Hampton Roads, Virginia

[Anony]

I'm new to the forum; trying to get my bearings here and see what's what! I did a forum search and didn't find anything else that addresses this, so I've started this new thread.

I live in Suffolk, Virginia, and wondered if anyone around here could give me any info on local trends regarding backyard chickens. I called our zoning office and was told that unless I was zoned agricultural, chickens are a no-no. (I'm low-density residential.) Most of the code that I could find online dealt with commercial poultry operations, not 3-5 birds kept for personal use. Are there any local movements toward changing codes/laws in the area or region that I could jump in on? How about beekeeping? (Wrong forum, I know, but in my mind they're the natural first steps toward urban homesteading, so I'd assume that many people involved in one may be involved in the other?)

Thanks!

 

[BebeLapinouBlanc]

About beekeeping, pending on where you are at and what level you are interested in...... it could be deemed legal. NOT if you are in a residential neighborhood though. And if you have existing neighbors they need to be aware of your beekeeping. there are meeting for the hampton roads beekeepers

Message me if you'd like more information about that or bees in general. Now on to the chicken debacle....... unfortunately..... Hampton Roads is severely NOT "chicken-friendly" I've come to find. I'm not quite sure where exactly you live, but it definitely depends on zoning. I know with me looking for land and property out there that was a main contention.......... Chickens would be easy to be an "outlaw" and illegally keep chickens like I was running a speakeasy hahaha..... but the goats and horses ect ect would not be so easy to hide

I finally got a large amount of property in Virginia Beach (50+ acres of land) that just so happens to bc in the "middle" of everything though you'd hardly even know it. *oceana/ general booth* technically I'd be deemed "non agricultural" but Thankfully considering my 250 yr old Farmhouse was grandfathered in when Oceana Air was put in I dont think I will have a problem. (That and I'm hard to find and my pastures are tucked away and hidden by LOTS of trees and woods: ). I DO know that there is a group of us that are advocating making chicken keeping legal. (mainly a Norfolk group so far) Nice to meet someone who's interested in both bees and the cluck clucks