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Hi! I'm in Marlborough, too, and am thinking about getting some hens for the spring. Do you have any informatino you could share on what ordinances there might be? Last I had was from 2012 but it sounds like your info might be more up to date?
 
I'm just going off a post that was done here in 2012. From that information, my understanding would be that you could have 10 pets, no matter the breed/species, but that was all the animals you could have. Either way, I'm only planning to have 3 hens.
 
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cd2675 said:
I'm just going off a post that was done here in 2012. From that information, my understanding would be that you could have 10 pets, no matter the breed/species, but that was all the animals you could have. Either way, I'm only planning to have 3 hens.
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So, I just got off the phone with the City Zoning Officer for Marlborough, MA and she was VERY helpful. She told me that my zone isn't the right zone but she wouldn't care if I got chickens as long as:
1) there weren't a ton of them
2) I got no complaints from neighbors
3) they had cute little names and came when called
In her words, she can't tell me what kind of an animal I can have as a pet :-D

She also said that:
1) she would be the person enforcing the zoning of the city if there were any issues
2) she would work with me if that was the case and there were complaints/issues
3) I cannot have roosters (I wasn't planning to anyway)

I feel like she would be very supportive of my efforts, especially because the lot I have is 750 sqft short of being a Rural Residential Zone that has no issues with chicken keeping, the Health Inspector's sister has a flock of chickens, and the houses across the street and behind me ARE Rural Residential Zone properties.

Finally, she helped me figure out who my Ward Councilor is and how to reach him so that if I wanted to propose making some tweaks to the current ordinances, I could contact him. 750 sqft seems like an awful little amount to zone differently than the properties in front of and behind mine in order to disallow something, especially when the area behind me is wooded before the next yard and a brook runs through it.
 
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cd2675 said:
So, I just got off the phone with the City Zoning Officer for Marlborough, MA and she was VERY helpful. She told me that my zone isn't the right zone but she wouldn't care if I got chickens as long as:
1) there weren't a ton of them
2) I got no complaints from neighbors
3) they had cute little names and came when called
In her words, she can't tell me what kind of an animal I can have as a pet :-D

She also said that:
1) she would be the person enforcing the zoning of the city if there were any issues
2) she would work with me if that was the case and there were complaints/issues
3) I cannot have roosters (I wasn't planning to anyway)

I feel like she would be very supportive of my efforts, especially because the lot I have is 750 sqft short of being a Rural Residential Zone that has no issues with chicken keeping, the Health Inspector's sister has a flock of chickens, and the houses across the street and behind me ARE Rural Residential Zone properties.

Finally, she helped me figure out who my Ward Councilor is and how to reach him so that if I wanted to propose making some tweaks to the current ordinances, I could contact him. 750 sqft seems like an awful little amount to zone differently than the properties in front of and behind mine in order to disallow something, especially when the area behind me is wooded before the next yard and a brook runs through it.
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Hi there! This is an old post so I'm not sure you are still on this site. I live in Marlborough on Pleasant street and am interested in raising some chickens. I called zoning officer and her secretary got back to me and said that I live in a zone where chickens were not permitted. I did tell her I would keep them as pets and am only looking to have 3-4 chickens. She could not tell me one way or another whether that was permitted. Does anyone have any other information for city of Marlborough? I really want to get some!
 
Hi anhle78! Welcome to BYC!

I don't have any information specific to Marlborough, so it's entirely possible that they see things differently from this. But zoning regulations in generally don't usually make a distinction based on how you view or treat your animals (pets vs. livestock). In other words, I'd be surprised if they disallowed chickens as livestock but allowed them as pets.

I do have a suggestion, though. How do you feel about quail? Quail are game birds, not poultry, and are treated differently in most zoning ordinances (game birds often aren't "treated" at all, which usually means they are allowed by default, because there's nothing prohibiting them). But, of course, I don't know how the regulations read in Marlborough or how they might interpret them.
 
Plip said:
Hi anhle78! Welcome to BYC!

I don't have any information specific to Marlborough, so it's entirely possible that they see things differently from this. But zoning regulations in generally don't usually make a distinction based on how you view or treat your animals (pets vs. livestock). In other words, I'd be surprised if they disallowed chickens as livestock but allowed them as pets.

I do have a suggestion, though. How do you feel about quail? Quail are game birds, not poultry, and are treated differently in most zoning ordinances (game birds often aren't "treated" at all, which usually means they are allowed by default, because there's nothing prohibiting them). But, of course, I don't know how the regulations read in Marlborough or how they might interpret them.
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Thank you! Good thought on quail, is an interesting thought. I was really looking at chickens because I want fresh eggs and also thought they would be therapeutic for my kids and special needs son. I am super disappointed that I may not be able to get them. I'm hoping if there's anyone from the area who has them can give me some insight. I would hate to get them and then get shut down and lose our pets! :-(
 

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