Hi, does anyone have statistics regarding chicken coops causing fires in a community. The heat lamps in particular.

[Lenny Bob Jim Joe]

Does anyone have any stats on fires increasing in a community after allowing chicken house structures? I am on a Planning Board in Newcastle, and we are looking at a chicken ordinance here. I am referring to the heat lamps in the chicken houses causing fires. The proposed ordinance is trying to include how the structure is to be built, how it is to be hard wired, fines of $100.00 a day for being in violation. I am being brief here as far as the entire language of the proposed ordinance. The City Council has drafted the proposed ordinance and will send it to us in our October meeting. Any info on this concern would be just ducky. Hope i made sense. Thanks

 

[Coops Dad]

Call your insurance agent- they could call one of the companies they represent and ask for the actuarial data for that. If it represents a risk, no matter how remote, an insurance company would have it listed in a risk table. If your agent is a retailer and doesn't have access to the underwriting departments of the companies they represent, call your fire department. They have access to nationwide databases.

As the former GM of a decently large insurance agency which represented over 40 homeowners insurance companies, none of the companies asked for information on chicken coops or their heat sources. Given that they DO ask about horses and livestock, dogs, swimming pools and trampolines, wood stoves and water heaters, golf carts and every other avenue by which their money could be extracted through a loss at your home, I am positive that the rate would be miniscule. Also, knowing that chicken coops are usually set reasonably distant from inhabited structures so as to minimize odor and vermin making their way into the home, any risk of a coop fire would be less likely to involve a home.

 

[SueT]

Adult chickens don’t need heat lamps. Most baby chicks are raised indoors during the short heat lamp phase. I wouldn’t worry about heat lamps in coops, it just isn’t a common practice.
I think you’re worrying about a non existent issue.

 

[gtaus]

The proposed ordinance is trying to include how the structure is to be built, how it is to be hard wired, fines of $100.00 a day for being in violation.

Sounds like a solution looking for a non-existent problem. I would think you are more likely to get complaints about noise and/or smell. Roosters make noise and are often banned within city limits. A properly maintained chicken coop and run should not smell - but I can imagine neighbors complaining about it anyway. Most likely they feel their property values will suffer if someone in the neighborhood is raising small animals.

Where I live, chicken coops come in all shapes and sizes. Hardly anyone has electricity in the coop. In the winter, I run an extension cord out to the coop for the water heater to prevent the water from freezing. I suppose I would be in violation of any hard wire code. But the extension cord is on a GFCI outlet and the draw on the circuit is about 30 watts, significantly lower than my typical 100-watt lightbulb used in the house. I don't use any heat lamps. If anything caught fire in my coop, it might burn the coop down, but it's too far away from the house to worry about.

I was thinking your local firehouse might be able to tell you how many coop fires they have responded to over the years. Local insurance agents might be able to give you a report on coop fires. We all know that insurance companies look for any way to increase your rates. If chicken coop fires are on their radar, they would have an increase in rate for that.

I don't know what concerns a Planning Board needs to consider, but if there is not a problem currently, why is the board writing up all kinds of regulations and fines? Good that you are asking for feedback before you write or adopt any policy. I would just ask, if you don't currently have any problems, why do you need a policy on these issues?

I live outside of the city limits, so I don't have to worry about community regulations. I have read many complaints about chicken owners who are having difficult times with city boards and regulations written by people who have never raised chickens. I usually suggest that they move out of the city where they can enjoy their lifestyle without having to deal with complaining neighbors or fines from the city.

Hope you can find a way forward that allows people to have a small backyard flock without overregulating and fining them out of existence. But I do understand that city life may have to be much more regulated than those of us outside city limits.

 

[Lenny Bob Jim Joe]

Sounds like a solution looking for a non-existent problem. I would think you are more likely to get complaints about noise and/or smell. Roosters make noise and are often banned within city limits. A properly maintained chicken coop and run should not smell - but I can imagine neighbors complaining about it anyway. Most likely they feel their property values will suffer if someone in the neighborhood is raising small animals.

Where I live, chicken coops come in all shapes and sizes. Hardly anyone has electricity in the coop. In the winter, I run an extension cord out to the coop for the water heater to prevent the water from freezing. I suppose I would be in violation of any hard wire code. But the extension cord is on a GFCI outlet and the draw on the circuit is about 30 watts, significantly lower than my typical 100-watt lightbulb used in the house. I don't use any heat lamps. If anything caught fire in my coop, it might burn the coop down, but it's too far away from the house to worry about.

I was thinking your local firehouse might be able to tell you how many coop fires they have responded to over the years. Local insurance agents might be able to give you a report on coop fires. We all know that insurance companies look for any way to increase your rates. If chicken coop fires are on their radar, they would have an increase in rate for that.

I don't know what concerns a Planning Board needs to consider, but if there is not a problem currently, why is the board writing up all kinds of regulations and fines? Good that you are asking for feedback before you write or adopt any policy. I would just ask, if you don't currently have any problems, why do you need a policy on these issues?

I live outside of the city limits, so I don't have to worry about community regulations. I have read many complaints about chicken owners who are having difficult times with city boards and regulations written by people who have never raised chickens. I usually suggest that they move out of the city where they can enjoy their lifestyle without having to deal with complaining neighbors or fines from the city.

Hope you can find a way forward that allows people to have a small backyard flock without overregulating and fining them out of existence. But I do understand that city life may have to be much more regulated than those of us outside city limits.

Hi, thanks you for the reply. The City Council is the culprit in accessing fines and trying to call out construction, hardwire, and being repressive in my opinion. The Planning Board, of which I am a member, will look to make changes to the City's proposed ordinance. They also want the dog catcher in charge of approving coops or policing. It seems they are trying to make having chickens legal but unattainable by the standards they set in the ordinance.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Thank you. I think the 'fire' excuse is over done by a council member looking for reasons to stand against chicken in the city limits

in that case, have that council member present documented proof to support his/her concern thereby justifying the need for such regulation. Seems like you got stuck doing the research to disprove the need for regulation for a problem that only exists because ‘they say so’
Have a discussion based on presented facts before imposing regulation on a community.

 

[Krugerrand]

Sounds like a solution looking for a non-existent problem. I would think you are more likely to get complaints about noise and/or smell. Roosters make noise and are often banned within city limits. A properly maintained chicken coop and run should not smell - but I can imagine neighbors complaining about it anyway. Most likely they feel their property values will suffer if someone in the neighborhood is raising small animals.

My local ordinances state that a coop needs to be 'properly heated.' It's clearly written by somebody who does not know raising chickens in SW Pennsylvania. So, I interpret 'properly heated' to mean 'no heat at all.' My girls are dry with lots of draft free ventilation above their heads.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Sorry, but I don't have actual stats, but I will go off of my neighborhood.

In my neighborhood, we experience at least one fire a year and sometimes more. There is a lot of chicken owners in my neighborhood. Out of all the fires, the number one thing causing fires is fireplaces and woodstoves. Chicken coop fires would be at the bottom of the list. Last year a pop-up camper caught fire from a heat lamp which, just saying what was being used as a coop, says obviously the birds didn't have the proper set-up.

 

[3KillerBs]

Why micromanage with detailed specs?

When the town I used to live in formally legalized chickens they simply said that chickens were permitted and that noise and sanitation complaints would be evaluated for reasonableness by the same standards held for dogs and other animals.

No micromanaging but understanding that both inhumane treatment AND harassment by complaint exist.

 

[Lenny Bob Jim Joe]

Adult chickens don’t need heat lamps. Most baby chicks are raised indoors during the short heat lamp phase. I wouldn’t worry about heat lamps in coops, it just isn’t a common practice.
I think you’re worrying about a non existent issue.

Thanks. I am pro chicken. I am trying to get information to use in my argument for chickens to see if any of the fire concerns are legitimate. This site is awesome!!