Baltimore County, MD chicken regulation change

Silverbamboo33

In the Brooder
Apr 16, 2021
5
31
41
šŸ”Hello!

We currently live in Baltimore County on 1/3 of an acre with our 2 elementary aged children. We are planning for backyard chickens, but we want to change the 1-acre minimum that is needed to own pet chickens in our county so we can raise chickens legally AND so other families can as well. šŸ¤ž

I am reaching out as a member of the Backyard Chicken Caucus for Baltimore County and asking for your help. We have had productive meetings with council members and we are asking residents to sign our petition BCC Petition and/or send a letter to their district's council rep here:
https://www.backyardchickencaucus.com/send-a-letter/

We want to keep up the momentum and keep growing our petition and letter support as we move forward with more council rep meetings.

Follow our page on FB https://www.facebook.com/backyardchickencaucus

Our mission is to not only change the regulation, but also to provide education and information for both chicken owners and residents so both can coexist together in a community.

Thank you for your support!

https://www.backyardchickencaucus.com/
 
Good luck!
I donā€™t live there, but hoping you are successful.

In the past I lived in a subdivision on 1/4-1/3 of an acre. I could have easily put in a coop for a dozen hens and not bothered any of my neighbors and had it placed to be out of the way. Hopefully, you are allowed to do the same!
 
Good luck!
I donā€™t live there, but hoping you are successful.

In the past I lived in a subdivision on 1/4-1/3 of an acre. I could have easily put in a coop for a dozen hens and not bothered any of my neighbors and had it placed to be out of the way. Hopefully, you are allowed to do the same!
Thank you so much. Yep, the law is pretty bonkers. We've made some amazing progress... I really hope we can get this changed! The space for our future coop used to be a huge brush pile from the previous owner. We've cleaned it out and feel a cute little coop and run would be a huge improvement. A lot of pet chicken supporters are in the same position - some "dead" space in their yard that could easily be put to better use. The only thing that stands in their way is the regulation šŸ˜•
 
Iā€™ve seen on BYC mention of exceptions for educational purposes -such as 4- H for having some livestock, goats, chickens, similar.
I always think it is silly for the number of chickens to be capped at 4...I think 6-12 is a much better overall number for most situations bc if one or more die, you still have a small flock. If you want to add young ones in, then you can add in a few together. Also, the run size can still be ā€œsmallā€ with 12 or less. A 10x10 dog kennel size (a very common size) is perfect for 10 chickens, of course, more space is always beneficial.

in a neighborhood, with smaller lots, the main concern is around a clean coop so that smells are not an issue, in addition to not feeding the rodent population. There will always be rodents, but keeping clean and proper storage will not allow a rodent explosion. Of course, roosters are not usually welcome in a neighborhood.

if you are able, I would suggest you try to get the number of chickens to be X after 3 or 6 months of age. The purpose for that language is 2-fold. 1. If someone gets sexed chicks, there is a 10-20% chance of a male. So, they can get a few more chicks, knowing that some could die or be males, but they can still have a mature/egg laying flock that does not exceed the limits. They also have a bit of time to rehome the excess or males. Only issue here is that some males will have an identifiable crow by 4 months, although not all breeds are early crowers. 2. If someone wanted meatbirds, then they could raise a small number of meatbirds 1-2x per year bc meatbirds are butchered by 8 weeks and never crow. So, keeping the numbers open on the young end is beneficial.
 
Iā€™ve seen on BYC mention of exceptions for educational purposes -such as 4- H for having some livestock, goats, chickens, similar.
I always think it is silly for the number of chickens to be capped at 4...I think 6-12 is a much better overall number for most situations bc if one or more die, you still have a small flock. If you want to add young ones in, then you can add in a few together. Also, the run size can still be ā€œsmallā€ with 12 or less. A 10x10 dog kennel size (a very common size) is perfect for 10 chickens, of course, more space is always beneficial.

in a neighborhood, with smaller lots, the main concern is around a clean coop so that smells are not an issue, in addition to not feeding the rodent population. There will always be rodents, but keeping clean and proper storage will not allow a rodent explosion. Of course, roosters are not usually welcome in a neighborhood.

if you are able, I would suggest you try to get the number of chickens to be X after 3 or 6 months of age. The purpose for that language is 2-fold. 1. If someone gets sexed chicks, there is a 10-20% chance of a male. So, they can get a few more chicks, knowing that some could die or be males, but they can still have a mature/egg laying flock that does not exceed the limits. They also have a bit of time to rehome the excess or males. Only issue here is that some males will have an identifiable crow by 4 months, although not all breeds are early crowers. 2. If someone wanted meatbirds, then they could raise a small number of meatbirds 1-2x per year bc meatbirds are butchered by 8 weeks and never crow. So, keeping the numbers open on the young end is beneficial.
That's a common sense approach! Much better than zero chickens under one acre and then unlimited at an acre! Our proposed legislation has a certain amount of chickens up to 10,000 SF and then per each step of land an additional chicken. There would be an additional permit that would require neighbor input for roosters, attached homes, or more chickens than in the legislation states.

I wish some of the naysayers would understand that rats will exist no matter what. They LOVE open birdfeeders and open trashcans. And odor comes with any pet! Even a well tended yard with a dog, has the occasional odor on warm days, but we don't outlaw dogs! And I love my pooch, but yes, sometimes his favorite pee spots stink :(
 
rats will exist no matter what. They LOVE open birdfeeders and open trashcans

Rats will always exist! Just try to keep their population on the low end. Feed bowls for dogs or cats are left out....certainly a bonus to any rodent population. Bird feeders are laughable bc there are always seeds that get dropped on the ground - delicious to the rodents.

hopefully you are successful.

A poster from last century!

Screen Shot 2021-04-17 at 8.06.34 AM.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom