Raise.... To breed and care for to maturity: raise cattle. Most ordinances I have seen prohibit all of the following...housing, keeping, raising, etc. Sooooo, if it just says no raising..... does this mean I could maybe have a couple of hens as pets so long as there is no breeding??? I have toi go back tomorrow and finish reading the zoning laws.
I'm hoping so! Anyone ever use this loophole? Has anyone gptten shot down before from this one word??
I think most of the regulations are because so many people don't keep their coops/runs clean and even if you do, there is still odor that can disturb your neighbors if the wind is right. Also, most city folk do NOT appreciate having a feathered alarm clock they can't reset to a later time or shut off! And as with many animals, people tend to end up with a lot more than they intended. (not that any of US would know about that....) Free-roaming in the neighbors yards and gardens is a no-no too. I would define "raising" as getting babies and keeping them to adulthood and/or having breeding pairs. So if you have a few adukt hens, you could probably beat it. Just keep the flock small and be VERY scrupulous about keeping things neat and clean and non smelly, so nobody has a reason to report it. You can get stuff made for horse stalls that you mist the bedding with that does wonders for odors as well as something called "Sweet PDZ" that you mix with the bedding. LOW PROFILE + loophole = CHICKENS FOR YOU!
Looks like a way to slip past the "raising" part, but you aren't the one who gets to determine what is meant by "raising;" the guy writing the violation notice does. Personally, I would take "raising" to imply an agricultural or commercial operation. If you are looking to blur the regulatory lines, follow a path from "parakeets are pets" to "chickens can be pets." At what point is the animal prohibited? Pigeon size? Bantam size? The community I live in is an agricultural area which is becoming suburbanized, so raising animals is very restricted... 3+ acres for larger breeds like goats, etc. But chickens, rabbits, and similar are considered, by ordinance, to be small domestic animals similar to dogs and cats. I would check for similar exceptions. If you are in a small community, call the code enforcement office to confirm your understanding. If you call and say something like "Does this mean chickens are prohibited?" the answer will probably be YES... they always err on the side which would result in fewer neighbor complaints. If you said something like "I wanted to make sure I wasn't violating any rules and wanted to confirm that this was,of course, intended to apply to agricultural uses and not pets." you'll have a better shot. However, if they just sent out 500 violation notices to backyard chicken keepers, you're screwed by the precedent.
I don't plan on putting a pen outside or anything... it is just 2 little banty hens afterall. But, I would enjoy taking them outside with me when I'm gardening....... but I'll be furious when my nieghbor complains just because he sees them here. And he WILL. Even if he would have never otherwise known about them, he will write a complaint just to do it because he knows we are friends with the other elderly man who cannot stand him. No offense to any other christians out there, but we have a problem on our block... 4 of the houses including the jerk neighbor all go to the same church and back each other up no matter what and are out to get any neighbors who are not in their click. For example... the one has 2 large labs that he allows to howl and bark, but when my nieghbor calls the police to complain, he brings them in and claims they were never out and the other neighbors back him up. However, my neighbor recently caught him by calling the cops and telling them to drive up with the windows open and not show up right away.. bingo, he heard them and the guy finally got the warning he needed. It has unfortunately become a kind of Hatfield and McCoy thing..... and I have been thrust onto one side by association. I have tried to stay out of it, but I like the elderly neighbor and he has no family, so we help him out with stuff, recently running him to the hospital. Unfortunately things between him and the jerk neighbor are highly strained because at one time he was entrusted with keys to the house in order to help keep an eye on our neighbor, but instead he allegedly used them to come in at his own will and spy on him and take things that weren't his. So, you can see why it is so stressed here. But, I'm not about to stop being our neighbors friend and helper just because I don't like conflict..... So long as he needs help with stuff, I'll just have to be a target by association A clarification... jerk neighbor was entrusted with keys to our friends house.