Chicken LORE Project - Find & Submit Local Chicken Laws & Ordinances

[nonseq]

According to Sean Fowler, Code Enforcement Officer of the City of Lancaster Ohio, chickens are allowed in the city.


505.17 MAINTENANCE OF POULTRY OR ANIMAL YARDS.
(a) No person shall maintain any poultry or animal yard within fifty feet of any building used for residence purposes by anyone other than the one maintaining such poultry or animal yard or his immediate family, or within twenty-five feet of any public way other than an alley, or within 100 feet of any church or school building.


(1) For the purposes of this section, “poultry or animal yard” includes any enclosure, shed or structure used to house two or more live fowl. “Fowl” includes chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry, or two or more cattle, horses, sheep, goats or other domestic animals.


(2) Every person maintaining a poultry or animal yard shall keep the same clean and sanitary and free from all refuse. Such yards shall be thoroughly swept at least once every twenty-four hours, and no person shall permit any decaying food or any refuse of any kind to remain in the yard. Refuse from such yards shall, when swept up or collected, be kept in airtight containers until disposed of in accordance with City ordinances, and no person shall permit any such refuse to remain uncovered.


(3) Every poultry or animal yard shall be adequately enclosed so as to be impenetrable against rats or other rodents. The presence of any rats in any poultry or animal yard shall be prima-facie evidence that the yard is maintained in violation of the provisions of this section.


(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. Each day that a person is in violation shall be considered a separate offense.

(Ord. 53-70. Passed 10-13-70.)

He also said they get maybe10 complaints a year and have to "pull out the tape" and make sure of the 50 feet.

 

[LuvMyArabs]

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True....But I know someone who works in the office and I'm afraid she'd recognize my voice.

 

[tcbosco1]

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I'm not sure what you're afraid of - do you already have chickens?

 

[LuvMyArabs]

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I'm not sure what you're afraid of - do you already have chickens?

Nope.

 

[tcbosco1]

Then it should be no big deal to go to the town hall and ask all the questions you need to ask.

I was faced with a similar situation here - I wanted chickens, but couldn't find any answers about if they were allowed. Because I have a neighbor who would most certainly put up a stink if I had them illegally, I had to be sure it could be done.

I finally got the answer from the local board of health. Yes, they are allowed, but you need a permit (at the cost of $1.00!) After I obtained my permit and my girls, the town call got some phone calls, but that was the end of it!

So, my final piece of advice is to worry more about the neighbors than the town officials!

 

[razmond]

Nifty-Chicken directed me here. This is a sweet project.

Great news for Seattle-ites. City council just raised the limit of 3 chickens per household to 8 and while still excluding roosters, they said if you have one, you may let it live out it's life in peace, but no new roosters are allowed in city limits.

Here is one article ... not sure how long it will take for them to update the official document.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

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That is FANTASTIC news! Congratulations and kudos to Seattle for being one of the country's leaders of urban-agriculture.

I know a lot of other cities look to Seattle for guidance when drafting their ordinances, so hopefully this trend will continue and benefit everyone.

It would be great if you could keep us posted as to when Seattle officially gets the ordinance adopted and their current regs revised, so that we can update our database when it takes effect.

Thanx again for that great news!

 

[Austin Peeps]

That's really an amazing effort and a true labor of love to do all that great research and work. Hats off to LareePQG & Coopa Cabana!

A request for some updates on the Austin, TX, regulations:

We are fortunate here to be allowed both hens and roosters and not have a cap on the numbers. I suspect the confusion came from 3-2-12:

§ 3-2-12 ENCLOSURE FOR SMALL ANIMAL.

(A) An enclosure used to keep more than two but fewer than 10 small animals must be located at least 20 feet from an adjacent residence or business, excluding the residence or business of the owner or handler of the small animals.

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Poultry in the Austin Ordinances are listed under § 3-2-16 ENCLOSURE FOR FOWL.

§ 3-2-16 ENCLOSURE FOR FOWL.

An enclosure used to keep two or more fowl must be located at least 50 feet from a residence or business, excluding the residence or business of the fowl’s owner or handler.

Source: 1992 Code Section 3-2-26; Ord. 031009-9; Ord. 031211-11.



Here is the short link to Title 3 of the Ordinances:

http://tinyurl.com/CoAOrdinances

The full ordinances are at:

http://www.amlegal.com/austin_nxt/gateway.dll/?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0

Summary of information:

CITY OF AUSTIN ORIDNANCES, CHAPTER 3


(A) A person may not keep an animal, fowl, bird, or reptile in an enclosure unless the enclosure is:

(1) securely built;

(2) adequately sized for the kind and number of animals, fowl, birds, or reptiles housed in the structure

(3) maintained in a sanitary condition that does not allow flies to breed or cause an odor offensive to an adjacent residence or business; and

(4) in compliance with the applicable requirements of this article.

(B) A person shall keep an animal, fowl, bird, or reptile in an enclosure that meets the requirements of Sections 3-2-12 (Enclosure for Small Animal), 3-2-13 (Enclosure for Dogs), 3-2-14 (Enclosure for Livestock), 3-2-15 (Enclosure for Miniature Livestock), 3-2-16 (Enclosure for Fowl), or 3-2-17 (Enclosure for Pigeon or Similar Bird).

Enclosure:
An enclosure used to keep two or more fowl must be located at least 50 feet from a residence or business, excluding the residence or business of the fowl’s owner or handler.


Thanks again for the great work!

Noisy Animals:
An owner or handler may not keep an animal that makes frequent or long, continued noise that is disturbing to a person of normal sensibilities.

 

[matimeo]

I noticed that the ordinance for my city was incorrect/outdated. I added the correct information, but now there are two entries. Is there a way to remove the old entry?

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Go ahead and submit the city again and we can check and verify the info and then delete the older one.