Does this sound like we can raise chickens?

[Dubhead]

Folks,
Glad to see an area of the forums for posting questions of this type. My wife did her diligence in checking with our county's city zoning ordinances to verify that we could keep up to 4 hens (no roosters) on our lot. We have since picked up 4 Australorp chicks which we are excited about setting up a coop for outside soon. I did a little more digging into our subdivisions protective covenants and found this statement which I initially took as we could NOT have chickens but reading it a little more carefully it appears that we actually can. What do you all think??

Here it is:

(From Wilderness Rim Restrictive Covenants document)

4. [Livestock, poultry and pets] No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred, or kept on any lot, except that dogs, cats, or household pets may be kept provided that they are not kept, bred, or maintained for any commercial purpose.


What I read in that is that our 4 chickens are our household pets and we are not raising them for commercial purposes whatsoever. I think we are in the clear here and will probably go ahead and keep the chicks anyways but I would love to hear what everyone thinks on this one. If it becomes clear that we are NOT allowed to have them, we will have to see about getting our covenants changed!

Thanks for taking a look and sharing your thoughts!

~David

 

[Pennyhen]

Hi,
I really have no knowledge of this to advise you on anything. I just wanted to chime in and say good luck to you! I sincerely hope you get to keep and enjoy your chicken friends for a long time.

Blessings,
Laurie

 

[Mahonri]

Go for it.

 

[Matt A NC]

If you can convince them that the chickens are pets, then yes. I know in my local town they pasted an ordinance that declared chickens livestock that can't be kept as pets. For livestock you have to have 5 acres of land to have chickens within the city limits.

I live 6 miles from town.

Matt

 

[DIMBY]

I have some experience with HOA covenants, and it looks like you're not going to be able to bend that statement - chickens are considered livestock or barnyard animals. However, here are some other questions: how 'functional' is your HOA? Do you have officers, a board, does it file the necessary annual paperwork with your state, etc.? If it's as dysfunctional as some HOAs I am familiar with, you might be ok - until somebody complains, then you'll have a problem. More questions: if it is organized, would your board be open to changing the bylaws? Are there others in your subdivision that are interested in having chickens? Strength in numbers and all that. Remember: It takes only one person to complain and that can make your life pretty miserable. Good luck.

 

[Dubhead]

DIMBY et al.,
You make some good points, our HOA is pretty active and engaged but I do feel there may be some levity there. I will examine what they file annually and whether the covenants do indeed override the county provisions that allow this. It is ironic that you can have chickens in downtown Seattle but not out where we live in the county and back up against National Forest! Our covenants were written in 1969 and are in effect for 25 years, after that time period they auto-renew and are effective another 25 years. I think I might be able to raise some consensus with homeowners about keeping a modest amount of hens in the subdivision but I am not sure we can actually amend the covenants until they are expired in 2019. It makes me upset enough that I might consider moving just because of a poorly worded and ambiguous covenant. I am still probably going to do it and keep things as covert as possible. Like others mention here, our neighbors animals are way more out of control than four hens could ever be. I don't mind calling animal control or setting traps for animals that invade our property if there is reckless disregard for keeping all animals properly managed.

 

[write2caroline]

I believe that if you keep your chickens as pets -

Name them, take a lot of pictures of them - put those crazy chicken diapers on them and bring them into the house from time to time and treat them like you would say a vogue little mini dog - someone would have a hard time saying they are livestock, certainly you would have evidence of the contrary.

You would not be selling eggs or breeding them.

On the same note, I would make your coop really low key look more like anything but a chicken coop...install some back yard speakers and play some nature sounds or music when they are laying eggs - mask the sound some. You might just get by till 2019 when the new HOA needs reworking.

I lived in a neighborhood in San Jose CA as a kid, we lived on a corner lot. Our immediate neighbor on the right was the most irritating of people but never knew the people next to her had chickens and in fact she was surrounded by chickens and never knew it. If she had known she would have called animal control and complained. We had puppies and she started calling the minute they turned 8 weeks till the last pup was gone. Our neighbors had some ingenius coops. Some let their girls out for a walkabout when they were home. Most had two or three girls. They would get them all together as one purchase. The coops looked like play houses, garden sheds and planting benches. Some had creeping vines like star jasmine growing up the sides. One even had a waterfall. So it is possible. You could easily be a pro chicken advocate without revealing you are keeping chickens. Oh and the best part was that Judy was constantly being given eggs by people who said they got more than they needed at the farmers market.

So best of luck to you and happy coop building
Caroline

So glad I live in the middle of nowhere with NO HOA

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

CHeck state laws relating to HOAs. They may provide for a means to change the CC&Rs prior to the 25 year period. In any case, with a 100% vote you could amend the restrictions earlier, b ut getting 100% approval is pretty much a pipe dream (sorry).

CC&Rs can be stricter than statute, but it really depends on how the statute is worded.

 

[dacjohns]

4. [Livestock, poultry and pets] No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred, or kept on any lot, except that dogs, cats, or household pets may be kept provided that they are not kept, bred, or maintained for any commercial purpose.

I think the intent is no livestock or poultry but the wording isn't very good and you might have a case.

No animals, livestock, or poultry of any kind. Pretty inclusive.
except that dogs, cats, or household pets. . . livestock and poultry are not usually considered pets.​

 

[dntd]

unless you go for fancy looking bantoms