Clarksville, TN .... Help!! :(

[CrunchyMommy]

Hello all!
My husband and I just purchased a home in good ol' Clarksville TN and we really want to raise a few egg laying chickens. We were thinking perhaps 3 since its just the us and our two daughters. Now from what I've read...we are ALLOWED to have them, so long as they don't bother anyone. It also pertains to smell, noise etc. But from a few people I have spoken to, they say it's a big no-no and don't even bother. We really don't want to pour our heart and soul into this and then have to get rid of them

I've frequented this site a lot and have searched for ideas and have come up blank. What would you do or recommend? I feel somewhat lost that there are no definitive answers

 

[CrunchyMommy]

I guess I should add we live in Montgomery County

 

[mandelyn]

That's the same sort of rule we have here. (and we used to live in Ft Campbell and considered staying in Clarksville after I read they had the same sort of chicken rules as home!)

Basically, do what you want so long as no one complains. The biggest thing is to talk directly with the people it may affect, your neighbors. I did every house who's lot touches ours, 6 total. Easier when it's just two, but we're the deepest lot on this city block and so everyone around can see what we're doing back there.

3 little laying hens is totally different than a yard full of stags tied to barrels. An unwritten rule of sorts is no rooster, someone will complain. Maybe the person working 3rd shift, maybe the person who can deal with dog barking but not rooster crowing.

We have to put the chicken waste into a sealed container. So near the coop I have a large garbage can. I clean the coop "scoop" style, easy with pine bedding. The scooped stuff goes in the can, the bedding goes to compost as needed.

Check for supplies at TSC or Rural King. You'll need a horse stall refresher, like Sweet PDZ or Stalldry. Does wonders with odor while saving on bedding expense.

DE "Diatomacious Earth", food grade (powder type only!) works by killing anything with an exoskeleton such as bug larvae that may be in the runs or where ever. Liberal use of that is a life saver too.

Check out the visibility of your yard. Consider a privacy fence if you don't already have one. It will buffer some noise and keep them from being visible several houses down.

When I was evaluating the suitability of this specific house, I sat on the porch and I listened to the neighborhood noises when we first moved in. Traffic sounds from the semi busy road. TRAINs, screaming kids, screaming couple in the corner house letting everyone know their business. Barking dogs, more screaming kids coming through on bikes. ANOTHER train (we live near enough to the crossings to hear all 5 of them!!!). The idiot dog 5 houses up, it must be chained or left out too long.

And then I heard it. BuGOCK! Chickens! Already in this neighborhood! Faint, compared to everything else I heard. Off to Lowes we went for building supplies and I had chickens that week. Later we added ducks, the quack blends nicely with everything else, after 1 year with them, you'd miss it if it wasn't there.

In the morning when all is quiet, birds are singing, a couple of muffled quacks.. the only disturbance would be a rooster crow, it would shatter everything.

2 of our neighbors know the other people with chickens. The old man watches the ducks from his back yard. In the back, none of those yards are fenced, so 3 of those neighbors have all talked to me and 2 buy eggs. Next door on either side they like it. 2 on the far right don't mind and also don't care. 1 is unaccounted for, I think they're really old and wouldn't hear much anyways, they're never outside.

Might be different in a neighborhood that doesn't have a whole lot going on. Here... they blend, and are the least of it.

You can also conceal the coop area with landscaping. Anything pine will stay green year round and buffer noise and the visual. Bamboo too, but that stuff gets TALL. Grapevines, sunflowers, lattice type decorative fencing. Seems everyone is surprised when they see a cute coop, they were expecting something less... appealing? when they first see what you've built. All our neighbors except the 2 who are friends with the other chicken people did have some trepidation about the idea. Easily convinced though, and we've been good to go for 19 months now.

With how hot it gets down there, you'll want shade around the coop. But it's totally doable, depending on your neighbors. Even where laws are more lax and there isn't a lot of restrictions, one bad neighbor can ruin that too. So talk to them, they have the say-so.

 

[dcvcom]

I also live in Montgomery County and am wondering if there are any laws in regards to chicken coop location? i.e. how many feet from property lines or other houses?

 

[dbkdjk]

Evidently it is a violation of codes to have backyard chickens in Clarksville--we have 4 and over 2 acres and we were cited, because they cannot be within 200 feet of any property lines (even though we own the lot next door, making 5 acres). We have appeared before the city council on May 3, to gain support for backyard chickens. Please contact your city council member and aske them to support backyard chickens!!

 

[dbkdjk]

Here's hoping this isn't a double reply.

We live in Clarksville and received notice about our 4 chickens being a violation of codes. We are zoned R1 and have over 2 acres on the lot our house is on and own the lot next door, but (according to the codes interpretation) they must be with in 200 ft of all property lines.

We have now went before city council trying to get the codes change. Please contact our city council--emails follow.

[email protected],

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

 

[Crazyfishingirl]

I live in Clarksville and I have spoken to my surrounding neighbors to make sure they would be okay with it. We built a very nice larger coop and only keep 3 hens for eggs. I have had no problems but I just make sure to keep my coop clean so to keep down on smell but really unless you have a huge messy coop with lots of roosters and never clean it your neighbors will generally be fine with it.

 

[Sprinkles212]

I live in Clarksville and I have spoken to my surrounding neighbors to make sure they would be okay with it. We built a very nice larger coop and only keep 3 hens for eggs. I have had no problems but I just make sure to keep my coop clean so to keep down on smell but really unless you have a huge messy coop with lots of roosters and never clean it your neighbors will generally be fine with it.

Cute coop!

 

[DMRippy]

Maybe since Nashville just passed an ordinance you can get them on board. Good luck! You would think as agricultural as TN is this would not even be an issue. I thankfully am excluded from these limitations, I am zoned Agricultural so I can have all the chickens and roos I want..... I hope that is right...

Come join us on the Middle TN thread too...... All of you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/440277/the-middle-tennessee-thread/5670#post_9157809

 

[ronott1]

Good luck with this!

Luckily I live i a place that allows chickens. We can have 6 hens here in woodland CA. No permits, no roosters and the coop must be 40 feed from the neighbors house.

There is a thread here with information about chicken laws. I would go here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ect-find-submit-local-chicken-laws-ordinances

Post a reply and ask for help. There are lots of people that help with this. Another person to check into is Andy the Chicken Whisperer. He may even go to the city council meeting for you, or find someone to go for you.

Strangely, a lot of Rural cities have laws against chickens because they mistakenly think chicken keeping is low class. Conversely, San Francisco, New York and other big cities are allowing chicken keeping as part of the "green Movement".

Go figure. Some perceived as Hicks trying to be classy and those perceived as classy trying to be hicks

Ron