New Chicken Mama in need of advice!!

[Sherry Phelps]

Hi everyone, I'm a new chicken mama of 1 week. My girls are 3 weeks old and I adore them ready. I got the news 3 days ago that my husband's job is transferring him effective immediately. I will stay behind to pack our home and let our son finish out the school year. Our move is only 3 hours away but it's to another state (from NC to SC) and someone mentioned that I might not be able to bring my girls across state lines? Is this true? Also in hopes that I can bring them, where can I find information regarding ordinances for my chickens? We are looking to move to Lexington/Cayce/Columbia area. I'm hoping to find a home in a country type setting but want to make sure I have options. Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sherry, welcome to the forum. I’ll hope the move is a good thing and will tentatively offer congratulations.

Each state has different regulation for incoming birds, usually involving certain testing. I have no idea what the differences are between the two Carolinas. It’s not a Federal thing, it’s a state. No one is going to be waiting at the state line to inspect your shipment. So while technically you may be supposed to have certain testing done you can make the move and be pretty confident you won’t get in trouble. You should not be caught and with chicks that age the risk if you importing a disease is practically non-existent. I would not worry about it from a practical aspect.

When you are looking for a place to live, each city, town, HMO, or whatever governing body may have some regulations on keeping chickens or other animals. Or they may not. I live in the county and not in any community with some type of governing organization so I don’t have to follow any rules. I assume you will use a real estate agent when searching. Tell them you have chickens and want to be able to keep them. If the agent is any good they should be able to help you with that. If you do move into a town, city, or HMO check the regulations before you make an offer on the house. The final responsibility to make sure you know the rules fall on you.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. I hope that you are are allowed to take your flock with you.

Best wishes
CT

 

[drumstick diva]

Something you can do now, is post on the state thread - where you intend to move and ask about areas allowing chickens & restrictions. Folks there may have a lot to tell you.

I don't know that real estate agents can be of use. Many years ago real estate agents showed us every DUMP they could find in a wide areas. I guess they figured no one would care what was done with the property. It was disgusting.

We finally lucked out by finding the last house being built in a nearby suburb. We were told there were no present dog laws etc (this was over 47 years ago.) but that we couldn't advertise or have signs up. Some folks attending a meeting told us they had a number of dogs and raised Beagles. Turned out there was a small kennel a block away from us that had the same breed we did. Since we had infrequent pups for sale - mostly through mail ( no computers then) or recommended by friends - we did okay.

I know a BIG city like Chicago allows chickens (and roosters)

so you would think every place would.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under Sherry

Welcome!

I too hope very much that you are able to keep and move your flock.

I also hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

 

[Sherry Phelps]

Thank you Ken, Diva & Teila!! I joined in on a SC thread and got a lot of information & help. I am more at ease with our move and looking forward to funding a new home for our family (feathered & non feathered) !!!