neighborhood covenant says no poultry

[ChickenTender63]

Welcome from Chatham County new eggs!

If everyone get's along with your neighbors, and don't have roosters, I would say go for it and don't look back. Chances are pretty slim anything would ever be said. If it is, it always comes in the form of a written notice with time to correct before anything is done.

Good luck!

 

[hinky toes]

I don't think you have much to worry about.

A word about strict covenants and HOA's: A main reason why we moved had to do with fairly restrictive covenants and an iron-fisted HOA board. Not only couldn't we have chickens, but no garden either! Unbelievable. It was a fairly obscure rule in the covenant, but when we planted a few tomatoes, the board was all over us.

To that I say when all heck breaks loose and my neighbors needed tomatoes (or eggs for that matter), I'd think twice about sharing.

We moved to a place where there are no HOA's, no covenants. We have several chickens. Our roosters are our alarm clocks. Life couldn't be better.

 

[Sierra pachie bars]

In our area we have a limit of four. I plan on having 12 but I use them for animal therapy as I am disable. So should someone complain which I doubt, let them try to take them from me. They provide me with so much as I spent a long time just sitting and hand feeding them. From what I hear from nearby neighbor they enjoy watching them.

I think overall the law is goofy. Nobody should be able to tell me what kind of animal I can and can't have providing I take care of them. And give plenty of TLC.

 

[bantamfan]

Here in Tempe, AZ we can't have any poultry, yet everyone has yapping dogs. My garden was turned in as too tall grass, so I showed the judge pics of my garden and it was thrown out. My solution was
to buy a lot in the mountains of New Mexico in a town of 199 and no darn rules of any kind. when I retire I'll move there, and by then I'll have my coop already built so I can buy my bantams, and go for it. I love roosters and their crowing so now I can enjoy that. It' an unencorperated town, meaning we dug our own well, put in our own septic system, and my retirenment bought us a home so I can hardly wait.

 

[eldenbrady]

I think the distinction between laws and deed restrictions/homeowners association rules is important to mention. While homeowners association rules may look and feel the same as zoning and ordinances, they are unfortunately two completely different things as far as the law is concerned.

Local ordinances can only cover what they are allowed to by state law. This means that in a state like Michigan that has a comprehensive right to farm act, the local government may not be able to ban animals.

Deed restrictions and homeowners association rules are rules that you agree to when you buy your property. They are not laws - they are contracts. The state is much less concerned about stopping stupid rules that you agreed to than ones forced on you by local government (they don’t seem to care much whether or not you realized the restriction were there when you bought the property). This means that right to farm laws are unlikely to help you. I have not heard of any court saying that any states right to farm laws trump deed restrictions/homeowners association rules - not that I wouldn’t be very happy to see one.

The good thing is that homeowners association rules can be a lot easier to change if you can do some good neighborhood friend making. Or, as has already been mentioned, since they are enforced by the neighbors and not by city code enforcement, if the neighbors don’t complain you will be fine at least until you get new neighbors who have different ideas.

Good luck.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Don't know where you got that--Tempe allows up to 5 hens in all single-family residential districts. No restrictions of any sort in the Ag. District (which is also single family residential).

 

[codybird]

Chickenchok,

I doubt that one of your neighbors will take the time or money to sue you to have your chickens removed unless you have 200 roosters.

As I always say "a rule without a fine or penalty is just a suggestion".

 

[twentynine]

Gosh I like chickens as much as the next guy.

However-----

You stated--

"The document we signed"

When you signed that document you gave your word. A deals a deal. And what the "others" do, really doesn't have a bearing on whether or not you gave your signature on a legal document. Does it really matter that no one is there to enforce the rules? Doesn't change the rules at all does it?

 

[ocalicreek]

We have been renting but about to purchase our home as soon as the short-sale financing goes through. Once we actually purchase we'll have to sign on the line.

Fortunately, there's alot of wiggle room in our covenant. It says you can have 'caged birds'. Well, chickens are birds and ours live in a cage of sorts. Sure, we let them range occasionally, but you'd have to get up next to our 6' fence and peer over to see that. Most of the time they are fine in their hutch and caged run.

A member of the HOA tried to tell our neighbors (who blessed us with the chickens in the first place...they're spreading!) that they couldn't have chickens because chickens are fowl and the covenant says you can't have fowl. Well, actually the word fowl is not in the document ANYWHERE.

So then he tried to say that they are not birds, they're fowl, so they don't apply to the 'caged birds' allowance. Well, fowl are birds. Ours live in a cage. Caged birds. Period.

Well, he says, it'll have to go before the board. Well, we said, you need to give us a statement in writing ten days prior to any such board meeting. He didn't want it to escalate and neither did we.

Fortunately, along comes another member of the HOA in his truck. The fellow we'd been talking to flags him over and asks him about the chickens. He says, Are they running loose, like out in the street? No, they're in the back yard. Do you have a rooster? No, only hens, and only two. Well, he says, I don't have a problem with it, so there's no need to take it to the board.

That seemed to settle it then and there. The conversation turned polite again and a tacit agreement seemed to be reached right away.

A few months later our neighbors point out that you can see a chicken tractor in somebody's back yard from a street outside our neighborhood. Turns out that's the home of the HOA member who drove by that night! No wonder he didn't want it to come before the board! Who knows, he may even be on this forum somewhere.

In that very same back yard is a garden and, gasp, clothes hanging on a line! Now that IS explicitly forbidden.

Still, as has been implied above, when hard times hit folks will be happy to get surplus eggs, produce & fertilizer. Make friends with a chicken owner now!

Galen

 

[qtbird]

Hi Everyone...this is my first time on this forum and I have a question on restrictive convenants. Has anyone out there ever had problems with being reported or fined? We live in Toney AL Limestone county about 6 miles from Ardmore and we built our coop and then looked at our covenant...yes we know we should have checked first!! We are kicking ourselves because our covenant bans chickens. The only thing is there really isnt anytone in our neighorhood who has ever followed the covenant that I am aware of. We called the manager right after we moved in to inquire about planting and was told not to worry about any of that so we just forgot about any of the regulations listed.....until now. We have talked to all of our neighbors and told them we were getting a few chickens and they all said no problem. However my neighbor directly next to the coop is acting weird constantly asking when they will arrive and bringing others into her yard and pointing out our coop.. She is one that has said no problem but the way she is acting there appears to be a problem. We havent gotten along in the past so thats why I am worried. Any suggestions anyone? I already ordered the chicks and everything is all set to go.