City Issued a Citation and claims we aren’t allowed to have chickens due to neighbor’s complaint. What are my options?

[Lacy Duckwing]

Try the following: 1) Mix baking soda with cornmeal or cake mix (50/50). Place in containers that will keep the contents dry (and out of reach of the chickens). Rats can’t fart and burp like other mammals, resulting in rats that explode from the inside. Predators won”t be poisoned when they eat them. My cat will offer my silkies dead mice that he finds in my yard. 2) Depending on the size of the rats, chickens will hunt them and eat them whole. This act would be a great video to show your neighbors. 3) Store your chicken feed in big plastic or metal containers. It should be noted that food from any pet will be a draw. 4) Cut tree limbs and clear any vines that rats can access for travel and housing. 5) Place all vegetables and fruit grown in the yard behind cages. 6) Bring home chicken friendly barn cats that love to hunt rats and mice.

Study your yard to determine sources of food, housing, and transportation for the rats. Tree limbs in my yard touched the field behind my house to create an entry for a rat problem in my yard. They chewed through the bags of feed in my garage and yard. Everything is now in big plastic bins.

This is good advice on removing possible hiding spots and food sources. I do suggest a metal bin would be better than a plastic, because if rats can chew through 2x4s and even concrete, I think they can chew through plastic.

What I suggest, while the flock is away, get some one-bite rat poison and kill off all the rats before they get back. I don't know where the rat holes are, but with the rats I've dealt with, they were living under the chicken coop (which had the grain stored in a room in the same barn). I had a winter run that nothing but the rats were going into (it was on their trail to the grain room) and I would screw a One-Bite block of poison on their trail in there. Within a few days, the rats were either dead, or too sick to return for more. (I could tell the rats were gone by them no longer eating the poison.) With this setup, the rats had no reason to go to the outside world, so being exposed to predators (such as the strays and neighbor's cats) never happened.
This has worked well for me, though I don't trust it to keep the rats away forever. Between my neighborhood's dumpsters and trash, the rats do return, and as soon as I discover them, I'll set the poison back out again.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Good news.
I spoke with a city council member today who happens to be a neighbor (a few blocks away).
He wholeheartedly agreed with me and is willing to help. He said he will talk to the member who made the proposal and see what they can do.

He also told me that we shouldn’t have let them on our property unless they had a warrant. He said the government shouldn’t dictate what we do with our land.

Overall a very great guy and I’m glad I had the opportunity to speak with him.

Even better news.
View attachment 3789999
“by the end of May” sounds amazing to me.
That’s two months. If that happens you guys do not know how happy I’ll be.

I dropped off the remaining 6 hens at a friends house today.
I said goodbye but I know I’ll have them back in a little bit .

Thanks y’all for the advice. I’m really hoping and praying this works.

That's great news!

 

[MrIgmo]

If your chickens are for eggs and you address the rat problem (which they can't prove you are the cause of and not a victim of) I doubt the city can force you to get rid of your chickens. Often times they have ordinances in cities that violate your state or national rights. All you need to do is appeal or counter sue them. Unless your chickens are causing a direct threat to others health and safety they can't really do anything about it. The thing is, we can't really count on the government or the systems that provide our food to always be there, so having a local source of fresh eggs is to the benefit of the neighbors. It could save their lives one day. If you have enough area to free range them and a rooster to breed them it could very well become all of your only source of meat in the event that I don't know, Russia nuked DC or the Chinese floated an EMP balloon over the country and knocked out the power grid for 6 months or a year. Both of which aren't really that far off from being an impossibility. We are all here because our ancestors planned ahead for hard times.

 

[Climbingalbatross]

I don't know whether rats can burp or not.

But we know they can poop, so why wouldn't they fart? What could possibly keep air in while letting poop out?

A quick google search turns up lots of sources saying that rats can indeed fart. I found pest-control sites that say it, myth-busting sites that say it, and even discussions among people that keep pet rats, about the stinky farts their pets produce (to be honest, I found that the most convincing evidence of all, that pet owners were trading stories as if this is a perfectly normal thing.)

I used baking soda and cake mix for rats before on hungry rats. I didn't see any blood on the mouths of the rats that turned up dead, so it could be that they didn't explode. I also rely on cats and opossums to clear out mice. Plaster of Paris is recommended as an alternative rat poison. The only animal I've owned that routinely farted was a dog after eating turkey. It would make sense that rats, if given the right type of food, would result in some stinky farts.

 

[All4Eggz]

Well, not really much updates about amending the ordinance.
I am consistently reaching out to the council member who said something should be done by the end of May.
He told me it was delayed to sometime in June. So MAYBE this month.

Good news.
I spoke with a city council member today who happens to be a neighbor (a few blocks away).
He wholeheartedly agreed with me and is willing to help. He said he will talk to the member who made the proposal and see what they can do.

He also told me that we shouldn’t have let them on our property unless they had a warrant. He said the government shouldn’t dictate what we do with our land.

Overall a very great guy and I’m glad I had the opportunity to speak with him.

Even better news.
View attachment 3789999
“by the end of May” sounds amazing to me.
That’s two months. If that happens you guys do not know how happy I’ll be.

I dropped off the remaining 6 hens at a friends house today.
I said goodbye but I know I’ll have them back in a little bit .

Thanks y’all for the advice. I’m really hoping and praying this works.

The letter said no chickens, right?
What about..

DUCKS?
Absolutely. I got 5 little around 2 week old muscovy ducklings. A friend said his ducks hatched too many ducklings and he wanted to give me a few so I took them.

I don’t know how long I will have them, but I have people who can take them in a heart beet if need be.
They are not very loud so I’m not too worried about neighbors hearing and reporting, but even if they do, city needs a warrant to get on my property, and they need proof where in the letter it says I can’t have ducks. Then they’ll send a letter which will typically give us another week to get rid of them.

So we’ll see how this plays out I’m just happy to have these right now it brings me joy. They’re the cutest thing ever when they splash in their little pool and stay in there for hours.

Also something worth noting is that it’s my first time having ducklings!!

 

[User635240]

I wonder if you went above your city council to your state representative for help. On a parallel note, the State of Ohio legislature ruled last year that homeowners are allowed to rent out space for short term lodging (like Airbnb), and the ruling stated that this decision overrules any city or township ordinances.

Well, not really much updates about amending the ordinance.
I am consistently reaching out to the council member who said something should be done by the end of May.
He told me it was delayed to sometime in June. So MAYBE this month.



The letter said no chickens, right?
What about..

View attachment 3851461
DUCKS?
Absolutely. I got 5 little around 2 week old muscovy ducklings. A friend said his ducks hatched too many ducklings and he wanted to give me a few so I took them.

View attachment 3851463View attachment 3851464View attachment 3851465
View attachment 3851467
I don’t know how long I will have them, but I have people who can take them in a heart beet if need be.
They are not very loud so I’m not too worried about neighbors hearing and reporting, but even if they do, city needs a warrant to get on my property, and they need proof where in the letter it says I can’t have ducks. Then they’ll send a letter which will typically give us another week to get rid of them.

So we’ll see how this plays out I’m just happy to have these right now it brings me joy. They’re the cutest thing ever when they splash in their little pool and stay in there for hours.

Also something worth noting is that it’s my first time having ducklings!!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Well, not really much updates about amending the ordinance.
I am consistently reaching out to the council member who said something should be done by the end of May.
He told me it was delayed to sometime in June. So MAYBE this month.



The letter said no chickens, right?
What about..

View attachment 3851461
DUCKS?
Absolutely. I got 5 little around 2 week old muscovy ducklings. A friend said his ducks hatched too many ducklings and he wanted to give me a few so I took them.

View attachment 3851463View attachment 3851464View attachment 3851465
View attachment 3851467
I don’t know how long I will have them, but I have people who can take them in a heart beet if need be.
They are not very loud so I’m not too worried about neighbors hearing and reporting, but even if they do, city needs a warrant to get on my property, and they need proof where in the letter it says I can’t have ducks. Then they’ll send a letter which will typically give us another week to get rid of them.

So we’ll see how this plays out I’m just happy to have these right now it brings me joy. They’re the cutest thing ever when they splash in their little pool and stay in there for hours.

Also something worth noting is that it’s my first time having ducklings!!

Those are adorable! I'm so happy for you! Hopefully nothing bad will happen do to you having them. Even if you are allowed to keep them, I would never free-range them. Some Muscovies can be very aggressive, and if they go after a neighbor (or their pets), you could have bigger problems than you had before.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I wonder if you went above your city council to your state representative for help. On a parallel note, the State of Ohio legislature ruled last year that homeowners are allowed to rent out space for short term lodging (like Airbnb), and the ruling stated that this decision overrules any city or township ordinances.

I agree. In our State, we have a Right to Farm bill, that's actually causing problems in our town because someone in the middle of town has like a hundred goats, and nobody can do anything about it. Our town is trying to find things they could do because they're on town water and such, and for that amount of goats in the middle of town, it's a bit much.

 

[Vixen with Chickens]

Does the ordinance say ''chickens'' or ''poultry'' or maybe ''livestock''? As wording is very important in law. If it says only chickens you should print that out with the date, as well as screenshot it and you can get other birds like quail or ducks. Even if they change it later I think if you had them already you don't have to get rid of them.

 

[All4Eggz]

I wonder if you went above your city council to your state representative for help. On a parallel note, the State of Ohio legislature ruled last year that homeowners are allowed to rent out space for short term lodging (like Airbnb), and the ruling stated that this decision overrules any city or township ordinances.

I’m not sure that it’s a statewide issue, most cities in MA allow for chickens. It’s just a few cities in Western mass that limit or

Does the ordinance say ''chickens'' or ''poultry'' or maybe ''livestock''? As wording is very important in law. If it says only chickens you should print that out with the date, as well as screenshot it and you can get other birds like quail or ducks. Even if they change it later I think if you had them already you don't have to get rid of them.

I believe it says poultry or livestock definitely not just chickens.