I made a stupid mistake. But I don't want to give away my chickens.

[Sillystunt]

There is a chicken coop that looks like a trash can. It's a tractor, small for 2 hens! Might want to look into it....either murray or meyers had it. Google it, i am sure it will pop up!

Ok, googled it! seen it cheaper.....could use pic to make yourself!!

http://www.shopthecoop.com/mm5/merc...ore_Code=STC&Product_Code=hc&Category_Code=CC

 

[Lucy4]

Wow, that trash can coop is ingenious!

Sonoran Silkies: Now I'm confused. I have about a third of an acre. 20 divided by 3 is (roughly) 6 chickens. I only have four. I was told that 20 per acre meant not that you needed to have an acre to possess chickens, but that you needed to use that number per your acreage. (In other words, 4 chickens on my lot is fine. 10 would not be.)

sigh. What a mess.

 

[citrusdreams]

Awww

it doesn't look like you meet the requirements.

I say be an outlaw

or petition to get the ordinance changed or request permission. Be very specific and say how many chickens you want to keep and include pictures of your setup and include information on how you will keep it clean and unsmelly for those who are unknowledegable about chicken keeping.

That hen condo is kewl, but the price is not. I'd make one myself

 

[Lucy4]

Thanks for the kind words, Citrusdreams.

It hadn't even passed my mind to request permission. Has that worked for folks on BYC?

I feel very depressed. My little boy heard me talking on the phone about it and was upset that his chickens might not live here anymore.

 

[marytoast]

I am so sorry.

 

[shawnkfl]

call the law enforcement the next time they make excessive noise, and continue to do so until it stops. it WILL stop after a few calls. purchase a game trail cam and hide it on your property where you think they may be coming over and doing childish acts at night or while you're away. you'll catch them in the act soon enough. after that, file a restraining order. they'll soon not even look your way.

 

[Garlydog]

I say keep the chickens. I like the approach to seek forgiveness, not permission. Since you have a place to send the chickens if things get out of hand, keep them until that time. Then go with shawnkfl's advice.

Your neighbors sound self-absorbed and probably won't bother to check the rules. Your approach to stay out of their business might rub off.

 

[spectrumranch]

Quote:
I agree.

Plus, I doubt the neighbor's know the rules on keeping chickens. I WOULD NOT tell any of the neighbor's about the ordinance either, well they may appear to not mind the chickens, they may feel important if they can report you. So the less they know the better. And they will blame it on the "problem neighbors" for calling.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I sympathize with your plight. I kept my chicks illegally in a small town in SE Michigan before I moved back up north. My mother's neighbors are the busy-body types (they like to peer in to windows to check out decorating or will weed the gardens at night) so I always lived in mortal fear that the chickens would be discovered.

We had to come up with creative "masks" like lawn chairs with sheets draped over them. "Darn dogs wet on the bed!"

or setting up my daughter's largest toys in front of the chicken tractor (actually just the top half of a rabbit hutch on the ground). One neighbor happened to stop by when I was cleaning the chicks brooder--they were temporarily in an old hamster habitrail in the kitchen while I was cleaning out the rabbit hutch/brooder. The neighbor tried to squeeze in to have me sign something for the local schools but I just barely managed to shoo her out the door and took her into the other side of the yard just in case she heard cheeping through open windows. One of the other neighbors' sons would shriek every time they saw my dog so I knew I had to keep the chickens hidden from them. We planted some trumpet vines and honeysuckle to make the fence more opaque so people couldn't see into the yard.

Shortly after we all took off up north, a police officer moved in across the street and Mom told me that he has "cracked down" on the problems in the neighborhoods--such as the Hispanic family's tolerably loud family reunion and the teenage boys shooting off K-mart fireworks on the sidewalk. Honestly, some people need a life.

Hope I gave you some ideas

 

[Wifezilla]

Why not make a "Chicken Courtyard"? Fence an area in the back yard with a 6'-8' tall fence and put all the chicken related things inside that area.