Anyone keeping chickens secret from a HomeOwners Association?

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

I live in an area of the county where all sorts of livestock are legal - cows, goats, chickens, etc., but our homeowners association says horses are the only non-household pet they'll accept in our subdivision. It specifically says no poultry of any kind. My HOA is like most - full of stuffy angry people who just want to make other people's lives miserable. We have no intentions of ever moving from this neighborhood.

I see all these other chicken owners on this forum who are fighting anti-chicken laws and here I am in a pro-chicken part of town with an anti-chicken HOA. I'm getting my first chicks in the 1st week of April and we have a coop already built that says "Rabbits" on it in case anyone peeks over our fence...LOL...we hope it'll throw them.

Everything I've read about getting chickens says to talk to your neighbors first - well since I have to hide this from the HOA, the less people that know about my covert coop, the better. My neighbors on one side actually had chickens, but they got caught (I assume). The don't speak English and one day the hens disappeared

. They don't have a large privacy fence like we do so I think that's why they got caught. (I'm only assuming they got caught).

Anyone else have this situation? Where they're hiding chickens from a HOA? We have almost 2 acres with 6-foot privacy fencing around the whole thing so I'm hoping we can pull this off!!

Any advice for me? I need quiet birds that aren't going to fly into a neighbors yard so I hope I've picked the right breeds!!! (Americauna (probably generic EEs though), BR and either RIR or buff Orpington)).

Thanks all!!

Kate

 

[coffeelady3]

Hate to break it to you, but you neighbor's are going to be able to hear your hens. They're by no means loud, but they do make noise....

 

[conroy]

Well are any of your nearby neighbors the stuffy ones?
If they are cool maybe you can get away with it.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

You should choose Silkies.

 

[ra]

i hope it works out for u. we are building a coop but a lot smaller lot then what u guys have. we are hoping the sound does not travel to far. the close neibors we have are happy about the idea but we dont know some maybe 50-75 yards away. we are hoping the trees block some of the noise. we are building are coop under are deck. and they will have a lot of room under there to run around. then when we are out side in the garden we will let them run around in the yard. how far away can u hear a hen after a egg pops out??

good luck with ur chickens. we are trying to get a lot of info toghter and change are towns laws.

ryan

 

[vermontgal]

Silkies aren't so good for eggs, but there may be some other types of chickens that you could try?

Are all birds against your HOA rules or just "poultry". I am not sure that you could convince people that they are rabbits, but try for something that does not immediately look like a chicken?

What about Polish chickens? They have that fancy poof on top and that might provide them with a reasonable chance to be called something like an ornamental domesticated jungle bird.

The white-crested black hens look pretty cool.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/Polish-B91.aspx

 

[BarkerChickens]

2 acres in an ag. friendly area and the HOA says no! ARGH! I hate HOAs...I understand the intent, but disagree with all the rules. I am SO sorry that you have to deal with it!

(Let me add that my opinion isn't meant to offend anyone

...I know some people love HOAs)

Here's my 2 cents...probably not worth too much.
We are building our new coop in an area of our yard that if someone looks through our access gate, they don't see the chickens...just the "shed". We have six foot fencing all around (except the wrought iron access gate), but two of our neighbors have 2-story houses, so they can see the chickens. If they can't see them, they can sure hear them. We have hens only and they are usually very quiet, EXCEPT when they lay an egg! A couple of my girls feel the need to announce it to the whole world. I've tried sleeping in a weekend, but awoken by one of my girls ba-gawking about her newly laid egg. She's usually sticking her head out of the coop, which is 60-ish feet from my bedroom window. But, our neighbors have never complained...especially when they need eggs!

Overall, if your immediate neighbors are pretty cool and the coop is planned right (it sounds like it is!), then all should go well. Good luck!

 

[fowltemptress]

Always assume you'll get caught and have a back up plan in place . . . it is terribly hard on people who aren't prepared for the worst, especially the ones who get very attached to their chickens. At the first sign of trouble all my birds are getting hauled over to my mother's house, I've already cleared it with her. It's one of those little things that can take a huge load off the mind.
Also, keep things clean! If a neighbor surprises you with a visit about health and smell concerns, a tour of a wonderfully clean coop can sometimes soothe ruffled feathers and ease minds.

Good luck to you!

 

[Dar]

i guess you can try and pass them off as a rare feathered rabbit...that you rescued from a bio tech facility?...

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

Someone on here once told someone that those birds aren't chickens, they're rare Asian ground parrots.