Is this ordinance unfair? I need advice!

[aart]

I knew this old guy once who always had a great big garden in town.

Great story!

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

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.

He sounds like such a sweet fellow! That is actually pretty genius what he did with the chicks!

 

[Maugwa]

He sounds like such a sweet fellow! That is actually pretty genius what he did with the chicks!

That he was. We lost him in 2010, When he was 96, and still had three little chickens.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

That he was. We lost him in 2010, When he was 96, and still had three little chickens.

I am so sorry. Whatever happened to his little chickens?

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I remember there was this bossy neighbor who thinks she controls the block and everyone who lived on it, she seemed rather nice though apart for her bossy ways. One day she got into it with another neighbor (a guy) and her husband (who had a prosthetic leg) came running over (well actually not running since he only had 1 good leg) and a fight ensued. Was pretty funny and disturbing at the same time to see a bunch of old people acting like kids. Anyway, my point is...... yes, if you have a nosy neighbor who can't mind their own business and always making your business theirs, the best thing to do is get on their nice side rather then become nemesis. You can be nice and hopefully that will make it harder to confront you as opposed to someone he/she already hates and can't wait to send nasty letters in your mailbox telling you that you are scum and if you don't clean up your act he/she will poison your goldfish, etc.

 

[Maugwa]

I am so sorry. Whatever happened to his little chickens?

I'm not sure, I was working out of town a lot that Summer. I bet one of his farmer buddies from the VFW, or the Legion took them home though.

 

[rhondita55]

Wow, I'm in the Phoenix AZ area and you think it would be stricter. But here in Mesa AZ we are allowed 10 chickens. 11 and it has to be a farm. That's 10 chickens in the middle of a big city in tiny yards. (Unless you are living in a stupid HOA) So NO, I don't think that's fair. I think it may be an old law and maybe you could fight to have it changed. The way people are doing backyard urban farms now, you might do some good and get it changed. If not, check into Quails. Quails aren't considered Farm Animals in most places. The eggs are tiny, but tasty and so are the roos when you hatch to many and the young boys get mean with the little girls. Yup, right tasty.

 

[TheFarm41]

Hello everyone! Recently I have been a lot of research about my county’s ordinances. We have been legally (with a few exceptions) keeping chickens for almost 4 years. After all of this time, we have started to really want to begin growing our “farm”. After doing some digging, I found out what is actually allowed. Essentially, every single-family residential home is allowed 1 Vietnamese Pot-Bellied pig. For us to have any swine (other than the VPB), fowl (other than backyard chickens), goats, or any other livestock, we need at least 2 acres and than it is 1 animal per acre. This seems a little bit unreasonable to me. We want to have a few quail and a few ducks but it is not allowed. Do y’all think that it would be worth it or even wise to try and change the ordinance? These laws have confused everyone that we have shared them with. It doesn’t make sense why a large pig is allowed but not even quail! Or even a dwarf goat! What do y’all think we should do? Does it seem to be a reasonable ordinance?
Oh, and one more thing:
For us to legally have more than 8 chickens, we have to have 8 acres and than it is 1 chickens per acre. Isn’t that crazy?

Ps. We are outside the city limits and we have 1 acre.

Have you officially been told that you can't keep quail and ducks? What is your relationship like with your neighbors? A good relationship with your neighbors is most important, they are the most likely to complain about what animals you keep. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors you might just get the quail and ducks and apologize later if someone complains. We have 6 acres right smack dab in the middle of the city limits, with housing developments across the street. The city ordinance allows 3 chickens per household, an no other farm animals. We have had animals so long I think we are "grandfathered" in, because the city has never said anything about our farm. Over the past 25 years we have had pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, llamas and horses. We do have good fencing, so nothing escapes, we use deep mulch bedding to keep down odors and don't overcrowd. I think our animals have been here so long that the neighbors have grown use to them. Actually we sell eggs, meat, cheese and veggies at the bottom of the road and many of the neighbors come over to buy our product and chat about the farm and see the animals.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Have you officially been told that you can't keep quail and ducks? What is your relationship like with your neighbors? A good relationship with your neighbors is most important, they are the most likely to complain about what animals you keep. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors you might just get the quail and ducks and apologize later if someone complains. We have 6 acres right smack dab in the middle of the city limits, with housing developments across the street. The city ordinance allows 3 chickens per household, an no other farm animals. We have had animals so long I think we are "grandfathered" in, because the city has never said anything about our farm. Over the past 25 years we have had pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, llamas and horses. We do have good fencing, so nothing escapes, we use deep mulch bedding to keep down odors and don't overcrowd. I think our animals have been here so long that the neighbors have grown use to them. Actually we sell eggs, meat, cheese and veggies at the bottom of the road and many of the neighbors come over to buy our product and chat about the farm and see the animals.

Our neighbors love our animals and our “farm”.

 

[Kikiriki]

You need to read the ordinance again, and go look at the beginning where they do the definitions.
Frequently, the livestock is referred to in an animal unit, which considers the grazing required to feed one cow. Sheep and goats are, I think, 1/2 an animal unit.
Many people don’t realize how restrictive ordinances have become. However, there is also often an out in the state law, which is written to protect agriculture. The caveat is that you have to actually being making money from agricultural pursuits on the property before you can get exempted to be agricultural, lol! Nice catch 22.
Basically, the laws typically say that anyone can pursue agriculture regardless of lot size and regardless of County or City ordinances. The hold out there is HOA’s, which cannot be ignored.
When I moved to VA from FL, I made sure I read the ordinances for the county and found the zoning of the property. I can finally have roosters! I can also whatever livestock I want, as long as I account for the animal units. Oddly, I am also restricted in how many dogs I can have without registering as a kennel AND having kennel facilities for the dogs. I do like that in the city nearby, the people can have as many chickens as they want. I think that’s awesome!
Anyway, I hope this helps...