Buying a House/Moving When You Have Chickens

[VeggieGoneEggie]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this thread, but it seemed like the closest.

Right now my partner and I are renting a home (in a fairly urban setting) from family where there were historically chickens and goats - so it was no big deal to renovate the old chicken coop and bring home baby chicks last year. Now I'm the proud mama of 9 hens, and lord knows the chicken fever makes me want to get more...

(FYI: there are zero chicken restrictions in our city ordinances)

Now we are looking to buy our first home. I'd love to find a place a little outside of town with a couple of acres, but for affordability and other reasons, we're staying open to buying a place in-town too. I'm feeling a little apprehensive about moving with chickens. Logistically, it may be difficult trying to quickly build a new coop at the new home when we're moving. It seems most home owners associations won't allow chickens. And the new neighbors may not be thrilled with 9 (hopefully more someday, maybe as many as 15-20 is what I'd love) chickens moving in where there weren't any before.

Here's my question(s): What advice would you give to someone who has a small flock of chickens and is looking to buy a house? If you bought a new place and moved while having chickens, what do you know now that you wish you knew back then? Anything surprising? Any red flags you'd warn me about? Anything I can do to help things go smoothly?

Thanks!

 

[Kiki]

City ordinances are one thing...another thing to check are home owners associations bylaws.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Here's my question(s): What advice would you give to someone who has a small flock of chickens and is looking to buy a house? If you bought a new place and moved while having chickens, what do you know now that you wish you knew back then? Anything surprising? Any red flags you'd warn me about? Anything I can do to help things go smoothly

First off, look into zoning/ordinances for the cities you're considering... having chickens was important to me so when I moved a couple years ago, I did my research in advance and refused to see any home in cities that didn't allow chickens. No point in seeing a suitable house only to find out afterwards that it wasn't going to meet that requirement.

Very few HOAs allow chickens, so avoid HOAs if at all possible.

A good realtor can help as they should know your area fairly well but always double check against their findings before you commit to anything.

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

Thanks both of you! Yes, I think I'll just have to stay away from HOAs altogether.

We're buying a home in the same city we live in now, so there still won't be any city restrictions on chickens at all. (There's no maximum or rooster prohibition, which is great).

How have folks handled building/buying a new coop at the new house when you're moving? Did you move your birds all in one day?

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

How have folks handled building/buying a new coop at the new house when you're moving? Did you move your birds all in one day?[/QUOTE]

I would hope the place I found had a suitable shed I could convert in a hurry, even if just temporary while I build a new one. Otherwise I would order a tuff shed to be built day one, give yourself a few days to move....

Gary

 

[VeggieGoneEggie]

How have folks handled building/buying a new coop at the new house when you're moving? Did you move your birds all in one day?

I would hope the place I found had a suitable shed I could convert in a hurry, even if just temporary while I build a new one. Otherwise I would order a tuff shed to be built day one, give yourself a few days to move....

Gary[/QUOTE]

That's a good idea. I'd been thinking so hard about a new permanent coop, it didn't even occur to me that I could have a temporary fix for the interim!

 

[iankosecond]

Very often movers steal things, so I want to know if this has happened to you? I am also interested in the prices of this company.

 

[McChooky]

Buy something in the county zoned for residential and farming. It might be in your best interest to build a hoop house chicken tractor and set it up on pavers when you move.You could always build them a permanent coop and run after you get settled in and resell the chicken tractor(get your money back for it)Chicken tractors aren't permanent buildings and aren't regulated as strictly.

 

[Hank101]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this thread, but it seemed like the closest.

Right now my partner and I are renting a home (in a fairly urban setting) from family where there were historically chickens and goats - so it was no big deal to renovate the old chicken coop and bring home baby chicks last year. Now I'm the proud mama of 9 hens, and lord knows the chicken fever makes me want to get more...

(FYI: there are zero chicken restrictions in our city ordinances)

Now we are looking to buy our first home. I'd love to find a place a little outside of town with a couple of acres, but for affordability and other reasons, we're staying open to buying a place in-town too. I'm feeling a little apprehensive about moving with chickens. Logistically, it may be difficult trying to quickly build a new coop at the new home when we're moving. It seems most home owners associations won't allow chickens. And the new neighbors may not be thrilled with 9 (hopefully more someday, maybe as many as 15-20 is what I'd love) chickens moving in where there weren't any before.

Here's my question(s): What advice would you give to someone who has a small flock of chickens and is looking to buy a house? If you bought a new place and moved while having chickens, what do you know now that you wish you knew back then? Anything surprising? Any red flags you'd warn me about? Anything I can do to help things go smoothly?

Thanks!

We have a house for sale that allows for chickens, which we have and four legged critters, goats etc. [email protected]
Broad Creek Rd New Bern NC
https://eastnc.craigslist.org/apa/d/new-bern-mini-farm-modern-energy/7545858283.html?lang=en&cc=gb

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Have your coop setup before you move the chickens. Even if that means moving your stuff in a few days early and going back to the old house to move the chickens.

We moved across the state last year with 15 pullets and what I learned:

1. Bankers boxes were great, dark and comfy small so they were mellow and less stressed out.

2. Have the coop ready to go. I am SO thankful that my FIL had bought us a used coop and we had gone over the pressure wash it months earlier and prep with pine shavings. It was ready for the girls when we arrived and made the transition so much easier

3. Time moving to the evening so you can put them into the coop near bedtime. Ours had a couple hours of bouncing off the walls trying to get out then settled down to sleep and were just fine in the morning.

4. Bare basics are just fine to begin with. Water, food, roosts, walls, ventilation, and a spot to lay eggs is all they need at a minimum when you first move. Then you can get your fencing up or get "better" upgraded water/food/nests going. You can use moving boxes on the ground as nesting boxes in a pinch.


I do like the idea of getting a shed and converting it if you are tight on time. You could prep by building the nesting boxes and roosts ahead of time then installing when the shed goes in.