1 sq. foot per bird for chicken coop in a cold climate?

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Eh?

A bunch of cities *already* require you to get a permit to keep chickens.

And FWIW most cities that allow keeping of chickens within city limits, do not allow you to slaughter them. Well anyhow they technically forbid it, therefore they provide recourse for nosy neighbors who wish to complain if you do

Pat

Ahh.... sorry I get kind of worked up when I see the world getting so "regulated".

 

[Sundari]

Regarding Perchie's concerns about licensing -- I know a chicken license sounds kind of ridiculous, but we're proposing a one-time "Food Producing Animals" (up to 8 hens and two dwarf dairy goats) license as an alternative to Denver's current crazy, bureaucratic, expensive permitting process. Right now if you want even a couple of hens you have to get a permit from both Animal Control and Zoning. The process takes 2-3 months and costs between $150-$250 for the first year, with a $50-$150 annual renewal. So, compared to that, a one-time $20 Animal Control "license" (with no vaccinations required) seems like a good deal.

And thanks to Eileen for her overestimation of my abilities to craft legislation, but I did not singlehandedly draft Denver's proposed ordinance. It was written in cooperation with the Director of Animal Care & Control plus staff from Community Planning & Development, the Department of Environmental Health, the City Attorney's Office, and City Council. We spent a lot of time reviewing successful ordinances in other cities, and talking to staff in those cities (primarily Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Fort Collins, Longmont, Colorado Springs, and Littleton). The proposed ordinance was passed unanimously through Denver's Planning Board, and received the support of the Mayor's Sustainable Food Policy Council.

All that being said, the proposed ordinance is still in draft form. We're considering scrapping the minimum space requirements for shelters (seeing as how so many other cities don't have them, and it's hard to come up with a good definition given all the possible variations with nighttime/daytime shelter options) and instead instituting language that the shelter must be "adequate to safely contain the animals." This does not seem to be an unreasonable statement. Along with the Animal Control license, future chicken owners would get a packet of information that includes suggested "best practices," including what I always instruct students in my chicken keeping classes -- more space is always better (in my opinion, anyway). Decide the maximum amount of space you can dedicate to your chickens, and give it to them.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
So in other words the proposal is to roll in a set of reasonable standards that Animal control may go by and using the monies to advance education. Cutting through the red tape in order to get more people on board with those standards. I like the idea of using an ordinance to replace several others.

My apologies for getting so worked up I have online friends that are battling the NAIS proposal.

 

[baldessariclan]

Wichita's ordinance for keeping these kinds of animals is pretty simple, but seems to cover the bases well enough. If you live inside city limits, you have to get an annual "animal maintenance permit" ($25/year, I think, for chickens), and satisfy the office issuing the permit that your "facilities" (e.g. coop, yard space, fencing, etc.) are "adequate" for the animals you intend to keep. Limit on chickens is maximum of 12 hens, and no roosters allowed. Oh, think that this actually applies for 4-12 chickens, so if you have less than that, you evidently don't need a permit at all (?). You can also have stuff like sheep, goats, pigs (small), and etc. -- but the space limits, allowed numbers, and fees vary for each.

Anyway, I guess there is some oversite of the coop and all in that you can't get a permit w/out a review of your "facilities". Normally I guess they come out and look at your coop/etc. the first time you get a permit. In our case, however, we just took in some pictures (of our yard and the coop we were building) to the gal who issued the permits, and she said that it all looked good to her and then gave us our permit.

 

[SuburbanFarmstress]

Quote:
If you think your neighbor is abusing her animals, then you should report it to the proper authorities. But demanding that it be legislated that she keep her chickens the way you want them kept smacks of busy-bodyism. Especially since you don't express an interest in keeping chickens yourself, you apparently just want to tell other people how to keep theirs.

An example: I think it's wrong for people to leave their dogs outside all day while they're at work, or to keep them outside at night. That's my opinion. Plenty of people have a differing opinion. But as wrong as I think their opinion may be, it's not my place to tell them how to keep their dogs, until and unless they are actually abusing/neglecting it. Any more than I should be able to legislate exactly how you discipline your children. I may not agree, but your life is your business.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I believe strongly in live-and-let-live, and in not creating stricter laws to tell other people how to live, "for their own good".

 

[Sundari]

Quote:
If you think your neighbor is abusing her animals, then you should report it to the proper authorities. But demanding that it be legislated that she keep her chickens the way you want them kept smacks of busy-bodyism. Especially since you don't express an interest in keeping chickens yourself, you apparently just want to tell other people how to keep theirs.

An example: I think it's wrong for people to leave their dogs outside all day while they're at work, or to keep them outside at night. That's my opinion. Plenty of people have a differing opinion. But as wrong as I think their opinion may be, it's not my place to tell them how to keep their dogs, until and unless they are actually abusing/neglecting it. Any more than I should be able to legislate exactly how you discipline your children. I may not agree, but your life is your business.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I believe strongly in live-and-let-live, and in not creating stricter laws to tell other people how to live, "for their own good".

Can I "triple-like" Jenn's comment? Very well said!

Also, for anyone who's interested, here is the latest version of Denver's proposed Food Producing Animals ordinance:

http://www.eatwhereulive.com/FPAord2B.pdf

The minimum square footage for coops has been removed (I never wanted it in there, anyway) and has been replaced with the far more sensible statement that "shelters must be adequate to safely house the animals." Animal Care & Control will be charged with investigating if there is a complaint of abuse/neglect, and they will determine whether the coop is adequate based both on the coop itself AND the health of the animals.

 

[perchie.girl]

Yay...