College Project help

[WhitewaterCOOP]

Hello chicken community!

My name is Kevin Nelsen and I am a Student at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. I am currently doing a marketing project where my group has chosen to create a business that makes custom chicken coops for clients. We are currently in the stage of doing research and we really can't find much. I came up on this website and it has been a wealth of information for us! However, we still do not have a complete lists of ordinances that allow chickens in the state of Wisconsin. We were wondering if anyone out there could help us and if they had any information available for us to use in our business plan.

Thank you in advance!

Kevin Nelsen
Whitewater, WI

 

[chfite]

I am not in Wisconsin, but one thing to watch for that exists in our ordinance is that a building permit is required to build a coop here, and said coop and run must be shielded from view.

Chris

 

[olefarmersdaughter]

I don't know if any state has a breakdown of individual ordinances for coops but if you put Wisconsin in the search bar you may get threads that discuss it for certain cities or towns in WI.

 

[chickortreat]

I am not in Wisconsin, but one thing to watch for that exists in our ordinance is that a building permit is required to build a coop here, and said coop and run must be shielded from view.
Chris

Without trying to fan any flames of controversy, WHY do you need a permit to build a chicken coop? So you have to go downtown and basically purchase permission to build something on your own land? I don't get it. When I built my house, I asked NO ONE. Same for the shop, barn, chicken coop, etc. It's my land, my buildings....

 

[20736]

I am going to recommend the book by Dr. Woods on Fresh Air Poultry Keeping.
Dang, I can't find my copy but goggle it.
Very helpful, has plans for small, medium and large coops.
(c) 1920's.

 

[KnoxvilleChick]

Wow...a complete list of ordinances would be hard. Here in Tennessee, it's often different city to county! Probably well over 100 ordinances here, all with their own rules.

Check out this website- http://www.thecitychicken.com/ . I remember from my own research that she had a page with links to lots of different ordinances.

Generally, ordinances are designed to protect the neighbors of chicken owners (and not often enough, the welfare of the animals). Things often included:
- limited flock size (often 4-8 in urban areas) and sometimes no roosters
- containment (covered run)
- placement of coop (distance from property line, line of sight to the road, backyard only, etc.)
- poop management (sometimes it has to be hauled away regularly, sometimes in a compost pile)
- appropriate coop/run size for the flock (my city's is surprisingly small- minimum of 2 square feet in the coop and 6 square feet in the run per hen)
- aesthetics (some must match the building materials of the house, some must be of all one type of material themselves)
There's also sometimes a difference in the types of permits needed for a small "moveable" house (even if you don't plan on moving it) and a coop that is "permanent" (footers) that would influence the marketability of your coops.

Cool project! Good luck!