Disregarding Local Chicken Laws

[chickortreat]

They just passed the law here that we can have 6 hens, and have to pay a fee of $25 a year for a licence. i was given 4 hens right now they are at my mom's on the ranch till we get the coop built and ready. I have one neighbor that is against it, they live across the street next to the house where the cops are always at. I hate to tell her my chickens will be a lot quieter than that plus she can't see them from her house

What exactly does the $25 pay for? How can a group of people who are elected by the public to begin with decide to "sell" privileges to the general populace? Why not require the town council to pay a yearly fee of $1000 each to sit on their little thrones?

Sorry, but I regard most politicians with the same contempt as I do cockroaches.

 

[dainerra]

Good points, but what if the one wanting the chickens was there first?

And, having worked in neighborhoods for nearly 30 years, I can say barking dogs trump chickens for noise any day of the week.

on the first question, how would the person moving in be expected to know that their neighbor-to-be was breaking the law? It's a bit unfair to blame them for moving in not expecting to live next to illegal farm animals.
As for the 2nd point, that is why there are noise ordinances - it's illegal to have an obsessively barking dog. Though, when it comes to sheer volume, my chickens outperform my neighbor's barking dog most days. I was with my daughter selling Girl Scout stuff at a neighbor's house. You could hear the hens cackling over the sound of the highway and the little rat-dog next door - this house is almost 1/4 mile from my house! I asked if they were always that loud to which he replied "nah, I can usually hear them much better than this" On my side, he doesn't mind and enjoys listening to them and it's legal for me to have them here so it doesn't matter anyway.

Part of the compromise I make to live in an area where my birds are allowed is that it's a rural area with no leash law. So sometimes a neighbor decides to exercise their right to let their dog roam the neighborhood. If necessary, I exercise my right to shoot the dog.

 

[chickortreat]

Have it your way. I refuse to debate this. I contend that if this is a free country, chicken ownership is very low on the list of things in need of governing. And towns with ordinances against it must have powerful little on their hands to worry about if governing chickens is high on their agenda.

 

[Civil Eggs]

What exactly does the $25 pay for?

That would just cover the cost of recording and maintaining hen owners' information and possibly some extra costs associated with enforcement if there is a complaint.

 

[20736]

When chickens are outlawed, only outlaws will have chickens.

 

[chickortreat]

That would just cover the cost of recording and maintaining hen owners' information and possibly some extra costs associated with enforcement if there is a complaint.

That's about what I figured. Typical government garbage......create a problem, then charge someone else to cover the cost of the problem you've created.

When chickens are outlawed, only outlaws will have chickens.

 

[Jenny1]

Okay, lets take this argument in a different direction. Instead of chickens, lets say you are making really cute hair bows. Lets say you are really good at making them and everyone always compliments your kids hair. They want to have you make a hair bow for them. Then you decide that you want to "go into buisiness" and you go to the craft store, buy 3 rolls of ribbon and some clips and a couple hours later you have a cute little Etsy shop. You stick a small package in the mailbox twice a week when you sell something. Great, right? Well, what if your HOA or community said that it was zoned residential, not commercial? My guess is that 99 percent of people wouldnt care or even think twice about selling your hair bows on etsy. They might care if you decided to ramp up production. Maybe they would care if you had 150 illegal workers coming in your house everyday to run a ribbon making sweatshop. They might care if you started using hazardous glue by the barrel and left the barrels out in your yard. They might care if you had large trucks coming every hour to deliver supplies or take hairbows. But that is ridiculous. I think we would all agree there is a BIG difference between the two scenerios.

Raising 3 hens in your backyard for eggs for your family and a tomato plant in a pot on your porch is ENTIRELY different than having a turkey farm raising/slaughtering/breeding thousands of turkeys. 3 hens are VERY quiet. They are much quieter than a dog. So, I would say the law is there to keep problems out. But if you are responsible and cause no damage / irritation to your neighbors, then its not a problem. There is a difference between illegal and immoral.

Also. You can break the law. Just be prepared to live with the consequences. If you have chickens, you might have to rehome them. If you speed you could get a ticket- or kill a child. Etc. So, before you do something, think through the consequences. Is it something you are willing to deal with? Depends. Our old HOA required permits to plant anything in your front yard. Honestly, I didnt ask permission before I planted some marigolds in a pot on my front porch. If I had to move them I would. However, if I were to add an addition on to my house... I would get a permit. The consequence of tearing THAT down would be more than I would be willing to risk. Life is rarely completely black or white. The joy comes from all the colors inbetween.

 

[Jenny1]

What exactly does the $25 pay for? How can a group of people who are elected by the public to begin with decide to "sell" privileges to the general populace? Why not require the town council to pay a yearly fee of $1000 each to sit on their little thrones?

Sorry, but I regard most politicians with the same contempt as I do cockroaches.

I dont know.. cockroaches have some benefits. They at least eat trash...

 

[GoneRogue]

Just a little self BUMP.......

I just posted the video of my larger chicken laying an egg, pretty exciting, we've gotten 5 total eggs now.

You can fast forward to the 2 minute mark to see the egg being laid.

These are the ILLEGAL birds from my earlier posts.

 

[joestahl]

We have chickens illegally, but didn't know they were illegal. We were told by a council member that they were legal, she wasn't aware they weren't legal either. We know of at least 4 other families in our town who have chickens, including, a small business owner, a school board member, a cub scout leader and a librarian.
The way we found out they were illegal was by having a note from the humane society put on our door telling us we had 4 days to get rid of them. We were on vacation in Florida at the time, our chicken sitter called us to tell us, and our kids were devastated. We later found out that it was our neighbor diagonally behind us, not even an immediate neighbor. When we got back from Florida, there was only 2 days left before we were supposed to get rid of them. When the humane society came on that day, my wife talked to them and manage to get a 6 day extension. In the meantime, we managed to get the councilwoman who told us they were legal in the first place to get a temporary resolution passed allowing us to keep them while they could work on an ordinance. We just went to a council meeting on Tuesday night and the ordinance was introduced. It now has to be published in the paper to allow for any opposition, and it will be voted on at the next council meeting in 2 weeks. Hopefully there won't be much opposition. We are gathering all of our facts so we can counter any arguments that may be brought up at the council meeting.