Arizona Chickens

[City farm]

So here is what I found out from the city zoning lady.

#1) There is no city ordinance regarding this.
#2) In the city development codes under "Single Family Residence" is does not say anywhere that they are prohibited. Matter of fact it says NOTHING on the topic.
#3) There us an "Urban Ranching" zone that says they are permitted. Kicker? There is no such zone in the city.
#4) She told me the city consul was asked to add whether it was or was not allowed. It became so controversial that they only added the UR district section.
#5) When I asked her "So where does it say I CANT have them" her answer was only that what is there is about as clear as its going to get. In other words, but not in her words, as clear as mud.
#6) I asked her about fines and she said if they are called in, there is no fine, only a request to remove them. If the city has to remove them they charge you for the removal.


I'm not sure what to do with this information. Based on what is there......is it legal for them to take people chickens if it is not SPECIFICALLY stated that they are prohibited? Or am I to assume that because its NOT stated, it also not allowed?

Please help! I don't know what to do guys.

Ask your neighbors, you can get a feel of how they are.. We do have some snobby neighbors, but really since we live by so much "noise pollution" our neighbors love the sound of the rooster and our duck's. I did ask them to let me know about it and would do what ever we could to alleviate the noise. At this point Burt has to sleep in a smaller pin. I let him out when I wake up.. Although he does still crow early and has on a no crow collar, he is not as loud a she girl's are when they sing their "I just layed an egg, come and see!" song..
Get your hen's & share with your neighbors... They will love the farm fresh egg's.. HAY, we have started at least 4 other families or more with their own flock.. We are raising another flock to give to another family soon... Someone on every block in our neighborhood has chicken's.. We are right by A.S.U. Go for it girl!!!

 

[City farm]

venia tulip, the City can not cite you with a violation if there's nothing in the books. I have no idea how they can legally remove the chickens??? I'd call again and ask to speak to another planner or zoning code person. I'm going to guess you'll get a different answer from a different person. Might not be any more clear, but maybe you can piece the info together. Ugh, I think I'm going to have to buy an electric fence for destructo dog. I put up another fence panel this weekend...he took 2 minutes to look at it and hopped right over it into the chicken yard. Is it possible to just e-fence a mere 10' section? Oh, and Pretty Girl had a near death experience. She's smaller and more agile than the others, and she foolishly flew over into the dogs' yard. Found a bunch of her feathers in the dogs' "killing field"--not literally, it's where they destroy their dog toys, chew chunks of wood, whatever we're stupid enough to leave on the table out there (I see some socks and what is left of my daughter's soft sided lunch pack)...killing field below, now imagine a feather explosion joined the shreds. Anyway, Pretty Girl seems okay, a very small tear wound on her back. She's eating, drinking, running around, and doesn't appear to be in pain. I'm surprised the dog(s) let her go once they got her? Maybe it was the thrill of the hunt and then they released her once they caught her? Would an e-fence also keep her in? Although, I hate to think she'd be dumb enough to fly back over. I'm also working with both dogs to train them around the chickens. Destructo dog is learning quickly, but the instant prey drive is strong in the lab.

Dog's like chicken for dinner too.. Too bad about your lab, they are normally good for retrieving and having one of the softest bite's for bringing back your find, like water foul or egg's. We had some tourtiuse at one point. The family we would get them from had lab's that would go grab the babies and put them into baby raising section of the yard... The family said their dog's did it out of instinct.. You might need to train your dog and give them a job to satisfy them..

 

[yellow duck]

Oh wow your flock sounds spoiled... I hope you post up photos of your flock... How old are your ducklings ? Here is our 2 brat's Rick and Lauren.. She leaves us a gift every morning..

Duck egg

Well my ducks havent hatched yet there due on the 20th. I have 5 so far that are cooking good (so to speak) But i did have some ancona ducks that were just about to lay but my dog i Did have thought it would be more fun to have them as a snack as well as my 9 other almost laying chickens he now has a new home with a friend that has no birds! So i am starting from scrach again!!
I will post pics of my new babys when they hatch!! Im very excited!! e

 

[aviddamy]

So sorry to hear that you lost so many of your ladies.

I lost some babies (13) to a big dog. I still have him but he's confined in a kennel. I hope your hatch goes well for you.

 

[City farm]

Just put my 6 girls in their new area. I was afraid that the older girls would pick on the new ones. So once the babies I got in Nov had feathers, I put them in their own little coop (another commercial one) with the heat lamp because it was still cold at night, then we had that awful cold in Jan. But they are fine. I put theirs next to the others coop and run, so they could see each other and not get at each other. So today we let them all loose in their new home...... NO pecking or fussing at all. We had a Horse shade, but no horse and there was a dog kennel attached to it with a cement floor and lid, there was a BIG cable leash in there, so I'm thinking previous renters had big big dogs. We put fencing wire all around the shade, all the way to the top, then just scooted the 2 coops inside. Put some water on the cement so it won't get so dirty. They are in Chick Heaven with all the room. We still need to put a little shade screen around part for the summer and make bigger watering and feeding stations. So they don't have to fight over 1 tube & nipple. Right now they are loving the weeds, grass and crickets in there. Only the 3 big girls are visible, the others are pecking at the grass behind the larger coop. Will eventually cut holes in the fence for the nesting box's to poke thru and all feed & water set up so that when we are gone, the sitters don't have to go into the coop to gather eggs, water or feed.

Have you though of planting grape vines or roses? Our flock loves to eat the petals.. I love having fresh cut flowers indoors..

 

[City farm]

Oh wow your flock sounds spoiled... I hope you post up photos of your flock... How old are your ducklings ? Here is our 2 brat's Rick and Lauren.. She leaves us a gift every morning..

Duck egg

Well my ducks havent hatched yet there due on the 20th. I have 5 so far that are cooking good (so to speak) But i did have some ancona ducks that were just about to lay but my dog i Did have thought it would be more fun to have them as a snack as well as my 9 other almost laying chickens he now has a new home with a friend that has no birds! So i am starting from scrach again!!
I will post pics of my new babys when they hatch!! Im very excited!! e

Can't wait for photo's

So sorry to hear that you lost so many of your ladies.  I lost some babies (13) to a big dog. I still have him but he's confined in a kennel. I hope your hatch goes well for you.   

We have lost a few to our dog's as well... Really my fault.. I thought I had put the pin in the gate latch.. But I did not.. So now the flock only goes to the front yard for free range time with the duck's... Our large German Shepard want's chicken for dinner and cat for dinner, or play time..she acctually only killed the chicken.. She did not eat the chicken.. Her pray drive is stong..She shook the gate so hard it came away from the cement block wall.. Here she is tring to make friends with our 20 year old kitty.. Our cat think's she is a dog & want's to lay with her.. But our GS nibbles a bit to hard for our

kitty...

 

[rhondita55]

Have you though of planting grape vines or roses? Our flock loves to eat the petals.. I love having fresh cut flowers indoors..

That is a very good idea! I toss marigolds in there, I planted them by their other place, but they pulled them up and ate the whole plant. They love basil and cilantro too.

 

[pipemum]

Dog's like chicken for dinner too.. Too bad about your lab, they are normally good for retrieving and having one of the softest bite's for bringing back your find, like water foul or egg's. We had some tourtiuse at one point. The family we would get them from had lab's that would go grab the babies and put them into baby raising section of the yard... The family said their dog's did it out of instinct.. You might need to train your dog and give them a job to satisfy them..

Yes, the lab hasn't been trained much at all, beyond typical household and walking manners. We were given the puppy when my daughter was a tiny baby, and I told my husband that the lab was his deal since he wanted the dog and I had my hands full (we also had 3 other dogs at the time). Guess who thinks dogs must learn by mind-reading, because that's as far as he's ever gotten with "training" him. While the dogs do get plenty of exercise with me (I run), I do need to work on more complex training routines--and working on "chickens are NOT your dinner" training!

Cityfarm, that surface that your duck egg in a cup is on...is that a stained concrete counter? Looks gorgeous!

 

[pipemum]

I actually came on to post my tale of woe. I'm finally ready for some Cornish cross meat chickens, and the hatchery I prefer is sold out until May. Ugh. Too hot, even ordering now is pushing it. Everywhere is too expensive to ship a small order of 10, even Mcmurry (whatever it's called) isn't ready to ship until mid-April. So...I was thinking about raising some Pekin ducks (ready to ship asap)...but I know nothing about ducks or whether or not I'd like their meat. Is the greasiness in just how it's prepared or raised, or an inherent quality?

 

[Poor2rich1]

hello from Washington state! No you really do NOT have to worry about mold in AZ. You can mist away with little to no problems in good ol AZ! I lived there for 52 of my fifty three years of life! Had hundreds of chickens. Really you should change the straw every month or there abouts. It's just better hygen for your birds and straw is very cheep anyway. They tend to poop it up if you leave it longer anyway. While I'm at it the only vaccine I use is for merriks if I spelled it right?
But like many of the other posts have stated its a very good idea to shade, shade shade and more shade in that HOT az sun. Always provide plenty of good clean water or you can lose a whole flock in a single hot day! Myself I like to keep a couple of back-up water sources as I feel it's that important in AZ!!!!!
Enjoy the kids enjoying the birds! Chores are great reaponsability learning tools and yes you MUST check to be sure they did what they told you they did!
Best of luck with your backyard babies!!!! Big Scotty