Anyone keeping chickens secret from a HomeOwners Association?

[Soleil_A]

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

I live right across from the president of our neighborhood! I’m pretty sure he knows, but doesn’t seem to mind. I only have 2 hens, Rhode Island White, and Isa brown. They hardly ever make any noise. We also bribe our neighbors with eggs to keep them quiet

 

[FlyWheel]

It's no wonder every online realty site will list "No HOA" in any pertinant listing, usually using all upper case lettering and sometimes followed by one or more exclamation points. I have never seen one single home posting where the presence of an HOA is praised, most times it's not even mentioned (the fact is usually hidden in a drop down menu).

I have never heard good words about such organizations and can only assume their successful rise to power cannot vary that much from Hitler's Mussolini's or Stalin's. When my SO and I went looking for a home one of the main things on our list (again, in all upper case) was no HOAs.

 

[megan856]

Obviously no guarantees; I am in the same situation. I made sure my coop is not higher than my fence. I keep them in my home at night and late morning so the roosters do not offend neighbors. My plans are to use plants, trees and foilage to distract from the coop and the chickens. The only way they can figure out if they are back there is if they are looking over my fence and the fence is almost 7 foot. I am sure HOA are constantly looking for people to be breaking rules. I just like to think that telling folks what they have in their yard is government over reach. I do the best I can to not force my neighbors to deal with my chickens, smell, flies, and noise. No one complains so I do not have the HOA breathing down my neck yet.
That's my solution. Good luck.

 

[megan856]

I am curious about your situation. Where do you keep them in your house? Ive only done that with chicks and they are DIRTY! I have been given 30 days to rehome due to my neighbor calling the police after 3.5 years of us having our chickens! Im willing to try anything, including changing the ordinance in our town, but that takes time. Im curious what your set up is.

 

[Suzanb423]

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

We made the mistake of telling our neighbors who had no idea that we had chickens and now they are fining us. We live on almost 10 acres. We wish hadn’t said anything.

 

[aligarysmom]

Bring eggs to the neighbors as soon as they start laying. Frankly, you won't be able to hide them they are noisy. I am absolutely against HOAs saying anything isn't allowed that is allowed by law. Change the rules, is the only advice I can give. Get a petition going that allows for rule change. There has to be a way, follow their way to change the wording, and try that. If it has been around for awhile could be that people are in agreement to change it

 

[aligarysmom]

We made the mistake of telling our neighbors who had no idea that we had chickens and now they are fining us. We live on almost 10 acres. We wish hadn’t said anything.

How did this work? Is there a law? How much is the fine?

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

My friend has an HOA and she decided to keep them in her garage. Insulated walls and all that, noone hears them. (that's what she says) She uses those pet fences that people put outside that are temporary. Worth thinking about.

That's what I was thinking she could do or buy a shed of some sort. you could set it up like a small egg scale egg factory but sadly they would not be able to free range.

 

[Suzanb423]

Bring eggs to the neighbors as soon as they start laying. Frankly, you won't be able to hide them they are noisy. I am absolutely against HOAs saying anything isn't allowed that is allowed by law. Change the rules, is the only advice I can give. Get a petition going that allows for rule change. There has to be a way, follow their way to change the wording, and try that. If it has been around for awhile could be that people are in agreement to change it

I really appreciate your advice and empathy. We have had chickens for 7 years. We are far enough from everyone (on 10 acres of land) that no one knew until we told them. We told them when the homeowners took over the HOA. We asked for neighbors support and some do support us but don’t want to get involved. We proposed new wording and were shot down. The only reason we are having to deal with this is because we said we have chickens and would like to vote to change the HOA.
I was hoping that someone might know of a loophole, like the amount of land or something that we haven’t thought of. We just hate the idea that someone else is going to dictate how we live when they literally can not see or hear us. They just don’t like the idea of chickens.

 

[Suzanb423]

That's what I was thinking she could do or buy a shed of some sort. you could set it up like a small egg scale egg factory but sadly they would not be able to free range.

They have their own soundproof home behind her house. We are on 10 acres of land and have an HOA that is suitable for a condo. I don’t think there is anything we can do.