New and Confused about City Ordinances Please Read and Comment!

[gbutler288]

Hi my name is Gary. My wife and I and are 3 teenagers have been wanting to embark on raising chickens in our backyard/side lot. I called the local city and they said..."No! Chickens!" click...hung up. Hmmm....so I start searching the local ordinances because I would never believe those that work at the city truly understand the laws of the city. I've only found two instances in our ordinances that seem conflicting.

What are your thoughts and if it really is "No Chickens!" Cluck, Gulp how to do I go about changing this?


First Question. So if my chickens aren't noxious or produce offensive odors is it o.k. to have them.

505.08 NUISANCE CONDITIONS PROHIBITED.

(a) No person shall keep or harbor any animal or fowl in the Municipality so as to create noxious, or offensive odors or unsanitary conditions which are a menace to the health, comfort or safety of the public.
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(b) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor.


Second Question. Is it me or doesn't this make it sound like you can own Chickens? See what I mean by contradictory?

505.01 ANIMALS RUNNING AT LARGE.

(a) No person being the owner of or having charge of cattle, horses, mules, swine, goats, sheep, geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens or other fowl or animals shall permit them to run at large upon any public place, or upon any unenclosed lands, or upon the premises of another.

(b) The running at large of any such animal in or upon any of the places mentioned in this section is prima-facie evidence that it is running at large in violation of this section.
(ORC 951.02)
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(c) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We had the same type of wording in ours. None of the 7 people in our city that I know of that had chickens and read the ordinances saw anything that would prevent them. Then one day the morning paper carried a story about me and my chickens. The mayor went nuts, declaring - "DID YOU KNOW SOMEONE IN BLACK JACK HAS CHICKENS!!!!!~
Obviously, he wasn't aware that his next door neighbor had them. (a real nuisance)
I got a notice that I had a month to get rid of them.
We decided to mobilize and packed city hall every 2 weeks at the council meetings. We also had several news media at each meeting and the mayor ended up on TV constantly. 7 months later they were legalized and all of us that already had them could basically continue to do what we had been doing. Newbies can have 6 birds and one rooster.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

I read into this as YES you can keep chickens as long as you keep it clean, neat and tidy, and do not them them run all over the neighborhood.

You can keep the smells down by some good maintenance practices every day. Keep them in a run at all times and let them out under supervision only (this is probably the best thing for keeping them safe from being eaten by the neighborhood dogs) and keep hens only.

And don't be afraid to share some eggs with the neighbors as well! Everybody loves farm fresh eggs and it keep the neighbors on your side too.

Good luck and I think you have the green light here!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

X2 sounds like you can keep them as long as you keep their noise and smell down. Eggs are a plus to the neighbors.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi and welcome to BYC fro northern Michigan

I agree, I see nothing in those ordinances that prohibit chickens. That does not mean you might not have to work for it. I would post this in the Local Chicken Laws section of the Forum and see what folks there have to say. Good luck.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to BYC - the second section you cited is not so much an acknowledgment or statement of there being permissiveness to possess the animals listed there- it is more a "if you DO have them and they are caught at large here are additional violations you can be cited with" (additional to the violations of possessing said animals if prohibited in other sections)

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome to BYC!

We're glad to have you.