My heart is broken / Told to get rid of my girls / Resolved!

[theFox]

Quote:
Be careful trying to qualify your work income as farm income they are technically and legally two separate things, it would be likely for the town through a court to subpoena your Federal Tax Forms which if you have income from farming you'll have filled out a schedule that shows income and expenses from your farming operation.

Without having read the state law a portion of which is cited above it just might be that your town is on shaky legal grounds because of § 953 a however even that may be a long shot, you'd have to find out exactly why the current rule is on the books, if it is there to prevent a nuisance you'd have them over a barrel as there is no direct adverse effect.

You could try the following, call the state's Attorney General's office and see what is required to file a complaint against your township.

That may be all it takes to shut the town up for fear that the town being in violation of state law might become public knowledge.


ETC:Wording in last sentence, note to self never post before noon time.

 

[Buugette]

I haven't called the township yet, basically am sick to my stomache over this... and afraid to call. I'm not usually like this... but I feel threatened.

Edited to remove letter.

 

[agnes_day]

this happened to me last year..what i did was bring them inside and i told them that they were house chickens and said if they want to get a warrant to come in to my house, go for it! they made me get rid of my goats (totally different story) but they did drop the chicken issue, even though it was still technically illegal. just stick diapers on them and keep them indoors.

 

[zazouse]

Did you get this letter by certified mail?

Seems like they would have to come out and see if you really had chickens in the first place before they could make any demands on you.

Looks suspicious where it says livestock but only points out chickens not goats,cows,etc

I an really sorry you are going threw this.

Can you have parrots or other birds as pets?

 

[ChooksChick]

If they don't have any ordinance declaring poultry as livestock, they may be unable to go after you. Find out if there is any defining ordinance, because chickens are NOT defined as livestock in most towns. On my BYC page you can read our city ordinance and see how we got the ordinance to explicitly include chickens as pets.

Also, animal control often has its own ordinances about how to deal with supposed infractions. Ours had no verbiage about fowl, so while a law said no chickens, there was no way for them to do anything about it if you had them, as there was no directive. This was the loophole that opened it up for discussion, and we won.

Good luck!

 

[1mommahen]

B. Building for public worship.


Tell them you worship the chicken! Nuff said!!

 

[Buugette]

Quote:
It was not sent by certified mail, just regular old mail, and I'm not sure if I am reading this right, but it seems to be mostly talking about a structure. I don't see "chickens" mentioned in the two codes quoted. Not sure what structure they are talking about. I do have a small hutch for them, but it is not permanent and comes apart for cleaning and moving. I also have a small run for them made out of PVC piping and wire. That is also moveable. I need to call them... I just haven't worked up the nerve to do so yet.

D

 

[geebs]

I didn't see the section specifying chickens... did I miss something.... They need to cite the zoning law.... I just don't see it>>> anyone want to help me out here?? If it isn't pointed out.. then It may be allowed... I woud go over their heads.... The new perhaps... ha ha..

 

[zazouse]

Quote:
It was not sent by certified mail, just regular old mail, and I'm not sure if I am reading this right, but it seems to be mostly talking about a structure. I don't see "chickens" mentioned in the two codes quoted. Not sure what structure they are talking about. I do have a small hutch for them, but it is not permanent and comes apart for cleaning and moving. I also have a small run for them made out of PVC piping and wire. That is also moveable. I need to call them... I just haven't worked up the nerve to do so yet.

D

If you call them i would not mention the word chickens, just ask them if they sent the letter about your 4 pets and see what they say, if they do question this kind of pets just say your polish birds, chances are they did not send this letter sense it did not come certified, meaning they can not prove you even got the letter.

 

[huntercf]

They need to cite the specific law, I had AC stop by with a note that said fowl are not allowed in the city. However, the code says they are allowed. Sometimes they don't know all the codes and will send a letter hoping you will just cave and get rid of them because someone else doesn't like chickens. Just because someone said doesn't make it true.
If those items in the letter are what they are basing their ruling on then it doesn't ban chickens. Either they need to be more specific or leave you alone. Plus, if they want to apply extremely vague terms to your chickens then those vague terms would apply to every resident in your town because someone could complain about anything and the owner would have to get rid of it. Imagine, 'children are not allowed in town because they are impeded responsible growth of the city'....