I just got great news from the guy at the feed store who owns 200 bantams just out of town and is husband to the new mayor and father-in-law of the police chief. While they had been banning chickens inside town limits under the "no farm operations" ordinance someone more politically adept than I am pointed out that banning small flocks of backyard laying hens under that ordinance would require also banning home gardens.
There is no official, written policy but the unwritten policy is no roosters, no raising for sale (birds or eggs), butchering to be done discreetly out of sight without letting birds flop around. You're OK if no neighbors complain and neighbor complaints will be evaluated for reasonableness under noise, nuisance, and sanitation ordinances. So a few, well-kept hens should present no problems -- the town officials are far more worried about the people who let their dogs roam loose than about the handful of backyard laying flocks inside town limits.
There is no official, written policy but the unwritten policy is no roosters, no raising for sale (birds or eggs), butchering to be done discreetly out of sight without letting birds flop around. You're OK if no neighbors complain and neighbor complaints will be evaluated for reasonableness under noise, nuisance, and sanitation ordinances. So a few, well-kept hens should present no problems -- the town officials are far more worried about the people who let their dogs roam loose than about the handful of backyard laying flocks inside town limits.
