Are chickens legal in Yukon, Oklahoma

[ducksarecool12]

i want to know if i can own chickens i am wanting 5 silkies 5 people live in my home i am wanting them for eggs and pets i will get a coop and enclosed run what are the ordanince

 

[Rozzie]

Here are your city codes: http://library5.municode.com/default-test/home.htm?infobase=10203&doc_action=whatsnew
Chapter 14 is the animal code for you.

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ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL

Sec. 14-1. Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Animal means any live, vertebrate creature, domestic or wild, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Animal shelter means any facility operated by the city, or its authorized agents, for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or state law.
Auctions means any place or facility where animals are regularly bought, sold or traded, except for those facilities otherwise defined in this chapter. This definition does not apply to individual sale of animals by owners.
Circus means a commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.
Commercial animal establishment means any pet shop, grooming shop, auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus or performing animal exhibition.
Domestic animal means any animal whose natural habitat is with humans.
Humane officer means any person designated by the city or a law enforcement officer who is qualified to perform such duties under the laws of this state.
Kennel means any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee, or selling dogs or cats; or any premises where more than three dogs or three cats over the age of six months are kept.
Licensing authority means the city, acting through its municipal court, its tax department and its humane officers.
Neuter means to render a male dog or cat unable to reproduce.
Owner means any person owning, keeping or harboring one or more animals. An animal shall be deemed to be harbored if it is fed or sheltered for three consecutive days or more. Also, a person legally competent to enter into a contract acquiring a dog or cat from a releasing agency.
Performing animal exhibition means any spectacle, display, act or event, other than circuses, in which performing animals are used.
Pet means any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
Pet grooming shop means a commercial establishment where animals are bathed, clipped, plucked or otherwise groomed.
Pet shop means any person, whether operated separately or in connection with another business enterprise, except for a licensed kennel, that buys, sells or boards any species of animal.
Public nuisance means any animal or animals which:
(1) Molests passersby or passing vehicles;
(2) Unprovoked, attacks persons or other animals;
(3) Trespasses on school grounds;
(4) Is repeatedly at large;
(5) Damages private or public property; or
(6) Barks, whines or howls in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion, or emits any loud or offensive noise which offends adjoining residents.
Releasing agency means any pound, shelter or humane society organization, whether public or private.
Restraint means any animal secured by a leash or lead when off the owner's property.
Riding school or stable means any place which has available for hire, boarding and/or riding instructions, any horse, pony, donkey, mule or burro.
Small animal clinic means any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.
Spay means to remove the ovaries of a female dog or cat in order to render such animal unable to reproduce.
Sterilization means to spay or neuter a dog or cat.
Vicious animal means any animal that attacks, bites or attempts to bite without provocation.
Wild animal means and includes any animal, reptile or fowl, which is not naturally true or gentle but is of wild nature or disposition, of which is known to be vicious and must be kept in confinement to be brought within power of the owner.
Zoological park means any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, displaying or exhibiting one or more species of undomesticated animals operated by a person, partnership, corporation or government agency.
(Code 1975, § 5-1)
Cross references: Definitions generally, § 1-2.
State law references: Authority to prohibit animals running at large generally, 11 O.S. § 22-115.

Sec. 14-2. Animal care.
(a) No owner shall fail to provide his animals with sufficient good and wholesome food and water, proper shelter and protection from the weather, veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering, and with humane care and treatment.
(b) No person shall beat, cruelly ill treat, torment, overload, overwork, or otherwise abuse an animal, or cause, instigate, or permit any dogfight, cockfight, bullfight, or other combat between animals or between animals and humans.
(c) No owner of an animal shall abandon such animal.
(d) Any person wishing to dispose of an animal may bring such animal to the city shelter for the purpose of euthanasia or adoption and shall pay a fee of $15.00 to the city. Any person bringing more than one cat or dog from the same litter shall pay to the city the sum of $25.00. Any person bringing unweaned, geriatric, diseased, or injured animals to the shelter shall also sign a release authorizing the immediate humane euthanasia of the animal or animals.
(e) No person shall give away any live animal, fish, reptile, or bird as a prize for, or as an inducement to enter, any contest, game, or other competition, or as an inducement to enter a place of amusement; or offer such vertebrate as an incentive to enter into any business agreement whereby the offer was for the purpose of attracting trade.
(f) Any person who, as the operator of a motor vehicle, strikes any animal shall stop at once and render such assistance as may be possible or shall immediately report such injury or death to the animal's owner. If the owner cannot be ascertained and located such operator shall at once report the accident to the appropriate law enforcement agency or to the local humane society.
(g) No person shall expose any known poisonous substance, whether mixed with food or not, so that the same shall be liable to be eaten by any animal, except as provided by state law; provided that it shall not be unlawful for a person to expose on his own property common rat poison mixed only with vegetable substances.
(Code 1975, § 5-7)
State law references: Prohibited acts with regard to animals, 21 O.S. § 1680 et seq.

Sec. 14-3. Keeping of wild animals.
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Sec. 14-4. Bee hives on residential lots, number restricted.
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Sec. 14-5. Performing animal exhibitions.
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Sec. 14-6. Keeping of swine.
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Sec. 14-7. Noisy animals.
It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or harbor within the city any animal which, by emitting any irritating and/or offensive noise, disturbs the peace and quiet of any person.
(Code 1975, § 5-16)

Sec. 14-8. Storage and disposition of manure; site requirements.
(a) Storage. No horse, mule, donkey, pony, cow, goat, sheep or other similar animal shall be kept within less than 200 feet of any tenement or apartment house, hotel, restaurant, boarding house, retail food store, building used for educational, religious or hospital purposes or residence, other than that occupied by the owner or occupant of the premises upon which such animal is kept. The owner of any of the above-listed animals shall provide a watertight and flytight receptacle on the premises for manure, of such size as to hold all accumulations of manure. Such receptacle shall be emptied sufficiently often and in such manner as to prevent it from being or becoming a nuisance, and shall be kept covered at all times, except when open during the deposit or removal of manure or refuse. No manure shall be allowed to accumulate on such premises, except in such receptacle.
(b) Disposal. Manure shall be hauled outside the city in a manner which does not jeopardize the public health, or shall be spread evenly upon the ground and turned under at once or as soon as the weather permits.
(c) Site requirement. Any property on which is kept a horse, mule, donkey, pony, cow, goat, sheep, swine or similar animal shall be not less than one-half acre in size. There shall be an additional 10,000 square feet of lot area required for each additional animal where two or more are kept.
(Code 1975, § 5-11)
Cross references: Solid waste, ch. 98.

Sec. 14-9. Location of premises where kept.
No stable, dog kennel, rabbit warren, lot, yard or other establishment wherein animals are kept shall be maintained closer than 40 feet to any tenement or apartment house, hotel, restaurant, boardinghouse, retail food store, building used for educational, religious or hospital purposes, or residence, other than that occupied by the owner or occupant of the premises upon which such animals are kept.
(Code 1975, § 5-14)

Sec. 14-10. Maintenance of premises where kept.
Every stable, structure, pen, lot or place wherein any animal is kept or permitted to be shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition, devoid of rodents and vermin and free from objectionable odors, excepting agricultural-zoned property of at least five acres.
(Code 1975, § 5-15)

Sec. 14-11. Vicious or dangerous animals.
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(3) Any warm-blooded, carnivorous or omnivorous wild or exotic animal, dangerous or undomesticated animal which is not of a species customarily used as an ordinary household pet, but one which would ordinarily be confined in a zoo, or one which would ordinarily be found in the wilderness of this or any other country, or one which otherwise causes a reasonable person to be fearful of bodily harm or property damage (including, but not limited to, nonhuman primates, raccoons, skunks, foxes and wild and exotic cats; but excluding fowl, ferrets and small rodents of varieties used for laboratory purposes);
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[Rozzie]

Basically, it looks like that boils down to:

1. No "animal which, by emitting any irritating and/or offensive noise, disturbs the peace and quiet of any person."

This would seem to indicate that roosters & guineas would be illegal. Someone might claim ducks or geese disturb them, too. It'd be hard to say a hen or coturnix quail was a problem, I think.

2. "No stable, dog kennel, rabbit warren, lot, yard or other establishment wherein animals are kept shall be maintained closer than 40 feet to any tenement or apartment house, hotel, restaurant, boardinghouse, retail food store, building used for educational, religious or hospital purposes, or residence, other than that occupied by the owner or occupant of the premises upon which such animals are kept."

Looks like you have to have a 40 foot set back from pretty much any house other than your own, plus 40 foot from any hotel, restaurant, apartments, food store, school, church, hospital, etc.

3. "Every stable, structure, pen, lot or place wherein any animal is kept or permitted to be shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition, devoid of rodents and vermin and free from objectionable odors, excepting agricultural-zoned property of at least five acres"

You have to keep the place clean and odor free. You'd need to store / feed in such a way that you didn't end up with mice or rats.

4. Your ordinance appears to specifically EXEMPT birds from being considered dangerous animals. I would be cautious with this one, though, because another part of the ordinance (definitions) seemed to say otherwise.

5. No owner shall fail to provide his animals with sufficient good and wholesome food and water, proper shelter and protection from the weather, veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering, and with humane care and treatment."
Self explanatory.

I'd say that if your lot is big enough to allow the birds to be at least 40 foot from anyone else's residence or the listed types of businesses, keep things clean, provide good food, shelter, water AND VET CARE when needed (required in your case), and don't keep noisy things like roosters you should be okay.


Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am not giving legal advice. I am only providing my personal belief regarding what I believe the above ordinances say. If you have any doubts, seek legal advice or check with your local authorities before getting birds.