could even have slaughtered a few hens to satisfy demand had the lights remained out much longer! but without at least 1 rooster it is no longer a productive self-sustaining renewable resource of both food and income! it then becomes an unproductive extra expense as feed and bedding for the average sized suburban backyard flock of 10 can be around 60 bucks a month to maintain; (here on long island fertile eggs sell around 25bucks a dozen and chicks about 10bucks each!) it would make it pointless to have chickens at all; we as americans NEED to protect the right to produce our own resources and income.period. Our founding fathers built our great nations power and weatlh upon the POWER OF THE PEOPLES ability to produce resources and be self-sufficent which freed us from dictatorships and kept us fed and secure and independent needing nothing from anyone else and creating a world-wide economy. That is the true and most important power of WE THE PEPOLE that made us the world super-power! how will our children and theirs survive natural and man made disasters without the ability or freedom to survive and sustain themselves when the powers that be cant provide anything to us?? we can not allow the goverment to strip us of our inherent rights as americans to be self-sufficeint and provide for our families and neighbors and our childrens children with our own resources; the future civilization our grandchildren will be stuck living in is the one we create now; we as americans,parents and poultry breeders can not afford to strip our children of future freedoms incomes or resources!!!! the world wont be any easier or cheaper to live in in the future. the worst fate our children could suffer is being totally dependent on goverments proven inability to keep fuel food and lights on in disasters or economic crashes. thats not what our country was founded on! ALL OF US poultry breeders in town of islip need to band together now and show up at islip town hall on TUESDAY NOV 18TH AT 2PM to be heard!!! we all know they wont stop with roosters! next will be turkeys. then ducks. then quails. then geese. and perhaps even overflow to bees or dogs over 40lbs!! so we all need to take the day off to be at islip town hall tuesday nov 18th at 2pm to protect our rights and resources and those of our childrens children! arent our childrens futures worth a days pay? all our livelyhoods are at stake as well as our future resources! VOTE NO TO THE PROPOSED ROOSTER BAN IN TOWN OF ISLIP!! BUT lets say yes to voting out the goverment that even suggested BANNING our childrens future rights resources and incomes!! they obviously do not represent the usa and the principals of our founding fathers and could care less about the pepoles power sustain ourselves or our childrens future resources or security; that is not the kind of goverment ANY OF US VOTED FOR and its time to show them the door and protect our rights and power for our childrens sake!!! SO poultry breeders in of town of islip and anyone that believes in the american way of self-sufficiency and cares about our childrens future needs to be at islip town hall TO VOTE NO TO THE PROPOSED ROOSTER BAN IN TOWN OF ISLIP!!! And on next election get these oprressors of freedom and security of the true american way out of our offices before we the pepole get stripped of our rights and future resources!!! THATS TUESDAY NOV 18TH 2PM AT ISLIP TOWN HALL!! its time to fight beak and claw once again as americans to preserve our rights and our freedoms to be free and independent and to continue producing resources without the face of unamerican tyranny looming over us!! SO VOTE NO TO THE PROPOSED ROOSTER BAN IN TOWN OF ISLIP!! BE THERE AND BE HEARD or place your lives in the hands of the powers that will say you do not have the right to survive or sustain yourself!! and just think it all starts when shallow closed minded pepole who cant see past their own petty noses lose an hour of beauty sleep!!!lol!!! is this really what civilization is coming to?? we cant afford to let it happen!!!

here in the town of islip, we have a seprate ordinace for poultry. our rooster may be permitted to crow every bit it wants between 7am and 11pm(although they automaticlly bed down just before sunset) our roosters may not be 'permitted' to make any loud noise beyond property lines before 7am(meaning the flock must be shut in the coop and not allowed(permitted) outside with rooster crowing before 7am.) ss 12-33 also there is a general noise ordinance that applies to animals like barking dogs chained up out side all day and cages full of squaking parrots or parakeets left out on porches or backyards or anything that is a loud continuous repetitive disruptive sound. but as we all know roosters only crow every few hours and only at 4second bursts each time and therefore do not fall in that category which is why there is a separate ordinance for poultry here in town of islip.