Anyone in WNY who changed town rule to keeping chickens??

[s6bee]

I have just been given notice to get rid of my hens ( 3 ) in 2 weeks. My town codes are pretty tight ( no loop holes that I can find ) and so it seems I might have to fight the authorities. Just wondering if anyone local to me has had success changing town codes?

 

[ebonykawai]

Oh no, what happened?? You're in Rochester, right? What does the ordinance say?

ETA: I just found this. What part is the problem?

Rochester, NY requires a $25 license for keeping pet chickens; in the city limits, no roosters and no commercial breeding allowed. Coops must be kept 25 feet away from houses. Coops must provide a minimum of four square feet of room per bird; the eglu and run together measures 26.75sqft or 6.7sqft per chicken if you have 4 chickens in the eglu. Your coop set-up must be inspected before adding chickens, to make sure it provides enough space and healthy conditions for the birds. Licensing and inspection is done through the Rochester City Police Department (Sgt. DeAngelo). The online city code which outlines this can be found in Chapter 30, Section 19.

 

[NorTracNY]

I believe she is in Walworth, which it country. It looks like her town code is similar to mine. They allow it, but you need land. I'm not sure about her zoning, but it appears that you need 100ft from any boundary to have chickens. I wouldn't think getting a variance would be out of line if the neighbors didn't mind. If the city of Rochester allows chickens with reasonable restrictions I would think the fight to change rules could be done.

 

[s6bee]

I have been so busy I didn't read these posts. I live in Wayne county town of Walworh and I have to have a min. of 5 acres to keep chickens, I don't have 5 acres. Someone made a complaint. I'm not sure who it was, or even why? They don't make any noise, don't smell, nothing, my dogs are so much worse.
I had no idea that the city of Rochester allows chickens so I will most definetly use that when asking for the variance. Thanks guys.

 

[KingFisher]

WOW, I live in Concord in Erie county, and I never even thought to check the rules on having chickens. I just assumed since my neighbors have them that it would be ok. Maybe I should check. Where do you find out that info?

 

[s6bee]

It should be available to you maybe if your town has an online site. That's where I got mine. Otherwise just go to the town and they will provide you with them.

 

[Poultra]

Hi, there! I'm in the Town of Arcadia, Wayne County. I guess I'm a little surprised by your town's requirement for amount of land to keep chickens. My property is agriculturally zoned (we have ~3 acres) as is most of Arcadia and it looks like much of Walworth is also. But, obviously, Walworth has other zoning rules in effect.....

Too bad whoever complained didn't come to you about it first. How are you making out with the situation now?

 

[NorTracNY]

I saw that the local paper (D&C) had a nice article about people keeping chickens as pets about 2 weeks ago. There are 10 people in the city that have permits to keep them. In Brighton there are no rules against having them. I was very surprised that in Macedon, you need 10 acres! I guess I hadn't read the code closely enough. There is also a farm near me that sells them.

 

[s6bee]

Well, I will have to set aside tomorrow to dig up local town codes that allow them or at least don't have anything against them. Wow 10 acres to keep chickens, give me a break! I thought 5 in Walworth was bad.
Well, my chickens are gone as of yesterday. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be. Who knew how much they would mean to me, and to the rest of the family. I miss seeing them out back, calling me for thier morning treats. My friend is keeping them for me for now till our town meeting on the 6th. We have applied for the variance so we'll see if they allow it. I hope they don't make it to difficult for us.
I will update when we get any new news.

Thanks for the support.

 

[Beau coop]

Best of luck at the town meeting. I don't understand what people complain about- unless you have a bunch of roosters crowing at all hours. How much noise can 3 hens make?

I live on a block that is about 1/4 mile long and three houses, including mine, have chickens. The family across the street has a crazy rooster that crows randomly, that sets off his goat, and that sets off his dogs! Now that is some racket!

By the way- does anyone know of someone selling bantams locally?