How I'm allowed to have a rooster in town....

[grnidone]

I wanted to post this for you guys so if you're making ordinances for chickens in town, you will know how to word it such that you can have roosters with your hens.

Russell, Kansas (where I live) is a farming community, and many people had chickens way back when. The ordinances to keep chickens in town basically haven't changed since the 1900s. (I was fortunate.) I am allowed to keep "animals" which includes chickens.

But I wanted to draw your attention to the part about how I can keep roosters. Basically, the law doesn't say I can't have roosters. AND, unless the rooster is a nuisance, I can keep him.

The ordinance states:

(q) “Public Nuisance Animal” means any animal that unreasonably annoys humans, endangers the life or health of persons or other animals, or substantially interferes with the rights of citizens, other than their owners, to enjoyment of life or property. The term “public nuisance animal shall include, but not be limited to:


(4) Any animal that makes disturbing noises, including but not limited to, continued and repeated howling, barking, whining, or other utterances causing unreasonable annoyance, disturbance, or discomfort to neighbors or others in close proximity to the premises where the animal is kept or harbored;

Now. Roosters crow. But, dogs also bark.

So the question is, "Do they create a nuisance?"

I had one rooster that was so funny and personable, but he was an all-day crower. He had to do. But, this was before I knew about the no-crow collar. (Which works really well.)

Given there is a "no-crow collar" that you can put on to mute your rooster, OR if you don't have a rooster that crows all the time (think of a barking dog) you're OK.

I think you should ask them,"What's the issue with roosters?" If they bring up crowing, you have some points you can bring back. Because it *is* possible to mute their crow -- and that's only if they crow all the time like a constantly barking dog. (Mine doesn't. In fact, my neighbors THANK me for having a rooster that occasionally crows. My other neighbors have said they can't even hear him..without his collar on. )

So, when I had the animal control person tell me I couldn't keep a rooster, I showed her the collar and how it worked. I told her as I understood things, so long as the animal that I had didn't disturb the neighbors, the ordinances allowed it. She couldn't argue.

I hope this helps you guys.

(ordinances here: http://russellcity.citycode.net/index.html#!articleAnimalsAndFowlGenerally)

 

[SueT]

Great story!

 

[Ursuline Chick]

In New Orleans a rooster is considered an exotic animal, however you are allowed 4 pets per household and those 4 pets can be hens. I know it makes no sense but that is how it is written. What can one do about something that doesn't even make sense! People have kept chickens in New Orleans for 300 years!