Help in Caldwell, Idaho with an HOA

[JWohlert]

Hello!

My family and I are really interested in owning chickens! Our HOA CCRs state we can't have "farm animals" but doesn't list what they consider a farm animal. I called my HOA and they said they consider chickens farm animals, but would be willing to revise that if I could find something that states otherwise.

I've tried a few Google searches, but haven't come up with anything.

Help?

Thank you in advanced!

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

livestock, farm animals, with the exception of poultry. In Western countries the category encompasses primarily cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, and mules; other animals, such as buffalo, oxen, llamas, or camels, may predominate in the agriculture of other areas. By the 21st century, livestock made up slightly more than 1/9 of all vertebrate biomass. Estimates suggest that the mass of Earth’s livestock, some 100 million metric tons (about 110 million tons), is more than that of human beings, wild birds, and wild mammals put together.



https://www.britannica.com/animal/livestock


Idk if that's helpful

 

[nuthatched]

Poultry is generally considered a form of farm animals/livestock. Sorry.
Maybe Quail? For eggs and meat.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

Livestock - refers to farm animals kept or raised for consumption, work or leisure. In general, poultry is separated as a distinct group of animals. For porpuses of censuses and surveys, livestock covers only those that are tended and raised by an operator.

Poultry -is a collective term for all domesticated avian for the purpose of food consumption or, the carcass of such avian dressed/processed for human consumption. Fowl is a term used to refer to a specific group of avian sharing common anatomical characteristics, e.g. chicken, turkey.


http://rssocar.psa.gov.ph/livestock...oultry Situationer in CAR January - June 2016

Definitions towards bottom of page

 

[Shevraeth]

It looks like your city does classify chickens as livestock, while other city definitions put poultry as a separate category (mine does). And while your HOA does kind of override the local ordinance, if I'm reading your city laws correctly, Caldwell allows 10 chickens (no roosters) on under 1/2 acre lots, and 30 on over 1/2 acre lots? You could maybe use that to argue that the city finds it okay?

The 2 things your HOA will probably be concerned about are noise and smell. When you talk to them again, have a plan ready to address those. Be like, "Oh, I've thought of that and planned ahead! Here, let me show you....*presents pictures and stuff*" Easiest would be no roosters, because that's what the city says anyway, and a solid plan for coop cleanliness. If that's still not winning them over, maybe negotiate a smaller number of chickens than the 10 the city allows or present a document on hen noise levels (my birds are SO much quieter than the four dogs my neighbor has- the dogs won't shut up!).

Best of luck