Can I fight it

[pauleberly]

I do not have enough room to move my coop within those particular guide lines.

The reason I thought I could fight it was because they do not have definitions for "fowl" and "livestock". At least what I could find.

https://www.municode.com/library/tn/morristown/codes/code_of_ordinances

That is the direct website to the rules. I couldn't find anything about it, and you have to type in fowl to find the actual law.

I just really didn't want to lose my beautiful flock

 

[pauleberly]

I did get ahold of the lady. She said that it's not her law for the 24 hours, it's the humane society.

She also said she would not come in and check on us till Monday, giving me some time to rehome

 

[Kellycbf]

Who gave the Human Society the authority to make law and enforce it?

 

[L2fly]

I do not have enough room to move my coop within those particular guide lines.

The reason I thought I could fight it was because they do not have definitions for "fowl" and "livestock". At least what I could find.

https://www.municode.com/library/tn/morristown/codes/code_of_ordinances

That is the direct website to the rules. I couldn't find anything about it, and you have to type in fowl to find the actual law.

I just really didn't want to lose my beautiful flock

I'm so sorry.

 

[pauleberly]

Yeah it really sucks. I called them up to see who complained. They said that it was anonymous and they didn't actually have a complaint, just saying I had chickens.

So it was someone who was just being nosy and had nothing better to do then complain about my hens

 

[Captain Cluck]

1) Fowl are not allowed in your city limits unless they are 1000 feet from neighbors of any type.
2) Fowl are not specifically defined in the code.
3) Fowl under common definition covers all birds, ergo, all Parrots, canaries, finches, emu, etc are fowl and NOT ALLOWED within the city limits According To The Code unless 1000 ft from neighbors. Therefore, all parrots, canaries, finches, etc less than 1000 ft from neighbors must be removed from within the city limits as per code unless said setback is observed (ridiculous setback, btw. And I thought our 100 ft setback was bad.)
I seriously doubt they will see it this way, nor will they go to the trouble of enforcing it as written, except on backyard poultry.

I would challenge on the lack of definition (I would board my flock, and then even challenge the livestock definition as they are pets, not food - and parrots et al, while kept as pets in the US, are seen as food or livestock in different parts of the world.)

Questions to ask Code Enforcement/Animal Control:
Are other species of fowl allowed inside city limits with a lesser setback?
Are they allowed to be outside within the city limits with a lesser setback?
Under what circumstances/ what types of confinement?
How and when was the humane society authorized to set time periods and adjustments to city codes?
I would board my flock at a friend's place who can keep them while you make code enforcement's life miserable with your challenges and appeals.

If other fowl are allowed with less than 1000 ft setback, I would make a case for housing my poultry inside the house during the night and when not home (they can be happy in a great dane crate) and make a large outdoor 'cage' for them and keep it close to the house. Put it on wheels for your convenience in moving it around the yard. I kept my girls in the house and my complainer neighbor was non the wiser.

If you are not needing regular sized eggs, you should consider Ayam Seramas. They are smaller than bantams and are bred as house pets in their native Malaysia where they outnumber dogs and cats as house pets. They even beat out parrots and other ''cage birds''. They are not livestock by any stretch of the imagination. They live quite happily in large cages in homes around the world.