Looking for chicken laws in Danbury, Ct

[Hollywood Chickens]

They don't appear to have any animal restrictions at all! I didn't find anything for dogs or cats even.

 

[Harvest]

Danbury here.
5 hens, no smell, coop not visable from road, no free range but small covered run.
Feeding yourself should be a human right !

Chickens cluck and make some noise so keep them away from active property lines. A radio can help put it on a timer.

Some people keep chickens as pets. Keep them clean.
Town hall is NOT your friend.

 

[Myst]

Hey Ridgefield. FYI: Danbury DOES have a chicken policy (Leel just hadn't found it as of her first post in this thread) and unless they're zoned farmland, they cannot have chickens. And in my experience, the town hall is the WORST place to ask for advice. My town clerk told me that no permit was required for a chicken coop, which was technically true, we could have a coop, just NO CHICKENS in it! I should've known better and done the research myself but I didn't think for one second that OUR town would not have a specific zoning provision expressly permitting it. Silly me. We dodged the bullet though and everyone is cool with our chickens and coop (now). Good luck with your wetlands issue. I'm sure it'll turn out just fine in the end.

Are you sure Danbury has a chicken policy? I've been scouring the danbury-ct.gov, and this is the only law I've found:

Nothing on the actual owning of chickens, just on the maintenance and placement of the actual coop. I'm looking to keep a few if I can, so I'm really interested in knowing what the exact laws for poultry ownership in Danbury is.

 

[MatthewG]

I was hoping to raise a few chickens too, but found this under zoning:
http://www.danbury-ct.gov/filestorage/21015/21087/21123/23014/ZONINGREGSsec4.pdf
P 4-47
---------------

4.G.6. Use Regulations: Accessory Uses.
a. Livestock and Poultry.
The keeping of livestock and poultry shall not be permitted except in a farm in zoning districts where farming is specifically allowed as a use.
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I'm in RA40 which does not allow farming. This is only allowed in RA80 zones and only if you have 5 acres or more. That being said and after reading what others have done, maybe it's worth trying anyway. Then just let my neighbors know and give them a few eggs...

 

[Raiderdave0109]

We live in Danbury too, and just got 3 hens this weekend. They are a year old, well-mannered except for 6:30 in the AM when they freak out and are very loud for about an hour. We didn't bother to look into the laws because we agreee you should be able to self-sustain in your own yard.
Worried that the neighbors may complain. We don't know them all, and just walking up to their doors after the fact to ask permission seems to be a bad idea. I would gladly give up some eggs for them to keep quiet about it.
We are on a full acre outside of the city. If it weren't for the 6:30 ordeal, I doubt anyone would know we had them.
We want to free range them too. Now you guys have me all worried.
Agree that City Hall is the worst place for organized information.

Technically, our whole area was one giant farm back in the day. I wonder if that grandfather's us in, lol...

 

[skinnyboy]

Is anyone willing to begin the process of changing the zoning law? I have seen in several other towns signs that say "vote yes for chickens". It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do if someone had some knowledge of proposing a change is zoning law.
A Danbury resident willing to vote yes.

 

[buckbye]

Would anyone really notice/care where you are? I see a number of people on Craigslist selling chickens in Danbury, many of whom appear to have pretty sizable flocks. Lol, what's a few rogue chickens when half the city's population is there illegally?

 

[skinnyboy]

Does anyone know of a local or semi local chicken processor? I'm located in Danbury. I have processed my roosters already but looking to get the rest of my black broilers processed for me if the price isn't to bad. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[buckbye]

^
The only ones I know of in CT are Cameron Family Farm in East Haddam, CT, which charges $10 a piece, down to $8 and $7 each for greater volume. Their Web site looks like they have a lot of rules and there's a $100 fine if you break one. (Shoulda just gone to Le Cirque at this point, LOL.) A guy had a Craigslist ad up somewhere in CT, also for $10. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw those rates--I don't care who they are or where they live, those prices are RE-FREAKING-DICULOUS. Are they gold-plating the carcass before they return it to you? I've seen much more reasonable Craigslist ads for poultry processing back in Maryland, like $2-3/bird, or arrangements like, for every 4 birds processed, the guy gets to keep one. I'm thinking that I'm going to learn to process poultry on my own this year. It's a valuable skill, and it'll be a cold day in the fiery place before I pay someone $10 to hack up my bird.

 

[skinnyboy]

I guess I will just do the rest on my own the. $10 is crazy. The first two that I did were pretty easy and a great experience. It just took a bit more time than I have for the rest of my meat birds. I would highly encourage you to give it a try for at least of a couple of yours. You won't regret the feeling you get from raising an animal and then processing it to feed your family.