Changing regulations? No chickens allowed

Waving from rural nw lancaster county nebraska.
i cannot image a rural village not allowing chickens. Horses and other large livestock yes. But chikens? Room for dogsn there is room for chx.

Where r u moving to?

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions everyone.

Update: We have lived in town now for five months and still no luck on chickens. I attended a village board meeting in March with some information on chicken keeping, regulations for bigger cities from around Nebraska, and what I'd like to see the regulations changed to. I returned in April to give another talk about (somewhat more refined) what I'd like to see.

As I asked what the history was for the regulation the response by a board member was to go off on a 20 minute history lesson about how chicken keeping was what prompted the outbreak of the Spanish Flu in 1918 that wiped out millions of people. I was speechless - now I'm no expert on the Spanish flu but this diatribe was ridiculous enough to render the speech center of my brain mute. After he was done I replied; that's interesting, and yet cities all over the country are allowing chicken keeping now and it's increasingly popular. His response "well, politicians don't do research like they should". Well, a vehement as his fanaticism was I realized that it's not worth my time or effort to try to change minds that are completely averse to change.

So, apparently the presence of my chickens in town would be akin to poisoning everyone slowly in that particular member's mind. The incredibly ironic thing I found out later is that this man's dad successfully raised thousands of pheasants in the village limits for years without bringing a plague down upon the town.

Now, I'm putting my energy into finding a solution to my problem by looking to rent some space outside of the village where I can try to keep chickens and potentially scale up my ideas a little bit with the room to work. Time will tell how this plays out. I may return to the board with a signed petition in hand if I decide to stir the pot, I may pursue my off site chicken idea, or I may find myself running for the Giltner village board in the coming years. Only time will tell; one thing is for sure, this saga is not yet complete.

Instead of trying to change the regulations for the entire town, why not try and get a pass from the health department? We are working on getting a 2 year permission to keep chickens. That way, the health department can see that your chickens are healthy, well kept, and not a danger to others or yourself. You can keep chickens, and they don't have to change the laws.

duckhunternate said:

My family and I are going to be relocating due to a job change. We found a great house in a rural village (340 people) in central Nebraska. I talked to the village treasurer and come to find out that village regulations are as follows:
"A. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or maintain within the corporate limits any horse, mule, sheep, cow, goat, swine, or other livestock.
B. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or maintain within the corporate limits any poultry, chickens, turkeys, geese, or any other fowls.

I don’t look for the board to change their minds on changing the ordinance."

So, how do I go about trying to get this changed? I have the perfect space for chickens (half of a 50x24 outbuilding that we're buying is old horse stalls and could easily be converted to chicken coop space and there's great grass right next to the building to have great outdoor run space.

I thought to contact the village board to ask why this regulation is what it is (if there's even a valid reason), describe what I'd like to do, and ask if they would be amenable to a change. It's a small village and I don't want to come in and burn any bridges but it's in a farming community for crying outside! Let's have a few chickens! We're moving from a city of 13,000 that allows chickens in backyards with no permit, no limit, just no roosters - go figure. I just want a nice little backyard flock, not a production house full of battery cages.

Any suggestions from anyone who's been successful in getting a change made like this? Any advice would be incredibly helpful.
Thanks!
Nate

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I’m going through the same thing right now. Looking to move closer to my kids in eastern Nebraska and can’t find a little town that allows my 7 Runner ducks. It’s ridiculous!