Here we go, Code Enforcement's coming

[blurose]

I really can't be much help except to wish you luck and suggest that maybe the code enforcement people are monitoring the post office, checking on who recieved live chick shipments in the mail I mean. If so, seems they've got just too much idle time on their hands if you ask me.

 

[ronshoney]

Definitely fight it! Get the letters from neighbors or petitions and either get a variance (which they give out more than you think) or try and get the code changed.

 

[MissPrissy]

Contact SeaChick. She and her young daughter spent last summer on changing the laws where they live. It worked. They can now legally keep their hens in their own backyard. Also make contact with people in the Chicken Underground - urban dwellers fighting for change for backyard poultry.

 

[fosterchick]

In my town we have to have a certain amount of land for a goat. I am a little short. So if we want we could get a letter from the people next door stating that we rent their land. Then we could get a goat. We would never use it but I have to have 2 acres of land for the goat.

 

[dedern]

Sorry for YOUR aggravation. Don't the locals have anything better to worry about- Especially in South Jersey. Look at all that's going on in the world.. Stick to your guns girl. You and the chics have rights too!
If you have to, start a wave of change in your community. Educate the ignorant. Where do the think chickens and eggs come from..

 

[SeaChick]

Hi there-

As Miss Prissy said, we did go through this with our town last year.

Our code stated "no livestock" as well. In the "definitions" section of the code (at the start of the section), livestock was defined to include poultry. First off, I wouldn't wait till they upload to municode. Go down to the town hall and READ the code. They have to have one someplace that you can look at. Find the definitions section at the beginning of the section that says "no livestock"... it will probably be EITHER in the Zoning/Land Use section (for your particular residential district) OR in a special section like "Animals and Fowl" or something like that. Read that definition of livestock. if it doesn't specifically say poultry, fowl, chickens..... you are fine IMHO.

OK, if it DOES classify hens as livestock...... there are a bunch of things you can do, on a scale of drastic-ness from quietly negotiating with the code enforcement officer...... to..... starting an all-out campaign to change the zoning ordinance. The latter is what we had to do, and it was a LOT of work and time. I would be more than happy to talk to you about it and share the resources we collected during our summerlong campaign last year.

Before you try to negotiate with the city, I'd collect a bunch of supporting evidence (I can share with you some, if you want...email me). First off, you need to make it clear to them that you are only keeping 3 HENS (no roosters) as PETS (not barnyard animals). I can just imagine that one of your kids told a friend you have 12 chickens and the parents were like, "Not in our neighborhood!!"..... I can tell you from experience that a LOT of people have very strong negative preconceived notions of chickens as stinky, dirty, noisy, mean, farm animals and associate them with a sort of backwards, trailer-trash thing that they DO NOT want in their tidy suburban neighborhoods.

Our eventual success was because we really hammered home that the "pet hen" movement (we changed the wording from "backyard chickens" that we started with, because we needed to stress the "PET" angle) is a rapidly-growing trend in "MOSTLY UPSCALE NEIGHBORHOODS" and that it's mainly the green-conscious, educated, higher-income Whole-Foods-Market shoppers who are doing this.... and then to really convince them that your 3 birds are PETS and should be regulated (if at all) just like any other suburban pet (i.e. dog, cat, rabbit) and that they will be cared for by you just like any other suburban pet. In other words, you're going to clean the coop every other day (or whatever) and that your 3 hens will produce less poop that a small dog..... I have a whole list of rebuttals for all the opposition arguments we encountered, if you like.

If the code officer is driving around your neighborhood, I'd get on this ASAP... get that livestock definition so you know what the law really says, and get your (polite, respectful) argument all organized with supporting documents, etc.. and then talk to that code officer right away before they can get much further with their investigation.

If you get nowhere with that, the next step I would take would be to find out what your town's procedure is for getting a variance. Usually you have to make a presentation to the city council and/or planning board. Again, I have lots info if you decide to do that. Barring a variance, the only thing to do is try to get the law changed. Be prepared for it to take a really looooong time (we started in May and it didn't get resolved till late September) and hundreds of hours of your time.

Best wishes,
Stacey

 

[scrapmom5]

I haven't personally had this problem...but know of others who have. All they did was claim they were raising it for food and the code enforcement could do nothing. I have talked to at least three who have done this and had it work.

 

[Dilly]

I wish you all the best and hope you can keep your hens, you sound like a responsible owner.

Problem here is that even though person A is a responsible owner, clean tidy, doesn't keep roos.

Person B or J lives down the road and decides they too would like some chickens. Just as on this wonderful forum, you see some of the cutest little chicken coops, more like doll houses. Runs decorated with plants and kept cleaned. Sand added to pervent smell for easy drainage. etc etc. The owners do everything to keep the chickens healthy, happy and in a safe clean environment. They also make sure their coops and runs are safe, covered and not after they loose to prediators..

We see on here coops and runs that are exactly what these neighbors in your communty fear, dirty coops, free ranged chickens, runs barely able to contain a chicken much less keep out preditors.


You will get people that do it both ways. So the fear is legit in your community if the rules are changed. Myself if I lived in a nice suburban neighborhood would NOT appreciate a blanket right for all to own a few birds. So there is as always two sides to every issue.

I would seek out the approval of my surrounding neighbors, and build a very small cute dollhouse for a FEW hens and build a run where there is no public exposure to what is kept inside. Be respectful and know you are breaking the rules,do so with caution and acceptance of the surrounding homes.

Dilly

 

[Homegroanacres]

Quote:
3 our of four is a go..that is three quarters so too bad for the cat killer.

I can only offer

and say fight em'. Do not show him the chickens, ask for proof that you cannot have them and then seek a variance to keep them.

In Oregon chickens are NOT concidered livestock.

Dog chases chicken
Man shoots dog (kills it)
Man faces Fenloy charges
The above is a current case.

John

 

[Cetawin]

Homegroanacres I want to see how that one turns out because if it is my chicken, on my property and not my dog....bye bye doggie.

I want to know now if I need to hire a lawyer as I am not licensed in Oregon.