Got illegal chickens?

[thomshap]

This is certainly an interesting thread. I too believe that keeping illegal chickens is an act of civil disobedience, rather than outright law breaking which implies murder or larceny. And I will willingly partake in appropriate civil disobedience, just as I would if I felt that someone was being discriminated against. Those posters that are concerned about law breaking might once have driven over 65 on the highway or not buckled in when in a taxi or any number of other "harmless" yet illegal activities. This is our zoning reg: "no more than two (2) adults of a species per household number may be kept: Dogs, cats, fowl, or others compatible with cohabitation with humans may be kept on the minimum lot areas." I have six mostly quiet hens (some announcing when an egg is laid, but minimal) in a fenced in run where both the coop and run are de-pood daily. (Or is it de-pooed?) Since there are a lot of folks with more than two cats (who used to poo in my kids' sandbox, back when we had one, btw) or more than two dogs, which often get free and poo in my yard, I don't feel bad about having my hens who keep to themselves and bring me all sorts of delight. They are behind the garage by two neighbors' properties, but with fences between our property and each of the neighbors. We give them eggs from time to time, and nobody seems to mind. In fact, a neighbor down the street is thinking about getting chickens herself. Should the need arise, I will advocate strongly on the legal level to have our zoning regulations changed, and I believe there will be support for this. The republicans should like the idea of smaller government with less legislation of my personal rights, and the democrats should like the fact that I am being environmentally friendly and dabblling in sustainable agriculture. Until then, the chickens and I will keep our heads low.

 

[urban farmer john]

We live in San Marcos, Texas, inside the city limits on a dead end road, very quiet. We started a neighborhood flock of pearl and lavender guineas. Neighborhood children feed them, they take care of the deer tick problem and amuse all with their ancient antics. Then someone complained, after three years of the guinea activity, and the San Marcos guinea police found us and said they had had many complaints about these foul fowl. Two officers in their heavy camo canvas gear came to the house, we found them wandering around in the back yard, er, no search warrant?, and they asked us who owned these birds. Now everyone in the world who has been around guineas knows that no one "owns" them. We explained that they belonged to the neighborhood and then were told, "you will cease and desist feeding these aliens." We said okay. Then they spied our chickens. How many do you have, they asked. We said we didn't know. The law is, no roosters, we had two, and no more than eight hens, and we had, oh about thirteen or so and had ordered twenty five more chicks for this spring. So now we have to sell our house and find a place outside the perimeter that is under the control of... "THE CHICKEN POLICE".

 

[AnaD]

It is so crazy that we live in a country that does not want us to grow our own food! People get fined for growing heriloom plants or for accidentally having GM plants in a field across from a GM field! Not to mention the fact it is ILLEGAL in some states to divert rain water...YES, YOU CAN NOT COLLECT RAIN WATER! With the cost of living going higher each day I feel that it goes against my rights as a human who eats and drinks to have illegal actions brought against me for surviving in this downward spiraling world.
I'm just afraid for my daughter...She and her children have to pay for the mess we have created.

 

[annejilli]

With the way the economy is going, you would think the government would want to do all they could to help their citizens do all they could do to be self reliant. To be able to at least feed themselves in this tough economy. With my little set up I can hatch my own eggs, raise them up and bring them full circle to my dinner table. I am very fortunate. I live in a small village, but keep a few steers, lambs, 20 chickens, a couple roosters, and whatever else I would like to put on my property. I can't imagine buying some foods from the supermarkets anymore (eggs, meat). I also think it is a right for every person to have access to wholesome food at a cost they can afford. Having a small coop is not allowed in allot of your towns, but I bet they would allow you to have an aviary for your parrots, finches, and lovebirds! I never quite understood how people could have parrots and all sorts of exotic birds. When someone wanted to keep a few chickens that would actually be useful and actually bring food to the family, the answer is no. That makes no sense to me. With the rate my chickens lay, my eggs actually only cost me $1.80 per dozen, but then again they are sort of food bank chickens. We give all those extra eggs to all the poorer families in our town. It is pretty cool, cause the girls that are laying are the girls that we hatched as a family!

 

[LovedbyHim]

"Poultry- they may be your pets, they may be your hobby, they may be your business. But remember, if you fall down in the pen, unconscious? They WILL eat you."

Hilarious!! They'll eat you!!

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
wow...


i am not religious... i do not believe in god, as a matter of fact, i used to go to the church of satan and read the books by anton zander levey... i have facial piercings and my ears have huge 1 1/8th holes in them... i have pentagrams tattoo'd on my shoulders and a huge one on my chest with "666"... i was in gangs, i'm a high school drop out, and have gone to jail... oh, and i'm gay...

LOL, man i sound like a horrible person... jeez...

after all of that stuff... i have my AA as a chrysler auto tech, my BA in english and philosophy, own a house, adopted three of my sister's children because she was in drugs and in and out of jail, when a friend has no where to go (homeless) they know to come to my house, i will never say "no" to someone that needs food or shelter, i will go far out of my way to help someone i just met and i have never done drugs and also stopped drinking period 3 years ago...

i think i'm a good person... i wish to believe everyone on this forum is a good person... so the way i see your post, especially the thing about me not being religious, is somewhat offensive... because i don't believe in your god, i'm a bad person..? just because i have 38 illegal chickens and i can only have 2 hens in my city, that makes me a bad person as someone that hates this country...? are you saying that i automatically hate my country because i'm not like you...? it's people that think that way why this country is so backwards and evolving backwards in the human race... yes, i said that... i'm not hurting anyone...

i only have two neighbors... one neighbor has roosters too, and the other one gets eggs and loves my birds... i think i'm going to help him build a coop soon... two months ago the city came to my neighbor/best friend (2 houses down) and told him to get rid of all of his roosters, quails (bob white and cortunix) and just keep two hens... so we hid them... i guess it's because the coop was visible from the street... so he got it signed off, and we moved them to the back... i know he knows we all have chickens, but he doesn't say anything anymore... i guess it was more of a visual thing..? but anyways... the law is dumb, even the code inspector thought it was dumb... we have OEGB's and they are way quieter than the other neighbor's std game birds...

but like everyone said before me... it's a dumb law, and even the people enforcing it know it's dumb... the city next to mine (literately behind my house) can have chickens and over 200 pigeons, poultry and fowl... the houses look the same, streets are the same, it's retarded... and i can't fight it because my small town has a lot of illegal chicken owners that have been breeding/propagating chickens for years... so they told me, if it ain't broke, why fix it..? i understood completely...




also... please don't judge someone because they aren't religious... you do not know why they aren't religious, or how, so why would you throw stones...? is that what jesus would do...? people like me do get offended when people thump the bibles in our face, cast us aside, and say we're sinners... the funny thing is that we 100% always turn the other cheek... not because that is jesus like, but it's tolerant, and the thing to do...




peace, love, and happy hatching...

 

[flying_babyb]

Were sorta illegal. Our city says "Cattle and cow and other animals not normally considered pets will not be in the city limits". This means were sorta illegal depending on wether you consider egg laying, named chicks house pets or not. Were building a coop to look like a playhouse and it will be kept in our backyard that has a 4ft fence. We figure as long as we share our eggs with the two nearby neighbors we should be ok. We have two younging in the house (10/11) and its been a challange reminding them not to tell the whole world were chicken keepers.

 

[chicken589]

We should all try to change laws which seem unfair or unnecessary. However, as long as I'm not hurting anyone, what I do in my house and on my land is my business.

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
I can't imagine I would move in order to keep chickens, but I understand. The law should not be arbitrary! I have no problem with ignoring people who sit on town councils and just make up rules to boss people around!

 

[Bawk Vader]

I lived for three years with an undercover flock. All of my neighbors were happy to accept the free eggs in exchange for silence. It was an uncomfortable situation knowing that someone could pick up the phone and I could end up getting fined. I kept my flock to hens and no more than one roo at a time. If I had a loud roo I would take him to a swap and trade him. I think that the stress of possibly being caught and getting in trouble was worth having the birds. I now live in an ag zoned area and have several chickens, ducks, geese, and a turkey. I feel more relaxed knowing that I am in an area that someone decided was okay to have birds. I think that more towns need to revisit the decisions made to prevent chicken owning in city limits or residential neighborhoods. As long as people keep the noise of the roo's down I don't see it being an issue. Just a suggestion to anyone wanting chickens in a small area or residential area. You might consider seramas. It's so small that people don't believe they're chickens and the roos sound like squeek toys.