I want chickens but Parma, Ohio prohibits it

[Champy831]

Hi everyone, I’m from Parma. I’m not allowed to own chickens, but I really want to. Is there a petition or anything I can sign so that I can own chickens, or like a loophole so that I can own chickens? Also does anyone know if there’s maybe a license I can get to allow me to have chickens?

 

[Acre4Me]

@Champy831 can you post what you have found for the rules/restrictions? Also, tell us a bit more about your location - what size lot (under 1/2 acre, 2 acres? neighborhood lot with neighbors all around, as examples). Also, are you in an HOA?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Move.

Parma, OH is hostile to poultry ownership.

There was a 2009? news article about their efforts to close a loophole which allowed people to raise chickens, caged, inside their homes. The revised ordinance foreclosed that posibility, retroactively.

Normally, you might apply for an exemption to allow you to raise chickens on property which was too small, or the wrong zoning, or whatever - but Parma doesn't allow chickens, period. Nor do they seem to be amenable to the idea of allowing chickens in the future.

***UNLESS*** money is no object. Then make your home a school, and raise chickens as a school project - its the one exception I could find. [Seriously, don't try this]

So, the short term fix is "move".

On a longer time horizon, vote the current city leadership out, replace with pro-poultry candidates, and let them revise your Ordinances.

 

[Champy831]

Thank you guys, my grandparents have like a half acre in Cleveland, maybe I’ll just ask them if I can have chickens there.

 

[Brooks_]

Then make your home a school, and raise chickens as a school project - its the one exception I could find

Would home school count? Maybe with 4H/FFA membership?

Thank you guys, my grandparents have like a half acre in Cleveland, maybe I’ll just ask them if I can have chickens there.

??? Seems like quite a drive twice a day.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Would home school count? Maybe with 4H/FFA membership?

??? Seems like quite a drive twice a day.

"
(b) The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to domestic geese, ducks, turkeys, and chickens within the City limits is hereby prohibited. However:

(1) Schools are not prohibited from raising chicks and/or ducks for educational purposes; and

(2) When finished or no later than two weeks after the chicks and/or ducks have hatched, the schools must give the fowl to a farm authorized to handle such animals."


Believe it or not, I couldn't quickly find a definition for "School" in the Parma code, but I wouldn't try it.

 

[Brooks_]

"
(b) The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to domestic geese, ducks, turkeys, and chickens within the City limits is hereby prohibited. However:

(1) Schools are not prohibited from raising chicks and/or ducks for educational purposes; and

(2) When finished or no later than two weeks after the chicks and/or ducks have hatched, the schools must give the fowl to a farm authorized to handle such animals."


Believe it or not, I couldn't quickly find a definition for "School" in the Parma code, but I wouldn't try it.

Yeah, they make it pretty clear. One may be able to hatch and keep for two weeks, then it's 15-life.

 

[FloorCandy]

Have you considered quail? I can’t have chickens in my town, but there’s nothing on the books about game birds. I called the State fish and wildlife dept and they said Bob whites require a permit, but Coturnix are exempt. I’ve found raising quail to be very fun. While I still hope to move in the future and have chickens, quail scratch the itch so to speak. They are also smaller, and can’t be free ranged so they require less space, the males crows are much softer than normal chicken and rooster noises. The female Coturnix usually sound like crickets.

 

[Brooks_]

the schools must give the fowl to a farm authorized to handle such animals.

Something brought me back to re-read and this part really bothers me.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Have you considered quail? I can’t have chickens in my town, but there’s nothing on the books about game birds. I called the State fish and wildlife dept and they said Bob whites require a permit, but Coturnix are exempt. I’ve found raising quail to be very fun. While I still hope to move in the future and have chickens, quail scratch the itch so to speak. They are also smaller, and can’t be free ranged so they require less space, the males crows are much softer than normal chicken and rooster noises. The female Coturnix usually sound like crickets.

The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to [...] within the City limits is hereby prohibited.

That's Parma, OH's very effective use of legalese to say "NO!"

They specifically except, using much more narrow language, some small "pet" bird species like parakeets and cockateil.