Need help in FL - Advice on City Codes and talking with Code Enforcement

[Nocitychickens]

I have lived in the city of Debary for 18 years and recently a home in my neighborhood has decided to keep chickens. I am now dealing with rats in my back yard and feel the chickens are drawing them in. If people want to keep poultry then they should live in the country, not in a city. Most of us live in a city for a reason, and it's not to listen to chickens. I'm on a mission make sure no chickens are allowed in our city limits.

 

[Cciprnancy]

I have lived in the city of Debary for 18 years and recently a home in my neighborhood has decided to keep chickens. I am now dealing with rats in my back yard and feel the chickens are drawing them in. If people want to keep poultry then they should live in the country, not in a city. Most of us live in a city for a reason, and it's not to listen to chickens. I'm on a mission make sure no chickens are allowed in our city limits.

Maybe you should get the facts before you go on a crusade. Chickens aren't as noisy as most dogs. Hens cluck at a very low tone. Yes, roosters crow, but most people who want to keep a few hens don't have any roosters. Chickens help clear our yards of bugs, ticks, and other pests. They provide us with a healthy alternative to store bought eggs which are laid by chickens feed hormones and other dangerous substances.

I see you just joined our group in July. I assume it's because you want chickens outlawed. The people want back yard chickens. Listen to the people.

 

[Nocitychickens]

No facts to get straight ... I can hear the chickens and there is no doubt that they are bringing rats into the neighborhood. No one had a rodent problem until the chickens showed up; its no secret that rats are attracted to chicken feed, they are also attracted to eggs and have been known to attack chicks.

I did join this group because of the Debary post; I am lodging complaints against the neighbor who has chickens in Debary until she complies with our city code.

Most people living WITHIN city limits do not want chickens; those who do want chickens should live OUTSIDE city limits.

Speaking up for what the city people want = no chickens.

As a side note, the neighbor who owns the chickens also owns a noisy barking dog.

 

[wayner123]

I have lived in the city of Debary for 18 years and recently a home in my neighborhood has decided to keep chickens. I am now dealing with rats in my back yard and feel the chickens are drawing them in. If people want to keep poultry then they should live in the country, not in a city. Most of us live in a city for a reason, and it's not to listen to chickens. I'm on a mission make sure no chickens are allowed in our city limits.

No facts to get straight ... I can hear the chickens and there is no doubt that they are bringing rats into the neighborhood. No one had a rodent problem until the chickens showed up; its no secret that rats are attracted to chicken feed, they are also attracted to eggs and have been known to attack chicks.
I did join this group because of the Debary post; I am lodging complaints against the neighbor who has chickens in Debary until she complies with our city code.
Most people living WITHIN city limits do not want chickens; those who do want chickens should live OUTSIDE city limits.
Speaking up for what the city people want = no chickens.
As a side note, the neighbor who owns the chickens also owns a noisy barking dog.

That is unfortunate that you do not want chickens. But why come on a chicken loving site and claim that? Let me go point by point just for the sake of argument.

As far as predators (rats) are concerned, it is true that they can be attracted by chicken feed. But also cat feed, the wet weather we are having, the fruit trees, bird feeders, etc. So to blame it squarely on the chickens is not accurate.

As far as noise goes, are you sure there is no rooster?

The city code in Debary states nothing about keeping chickens, so there is nothing to comply with.

Lastly, you say it's a home in the neighborhood. Is this a next door neighbor, or adjoining property?

 

[moetrout]

Most people living WITHIN city limits do not want chickens; those who do want chickens should live OUTSIDE city limits.
Speaking up for what the city people want = no chickens.

Do the rest of the people of your city know you are personally respresenting them? You must be the mayor since you speak for them right? You are naive in your assertations. You need to get your facts straight if you are going to come to a site like this and tell people who ACTUALLY own chickens what the problems are.

 

[Nocitychickens]

The fact is that a letter has been sent stating the chickens must be removed. I will continue to follow up with code enforcement until they are removed.

 

[wayner123]

The fact is that a letter has been sent stating the chickens must be removed. I will continue to follow up with code enforcement until they are removed.

Again, there is no legal basis for them being removed. So the recipient has nothing to comply with.

 

[Nimby Chickens]

I have lived in the city of Debary for 18 years and recently a home in my neighborhood has decided to keep chickens. I am now dealing with rats in my back yard and feel the chickens are drawing them in. If people want to keep poultry then they should live in the country, not in a city. Most of us live in a city for a reason, and it's not to listen to chickens. I'm on a mission make sure no chickens are allowed in our city limits.

I guess that eliminates me as the neighbor, since I have had the chickens for well over a year and a half now.

Correlation does not imply causation. Debary has rats and has had them for a very long time. I know many people who have lived here, lots of family, who fight rat problems often - especially in the summer during the rainier times. My cousin's boat interior was chewed to heck 6 years ago by rats, and they seem to enjoy eating the rubber barriers on the bottom of garage doors at my aunts house every year. Chickens don't draw rats in anymore than other animals, and they certainly did not create them out of thin air. Rats are attracted to food that has not been contained such as pet food set outside for a cat, garbage, and dark places to hide and escape from the rains. Florida is also home to palm rats, which live in palm trees and are all around us and we don't even know it.

A lot of areas are allowing backyard chickens all across the U.S. because the people want them. They want the eggs and direct control over the food supply, plus they really do make great pets. They are very soothing to watch pecking around the yard, eating bugs. They are hilarious when you have treats for them, they jump up like little puppies to get bits of bread. They have surprising depth to them and are really quite personable little animals. These birds are my pets, my little feathery buddies. They aren't food, they aren't poultry, they have names and personalities - they are my pets. I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to have pets in my own neighborhood, in a city that has codes so badly written that I scoured them and found nothing about chickens at all. I moved to this place thinking I could have them here. I love them. Additionally, I would never tell anyone what they can or cannot do in their own yard and home, and I figure the courtesy would be returned. People have all sorts of pets, why not a chicken?

It seems like your only complaint is 'hearing' chickens. Is it the sound of a rooster you are hearing? I am legitimately curious about the exact time frame of the noise and why it is bothering you. If I was your neighbor, I would really like to know if it was bothering you and try to take steps to correct it. No one has come to me and told me they have an issue, I only got the letter. Is it possible you attach a stigma to the sound? I only have hens now, and they only make a small amount of noise when they lay an egg during the afternoon, usually when there is already the din of cars, dogs barking, children yelling, lawns being mowed, etc. Normal, everyday living sounds. I don't see why a hen laying an egg once a day or less (since they usually lay 5 eggs a week or less) and singing her little 1-2 minute song about it couldn't become a normal everyday sound. It is not even exceptionally loud either, hens usually make noises between 60-70 decibels when singing the egg song, and that is about the sound of two humans talking. Otherwise they make very low clucks that are imperceptible to humans a few feet away.

I would really like the opportunity to address any concerns you may have. I can totally understand your resignation to the idea - many people have a lot of things about chickens all wrong. I am glad you came to this place and I encourage your questions and participation. If I was your neighbor, I certainly would want everything to work out amicably. It is certainly hard to live next to someone who hates you, you know? I am sure that compromise can be reached somehow. I would perhaps reach out to your neighbor like God has commanded, and be kind to them, letting them know the issue you have.

Thank you, God Bless.

 

[Kikiriki]

I had an invasion of rats because my neighbors have dogs that drop food, in a drought they came and ate my grapefruit windfall. I trapped until they were gone. Two years ago the lady next door accumulated a junk pile next to my fence. Rats found a way into my porch and then my attic. Years ago we had rats at my parents house around the corner when a big lot of land got cleared and the rats went hunting for a new home...all the other neighbors were also affected. I now have chickens and I am fighting off squirrels that want their food, but I have not seen any rats. If I see them, I will deal with them as in past invasions, all which had nothing to do with chickens!

My chickens are keeping down the population of garden pests and even spiders. They love eating palmetto bugs and they go around the foundation looking for them. They ate all the eggs in a nest of carpenter ants they uncovered, and ate a good portion of the grown ants, too.

You make a broad sweeping statement with no basis in fact, ignore positive things the chickens do, and generally come across as a crotchety neighbor whom no one would want living next door. My neighbors, in comparison, are kind and wonderful people who offer help if needed and otherwise mind their own business and I return the favor by doing the same for them. I helped my old neighbors by sweeping off their roof when a fire broke out in our neighborhood...that makes community, not calling code enforcement before you even know the person is breaking a code, or talking to them personally.

I have read your codes, and guess what...chickens are not excluded because they are not defined anywhere, and anyone who has them now will be able to keep them because of that. Maybe YOU should move to someplace that knows how to write a legally enforcable ordinance.
Or into a a nice community of crotchety buttinskis with a homeowners association, so you can spend your days making each other miserable and reporting one another for improperly mown grass and banned door colors.

Thank God you are not my neighbor. I hope you never need help from the person you have been so nasty to, or I hope they have more forgiveness in their souls than do I...

 

[Cciprnancy]

Well written Kikiriki. I definitely agree. And NoCityChicken, why don't you give us your real name instead of hiding behind a pseudonym?