How many is a minimum for a Flock?

[fireyshamrock]

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[fireyshamrock]

I would replace "A line coop" with "Low Profile Coop". I would also change the part about bushes and eyesore and replace it with "taking steps to ensure the coop is not noticable."

Remove smelly. You will keep the coop higenic.

Ugh! Your totally right!!! I wish I had posted this to the forum before I sent it! I will keep that in mind if this turns into a back and forth conversation which it very well may. There is a person in the Town of Vienna (5-10 minutes away) who has chickens and they made an exemption for them so here's hoping.

The response I got was

I am forwarding your message to the Zoning Administrator, Mr. XXX XXXX. Any variations from the regulations found in the Zoning Ordinance must be reviewed by Mr. XXXX, who will issue an interpretation of the regulation. He will also advise you of any avenues that may be available to you to appeal his determination or to request a variance of the regulations.

I am copying Mr. XXXX on this message and I anticipate that he will be in touch with you.

 

[fireyshamrock]

your profile pic makes me sad

???????

 

[RedDrgn]

Usually ordinances like this REQUIRE no less than 3 or 4 hens and no more that 6 with no roosters allowed....I would check on that because it is cruel to keep just 1 hen. It is very sad watching 1 hen alone, they get very depressed.

That really is the ordinance in that Town, and it makes NO sense and was obviously not written by anyone that knows anything about chickens. Even Fairfax County isn't that strict/crazy....if she was only outside of Town limits.

 

[rikithemonk]

Cool.

I gave some advice in the listed thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/654226/urgent-help-and-advice-needed-deltona-fl

It should help you with your issue as both topics are similar. While im a green horn concerning chickens, Im pretty good at dealing with code enforcement and small town governments. When your talking to them. draw them mental pictures of prestine clean, norman rockwell prefection. Chickens in the city draws ghetto immages in most minds. Avoid images of a delapidated coop on the side of your house with awkwardly placed bushes.

Low profile, small foot print, cant be seen from the road, low impact to your neighborhood. Its very like a job interview. You have to stear the mind of the person your talking to.

Good luck

 

[CorinneP]

Boy I hope you can get that changed ! I understand a No Rooster law and even no more than 4 in towns but one is practically animal cruelty .. Maybe you can get a petition going .. Good Luck

 

[rikithemonk]

That really is the ordinance in that Town, and it makes NO sense and was obviously not written by anyone that knows anything about chickens. Even Fairfax County isn't that strict/crazy....if she was only outside of Town limits.

Sadly that's the problem. Few people know chickens other than the frozen package they get at the store. I know teen-aged friends of my daughter that didn't know hamburger meat came from cows and wouldn't believe me when I told her. She thought I was trying to be gross. Our modern society has lost a lot of skills over the years. It used t be that everyone knew a little bit about most things, now we specialize on one skill per person. A society of people clueless and unable to function outside their specialty to the point of serious danger. That's why when disasters hit, there are so many Darwin award winners. We have become unprepared and clueless as to what (I was going to say "what to do" but the truth is most don't even know what the options even are.)

OP is most likely going to have to educate the towns code enforcement completely from scratch.

 

[fireyshamrock]

Rikit -

I have not heard back but i was thinking it can't hurt to be proactive and send a follow up message to the zoning guy to clarify & say it nicer. I also found a coop perfect for what I was looking to do - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/emededs-member-page . Here is what I am thinking.

Dear Mr Zoning,

In waiting for your response to my request I though to clarify my request. I intend on making a well built, small footprint, low profile coop and taking the proper steps to ensure it will not be seen from the street. It will be of virtually no impact to the neighbors, and all of whom I have spoken to about this are OK with it. The coop will be kept hygienic as these hens will be new members of my family and as such I would want them to be happy and healthy.


thoguhts?

 

[RedDrgn]

Sadly that's the problem. Few people know chickens other than the frozen package they get at the store. I know teen-aged friends of my daughter that didn't know hamburger meat came from cows and wouldn't believe me when I told her. She thought I was trying to be gross. Our modern society has lost a lot of skills over the years. It used t be that everyone knew a little bit about most things, now we specialize on one skill per person. A society of people clueless and unable to function outside their specialty to the point of serious danger. That's why when disasters hit, there are so many Darwin award winners. We have become unprepared and clueless as to what (I was going to say "what to do" but the truth is most don't even know what the options even are.)

OP is most likely going to have to educate the towns code enforcement completely from scratch.

Yep, you pretty much pegged that one. I've run into people around here that didn't know you could eat parts of a chicken other than the wings and breasts.

When our power was out for two days straight a few months ago, my co-workers wondered how we ever survived...the concept of kero heaters, kero lamps, and cooking/heating water on a charcoal grill seemed to boggle their minds.

 

[fireyshamrock]

They do best with other chickens and generally do not do very well when kept all alone. At least two chickens would be preferable, but the usual low end is three. A chicken alone will even tend to be noisier than a chicken kept in a flock as they will try to call for others.

Knowing how stodgy northern VA can be when it comes to creatures they consider best suited for a farm, I would suggest talking to your neighbors (if you know them well enough). If you and a neighbor or two or three each got a chicken and then let them roam/coop together, you'd all get your chickens/eggs and each own only ONE bird.

Some info...
http://poultrykeeper.com/chickens/f...he-minimum-number-of-chickens-i-can-keep.html

I was also thinking of including this information stating that if i got a hen in accordance with the town code it will be more of a disturbance than if I were to get three.