Wendy, what is your advice for BYCers that dont have chickens yet but want to raise them for commercial purposes? do you recommend that they go to their local governments first or should they just start raising chickens (keeping the receipts) and wait for the local govt to come calling?
This is a tricky question because there are so many different kinds of risks associated with either of the choices.
First, there is the question of whether it is actually legal to keep chickens when the ordinance says one thing and RTF says another. I have read every document I can find on the issue, and have asked MDARD both publicly and privately to point to the legal language or court decision that convinces them that I am not protected by RTF in my backyard lot. They have so far failed to do that. So I am personally convinced that there is no such hidden argument lurking out there, and that RTF does indeed protect all GAAMPS-compliant commercial farming operations, regardless of where that operation is sited, or how big it is.
Second, there is the question of whether or not we should keep chickens in urban or suburban areas - even if it is legal - if it creates a disturbance to our neighbors. I am very sympathetic to this argument, but I have now had hens since 2010 and a rooster since 2011, and it turns out they aren't at all disruptive to my neighborhood - at least so far, and I am working hard to keep it that way.
So for me it is easy to say that I would just start raising chickens, because I believe not only that having a commercial chicken operation in my backyard is legal, but also that it is not a nuisance. There just isn't a legal or a moral conflict for me. For others the matter is less clear.
Once you've taken the plunge to build a coop and start raising chickens, there are other risks. My city may come calling, for example, and I may have to go to court to prove that I am protected by RTF. Or perhaps I'll decide that chickens aren't worth the cost of a court case and I'll give them up. In this case, if I've invested a lot in a coop (which I have) then that investment will be lost.
This line of reasoning has convinced more than one person on this thread to discuss the RTF issue with their city before investing in a coop and in birds. Unfortunately, in the cases I know of, the city did not respond well to that approach, and those folks still don't have chickens. So there is also a very serious risk associated with the apparently rational choice of talking to your city first: the city may well fail to be convinced by the RTF argument, and will threaten the rational would-be chicken-keeper with very serious repercussions should they chose to go down that route.
That is a circuitous response to your plain question, but there really is no simple answer.
I would add, however, there is one other risk that I failed to recognize for a long time, because it is so familiar. When I look back at a lifetime lived in residential neighborhoods, it now seems that there is an unstated risk that the vast majority of us will live our whole lives in places that are so politely over-regulated that we lose our ability to be capable, knowledgeable, and resourceful. The best thing about having chickens isn't just watching them (amusing as they are), the best thing is figuring out where to place the coop given the constraints of the yard, and building it. And then, after the door is cut and the best roosting option lost, figuring out how to best salvage the effort. It is learning that one sick chicken in a small flock affects the whole social structure, which can't heal until the bird heals, or dies. It is learning that roosters are gentlemen. And that they demand respect, every day. And figuring out how to keep them warm in the winter, cool in the summer, dry in the spring. Safe from predators, day and night. Nourished and wormed. And on and on.
The point is that although each person has to calculate the risks for themselves, it is important to tally not just the risks of being a nuisance, or of going to court, or of losing an investment. I would suggest that it is also necessary to consider the risk of the alternative - of allowing ourselves to continue to live and raise our children in places where it is impolite to be capable, knowledgeable, and resourceful about something as simple as raising chickens. I think we can do better than that status quo, and we should.
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