Changing Sacramento laws (would like feedback on law language)

[hensintheghetto]

Actually, besides that you are likely to randomly end up with 50% roosters if you hatch from eggs or buy straight runs, is there a reason people NEED or specifically want roosters?

That's what we are coming up against...If there isn't a real need to have them then they are likely to get cut in the law in favor of hens. It may be an unfair judgment against roosters, but so far we haven't come up with a good reason why people living in the city would need a rooster.

 

[gpamela3499]

Quote:
I live in Contra Costa just down river we have a NO LIVESTOCK/POULTRY Law I asked to see it and poultry includes doves, pigeons, chickens, quail, ducks, etc. I would love to help you out in addition my chicks are teachers and soon will be community activists.

I take my chicks and pullets to the college preschool. I have lots of pictures of children and chicks. My son will come down and tell you on video all the things he knows about chickens. They have been very educational in many ways. The chicken breeds are many colors, from almost every country, and for the children very concrete. In the past the children got to play with the small colored barnyard animals in which the chicken is the same size as the pig and the cow. They also got to see the difference between feathers and fur. As soon as I can get some diapers my chickens will be visiting the elderly in homes and nursing facilities. Finally as the girls begin to lay eggs many eggs will be donated to the food banks and food kitchen.

I have spoken to all my neighbors and discussed with them the chickens and asked that if there is any issues or problems to please come to me first and I will solve it or get rid of the chickens. Many of my neighbors have roosters that I can hear (they don't bother me but I don't want them to be problems so I will get rid of them.) I hope this can help please contact me if you need to.
My son and our pullet Roxy

My back yard shed /coop

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Six hens is pretty limited...hardly enough for two people on a consistent basis.

Written consent from the occupants of nearby homes is impractical. Suppose you get that and then set up your elaborate coop just where you want it and everything is perfect and then your neighbor moves. New guy doesn't sign. Lawsuits waiting to happen. I would just shoot for some sort of setback requirement, such as 5 or 10 feet of the property line, similar to city/county requirements for pool equipment location. Although Sac City actually has no setback for pool equipment, you get the idea.

 

[hensintheghetto]

Quote:
What # of hens would be your ideal? Most lot sizes in Sacramento city are pretty small. We have a "large" lot compared to most people we know on 1/10th of an acre, and I feel like we're going to be pushing it to keep six hens on our property.

You're right about the new neighbors thing. Someone else pointed that out also, and the city council member my husband knows asked about it this morning when they spoke. He suggested that we add in a grandfather clause, so that new neighbors would have to honor written consents that were there before they bought or moved into the property.

In our situation (and I'd imagine in other small yards) the property line wouldn't work because the farthest location in our yard from any neighboring house is the corner of our property, directly on the property line. Sticking the coop in the center of our yard wouldn't be practical (or really the best thing as far as noise).

 

[NancyDz]

6 hens is a good number to shoot for on a city lot. I've got 7 that lay and we have more eggs than we know what to do with. even if you only get 3-4 a day.. you still have a couple dozen a week.


I think your plan is good except the rooster wording.... "apparent maturity" is too vague and gives too many loopholes for people to abuse the law and create problems ruining it for those that are obeying. Sac county is in the process of changing their laws and only allowing one rooster even in areas zoned for agricultural. I don't know how badly you want roosters included but I think your chances are better if they arent unless you really want to pursue the dog barking comparison.

Good luck! I used to live in East Sac and would have loved to have chickens when I was there.


Nancy

 

[farm dog]

i live in east sac and have 5 illegal pullets. i adore them, and it would be great if i didn't have to worry about them exposing themselves to the neighborhood!

general responses to the proposed city ordinance change:

- 6 hens is plenty for small lots (we have 1/8th acre, and more than six would be overwhelming).
- i see no defensible reason for having roosters in city limits. i think we need to pick our battles.
- remember the recent (last summer?) press about the family that was fined by the city for planting a veggie garden in their front yard, despite the city's stated aims to make Sac a green and sustainable place. backyard hens supports the same goals, and could be defended in the same way.
- regarding setbacks and/or neighbor consent, i suggest sticking with setbacks. some cities measure from a neighboring (primary) dwelling, and some from the property line. using my own situation as an example, 20 feet from neighbor's houses works well. measuring from the property line, however, is tricky if you want to avoid having the coop smack in the middle of the yard (we have a mobile chicken tractor that can be moved around, however).
- some people may take issue with potential "avian flu" or other health-related issues. mostly nonsense, but be prepared to rebut these types of criticisms.
- consider protecting the ability of residents to keep chickens in their front yards as well. with our chicken tractor, we could do that easily. a setback from the street/sidewalk would probably be in order, though.

good luck! how/when do you plan to formally present the proposal to City Council? and which CC member have you spoken with?

 

[TLM]

I agree with farm dog, all valid points.

I would hate to change the rooster issue from being a 'rooster' to a 'noise' issue. My hens can be pretty loud with their egg song. One of them sounds like a jungle fowl call....hoping my neighbors ignore it and think I have a parrot aviary.

I'll take pictures of my 'illegals' this weekend and post. In my opinion I have a pretty clean and cute setup with coop, run, flowers and raised vegetables. I live near UC Davis Med Center, my lot is .16, which is typical for my neighborhood.

 

[hensintheghetto]

TLM-I live in Oak Park also (south of Broadway).

FarmDog-Thanks for the feedback! I agree that avian flu is going to come up. My thought on that is that all birds are equally likely to carry avian flu, so A) it's basically a moot point unless we are outlawing all wild birds and B) if someone has a chicken die, they are more likely to get it checked for diseases (I believe there are free services though UC Davis) if they aren't afraid they are going to get in trouble for having an illegal bird.

There is going to be a press conferences on Earth Day (next Wednesday) morning with council members Fong and Hammond at McClatchy Park (Cohen said he'd like to come, but may have a conflicting meeting). If anyone can make it, that would be great! You can email me at [email protected] or just show up! Feel free to pass along the info as well.

Come out to McClatchy Park (3500 5th Ave. at 33rd St.) at 10am on Earth Day (April 22nd) to help launch the campaign to amend the chicken ordinance within the City of Sacramento’s code. This exiting press conference will officially announce the effort to make hens legal within the Sacramento city limits.

Many cities throughout the Unites States including Oakland, Los Angeles, Denver, and Portland (just to name a few) allow residents to raise laying hens. Let’s encourage Sacramento to follow their lead.

A backyard flock provides nutritious eggs, soil amendment for gardeners, pest control, and countless hours of amusement. Traditionally, a small kitchen garden and a few hens were common in urban backyards. The current economic climate has served as an impetus for Sacramentans to roll up their sleeves and grow their own food. The chicken ordinance inhibits resident’s ability to keep hens for egg production.

Join local politicians, organizations, and residents as we kick off the campaign to repeal this ordinance!

 

[poltroon]

I don't think anyone needs a rooster, but bantams, which may be the most appropriate for a small lot, only come straight run, so someone might end up with a young rooster, so there would be some time between noticing it's a boy and finding it a new home. I suppose if it's not noisy, no one would notice it was a rooster.

 

[poltroon]

As far as avian flu goes, at the moment it's not an issue, because it only spreads between birds. The problem with avian flu is if it mutates to spread to humans - and it's not especially likely to do that in the US, where we have good sanitation. The most likely scenario if such an outbreak occurs will be that it is transmitted to humans in Asia and then starts going human to human. It's extremely unlikely that even if a bird gets the nasty flu strain in the US, that it will both transmit it to a human and then that strain will be able to transmit to other humans.

You may not want to have that conversation in detail, but having an answer like that in your head may be helpful.