Backyard chickens vs HOA

[TxFlyGuy]

Emotional support chickens. To be clear Not service animals. They are different. Go to a doctor and explain your chickens help keep you and your family calm and teach good living habits to your children. Have them write a letter.

 

[PirateGirl]

The best thing to do when you live somewhere with an HOA is to be involved. Go to any meetings they have. Prepare to speak about any topics you wish to discuss when they have an open forum. Vote any time you have a right/opportunity to vote instead of giving your proxy to someone else. Run to be on the board if you want. Volunteer to start or be on a committee or task force should the need arise. You can make changes within an HOA, but you have to be an active participant for the old timers to take your requests seriously. Be polite. Don't cause a scene. Present your case in a calm and collected manner. I have been the HOA board president in the past and the homeowners that just get up and rant and rave at meetings tend to be dismissed (even when they have valid points). The way you present yourself and your case can go a long way, but you also have to show interest in helping the community as a whole and show interest in those things the other homeowners and board members deem important.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

 

[The Moonshiner]

Emotional support chickens. To be clear Not service animals. They are different. Go to a doctor and explain your chickens help keep you and your family calm and teach good living habits to your children. Have them write a letter.

Here's my emotional support chicken....

 

[KDrake]

We had an issue last year with this. The HOA went inactive and there is no longer even a board, but the covenants were "with the land." No one follows the covenants and everyone thought they were abandoned.

Anyways, some asshole bought the lot next to us and started giving us problems about our chickens. A few other people had chickens as well, but I guess he just had a problem with ours. He hired a lawyer and sent us a letter demanding we get rid of all chickens and everything associated with them (the coop).

So, we also hired a lawyer and got the covenants changed

It was easy for us because we didn't need to go through a board and most everyone in our community thought the covenants were stupid. We got more than enough votes needed. We ended up having to pay for everything ourselves. It was not cheap, but it was worth it.

Is your community open to any changes?

 

[ShannonR]

HOA's are the Devil. Why anyone would want to pay some "association" to tell you how to live your life, or what you can/cannot do on your own land, is completely beyond me. Hell no.

I made sure to not accept an HOA of any kind, even an older disbanded one that supposedly was only created for joint road maintenence. Those 3 letters should rightfully scare anyone off.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We had an issue last year with this. The HOA went inactive and there is no longer even a board, but the covenants were "with the land." No one follows the covenants and everyone thought they were abandoned.

Anyways, some asshole bought the lot next to us and started giving us problems about our chickens. A few other people had chickens as well, but I guess he just had a problem with ours. He hired a lawyer and sent us a letter demanding we get rid of all chickens and everything associated with them (the coop).

So, we also hired a lawyer and got the covenants changed

It was easy for us because we didn't need to go through a board and most everyone in our community thought the covenants were stupid. We got more than enough votes needed. We ended up having to pay for everything ourselves. It was not cheap, but it was worth it.

Is your community open to any changes?

What did your new neighbor think about that outcome?

 

[Frank3]

Here's my emotional support chicken....
View attachment 1783333

I live in South Mississippi so this is how I roll...

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Emotional support chickens.

That is horrible and dishonest.

Gary

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

That is horrible and dishonest.

Gary

Honestly how is that different from owning a dog and calling it an emotional support animal?