Is this ordinance unfair? I need advice!

[Maugwa]

I agree with what @Maugwa wrote - but remember, all it takes is for one new person to buy a house, move in, and start complaining. You can be there for 30 years, doing your thing and have nobody complain, then BAM. New guy calls the cops because your chicken sang the egg song at 5 am and woke him up. The ordinance backs him up, not you.

Very true, as soon as one belly-acher chimes in, it's all over. Well not completely, you're just back to 9 birds and a pig. At least you got away with it for a while - if you made it 29 years first, I'd call that a win. Hopefully, you've had success getting the rules changed by then. If there was a no chicken ordinance, I wouldn't even consider trying it because of egg songs and cock a doodle dos. But a lot depends too on nearby populations, and the layout of the property, is it surrounded by roads and entirely visible from every direction, or lots of trees, wind breaks, and few roads and hard to see across from many places? How hard is it to count your chickens, see the quail run behind the barn, or determine with vision how many acres are yours? There are factors none of us know better than you. If your odds are good, and your consequences are low . . .

 

[Willowspirit]

What I think is a more reasonable ordinance is to take into account the fact that different animals are different sizes and have differing impact on a lot.

My zoning code has restrictions based on animal units per acre. So that can be 1 large animal like a horse or cow, or 5 smaller animals like goats, per 1 acre. Poultry and rabbits aren't included, those are pretty a much free for all if you have over 1/2 acre.

My guess is the potbelly pig exclusion came at a time when pigs became a trendy pet so someone managed to petition for that change. There's some cities around here that have exclusion for dwarf goats, for example, which are counted as pets and not livestock.

Now people who want smallish pigs raise Kune Kune pigs as garden pets. It’s always something.

 

[Maugwa]

It might not even be a bad idea to give newcomers a welcome basket, with some eggs, homemade jams, garden produce, a big smile and an offer to help, like if they need a hand occasionally, etc. Don't let them know that you're bribing them, just be nice enough that they may feel guilty for ratting you out, lol.

 

[CJLR]

Look up weed em and reap on YouTube they have one acre and they have goats chickens and pigs but the layout of the property is different than most the layout of their property allows them to have 8 goats 2 pigs and chickens where we have 2 Acres and it only allows for us too have chickens a dog and a cat

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I think that's reasonable for big animals like cows, pigs, horses, etc. But the rest makes no sense. An acre could easily hold...

A big goat. Maybe even a pair.
A pair or trio of mini goats.
Lots of fowl. You could keep a couple turkeys. If the "rule" is 10sqft outdoors per chicken minimum, you could have more chickens than you could shake a stick at. Even if you wanna restrict them, that's still reasonable to even keep a flock of 20 or more.
Frankly endless numbers of quail and rabbits.

I live on 1/4 acre. Most lots in my city are less. I have a dozen chickens and a dozen rabbits. I'm thinking about a mini goat or pair myself. We bring in hay for the rabbits already. My area is VERY suburban, my neighbors are one driveway width away.

Yeah, you can think about what the law would need to look like if EVERYONE had 10 pigs. But how many people are actually gonna go through with that? I'm the only person on my street with livestock. Only a dozen people in my whole city with livestock. The land impact isn't based on everyone - it's based on real numbers. And real number aren't gonna be close to everyone.

Those bird numbers are dumb as heck. I think it's reasonable to ask for a change.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Look up weed em and reap on YouTube they have one acre and they have goats chickens and pigs but the layout of the property is different than most the layout of their property allows them to have 8 goats 2 pigs and chickens where we have 2 Acres and it only allows for us too have chickens a dog and a cat

I absolutely love Weed’ em and Reap! They have like my dream farm!

 

[Ptera]

One place I lived had a no livestock County zoning rule, but I had a large wooded lot bounded on 3 sides by un-buildable property. I wrote a letter to the County zoning board and made the case that if I had chickens and kept them on the far side of the lot from the only neighbor, they wouldn't be able to see or hear them. I got a letter in reply granting me an exception and a couple weeks later I had a coop and run built & received my box of 25 chicks in the mail! Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances (not chicken related) I had to move from there a year later. Point is, if your circumstances warrant it, try asking for a zoning exception. (It's not fool proof. If some fool later moves in next door & complains it could be rescinded, but it's an option to try).

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

I think that's reasonable for big animals like cows, pigs, horses, etc. But the rest makes no sense. An acre could easily hold...

A big goat. Maybe even a pair.
A pair or trio of mini goats.
Lots of fowl. You could keep a couple turkeys. If the "rule" is 10sqft outdoors per chicken minimum, you could have more chickens than you could shake a stick at. Even if you wanna restrict them, that's still reasonable to even keep a flock of 20 or more.
Frankly endless numbers of quail and rabbits.

I live on 1/4 acre. Most lots in my city are less. I have a dozen chickens and a dozen rabbits. I'm thinking about a mini goat or pair myself. We bring in hay for the rabbits already. My area is VERY suburban, my neighbors are one driveway width away.

Yeah, you can think about what the law would need to look like if EVERYONE had 10 pigs. But how many people are actually gonna go through with that? I'm the only person on my street with livestock. Only a dozen people in my whole city with livestock. The land impact isn't based on everyone - it's based on real numbers. And real number aren't gonna be close to everyone.

Those bird numbers are dumb as heck. I think it's reasonable to ask for a change.

I agree! The laws involving the bigger animals are fair, but like you said, the rest is very puzzling! I would really love to have a chat with the person/people who suggested these silly ordinances!

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

One place I lived had a no livestock County zoning rule, but I had a large wooded lot bounded on 3 sides by un-buildable property. I wrote a letter to the County zoning board and made the case that if I had chickens and kept them on the far side of the lot from the only neighbor, they wouldn't be able to see or hear them. I got a letter in reply granting me an exception and a couple weeks later I had a coop and run built & received my box of 25 chicks in the mail! Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances (not chicken related) I had to move from there a year later. Point is, if your circumstances warrant it, try asking for a zoning exception. (It's not fool proof. If some fool later moves in next door & complains it could be rescinded, but it's an option to try).

That would definitely be worth a try! My neighbors all absolutely adore all of my animals and have even commented that they love the sound of a rooster crowing. (We did rehome him because he is illegal)

 

[Maugwa]

I knew this old guy once who always had a great big garden in town. His whole backyard was a garden. Every Spring he'd get all of his plants pretty well established, then he'd go to the farm store and get three chicks. He'd raise them in the garden. It was a no chicken town, but he had a 6' privacy fence all around. I'd stop by and give him a hand often, almost always getting more produce than I needed. I remember asking him, "Don't those chicks tear up your garden?" "Not too much when they're little," He'd say, "And, I got more than I need, besides, they'd rather eat bugs than vegetables anyway, except for maybe strawberries and tomatoes, I just figure they can have the tomatoes they can reach, and I'll get cherries off those trees and forget about strawberries". I'll tell you one thing I learned watching his tactics, if there were cabbage loopers around, those chicks were in the cabbage, potato beetles, and they'd be in the potatoes, if a big hopper flew over the fence - the race was on! He never needed poisons. But every fall, one of his chicks, or more, always turned out to be roosters. About the time things were coming to an end in the garden anyway, frost may have come, or was near to, and there weren't as many bugs anymore, his roosters would begin learning how to crow, and one of his neighbors didn't like it (We both knew which neighbor, she had been my algebra teacher once, lol, and we didn't get along anyway). She'd call the cops. They'd show up at his door, and tell him the chickens had to go, so he'd go harvest them too - that was the plan all along haha. Then three new chicks next Spring.

I don't know how you can apply that to your ordinance issues. Maybe just in relation to how severe are the consequences, that's kinda the hing pin to the whole situation, right? If nothing else, just as a new humerus way of thinking of a silly law

One of the chores I was helping that old fellow with, was he had this little camper too. The town also had this law that you couldn't have a camper parked in the same spot on a street without moving it for more than two weeks, but it usually took them a month or more to notice and put a chalk mark on his tire. He'd call, and I'd go grab the hitch and drag it six or eight feet, the next time, I'd roll it back where it was before. Hey, he'd stormed beaches in the South Pacific, and helped McCarther take back the Philippines, I figured it was the least I could do.