By household pets, they generally mean animals that are commonly accepted as pets...i.e, cats, dogs, hamsters, aquarium fish, caged birds in the parrot family, that sort of thing. Not pets that are also used for food/farming purposes, i.e., goats, horses, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, cows, etc. Some even exclude reptiles from animals acceptable to keep as pets. I even saw a place once that restricted the breeds of cat allowable...they said no way to my Oriental Shorthair/Siamese because apparently they are dangerous?! It is also common to restrict the size and/or breed of dog you can have.
I used to live in a little RURAL town of about 500 people that had a 'no livestock in the city limits' ordinance...according to their definition, you could not legally own a rabbit in the city limits, as they classified that as livestock. Their reasoning was that they did not want people raising large numbers of meat rabbits in town--but I guess it would be ok to raise meat dogs lol...There was no restriction on numbers of dogs one could have. And they could keep parakeets for eggs! This rule came about because rich people from out of state wanted to move out to the country, but found that they did not enjoy the smell or presence of 'farm animals'. Unfortunately, they were the ones who paid the city the most in taxes, so they were the ones that got to make the rules.
Having been a parrot owner in the past, I don't understand why it is ok in these types of neighborhoods to have a parrot which could be screaming/vocalizing loudly all day, but not a few hens, which tend to be much quieter than a parrot. I kept a parrot in a small apartment, and we could hear him singing from across the parking lot. My hens live 20 feet from my bedroom window and I cannot hear them at all. I think it should be ok to keep a reasonable number of hens in town, and I am all for restricting rooster-keeping when the neighbors live close by. It just seems to be a bias on having a pet that can also provide you with food. I was in a neighborhood with an HOA where you could not have a tomato plant growing in a pot on your porch, much less a backyard vegetable garden--because you had to have approved landscaping plants only. Apparently my potted porch tomato was an eyesore that lowered the value of my neighbor's house. As did my horse trailer, which was parked INSIDE my garage, with the door closed. Someone just happened to see it one day while we were pulling into the garage with the car, so they decided to complain. I really think some of these HOA rules are silly. I also think that I should not have to pay dues to other people so they can tell me what I can and can't do with my house, within otherwise legal limits. If I want to paint it yellow instead of gray, then I should be able to! Well, that's my anti-HOA rant.
I'd do a little more research into exactly what is meant by that statement, and talk to the people around you to see how they would feel about someone having a few hens. Hopefully you can keep them. I'd fight until I could.
I used to live in a little RURAL town of about 500 people that had a 'no livestock in the city limits' ordinance...according to their definition, you could not legally own a rabbit in the city limits, as they classified that as livestock. Their reasoning was that they did not want people raising large numbers of meat rabbits in town--but I guess it would be ok to raise meat dogs lol...There was no restriction on numbers of dogs one could have. And they could keep parakeets for eggs! This rule came about because rich people from out of state wanted to move out to the country, but found that they did not enjoy the smell or presence of 'farm animals'. Unfortunately, they were the ones who paid the city the most in taxes, so they were the ones that got to make the rules.
Having been a parrot owner in the past, I don't understand why it is ok in these types of neighborhoods to have a parrot which could be screaming/vocalizing loudly all day, but not a few hens, which tend to be much quieter than a parrot. I kept a parrot in a small apartment, and we could hear him singing from across the parking lot. My hens live 20 feet from my bedroom window and I cannot hear them at all. I think it should be ok to keep a reasonable number of hens in town, and I am all for restricting rooster-keeping when the neighbors live close by. It just seems to be a bias on having a pet that can also provide you with food. I was in a neighborhood with an HOA where you could not have a tomato plant growing in a pot on your porch, much less a backyard vegetable garden--because you had to have approved landscaping plants only. Apparently my potted porch tomato was an eyesore that lowered the value of my neighbor's house. As did my horse trailer, which was parked INSIDE my garage, with the door closed. Someone just happened to see it one day while we were pulling into the garage with the car, so they decided to complain. I really think some of these HOA rules are silly. I also think that I should not have to pay dues to other people so they can tell me what I can and can't do with my house, within otherwise legal limits. If I want to paint it yellow instead of gray, then I should be able to! Well, that's my anti-HOA rant.
I'd do a little more research into exactly what is meant by that statement, and talk to the people around you to see how they would feel about someone having a few hens. Hopefully you can keep them. I'd fight until I could.
