Ohio Revised Code and Ranging Chickens

[CincyChickFarm]

Well I'm not a legislator and I don't write laws but you certainly have me doing my research. The revision to HR 124 failed in 2020. Here is the link: https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/1098246.

That doesn't mean it's all right to accuse good people of being in violation of laws or codes. That's why we have attorneys and courts.

With the rising popularity of raising backyard chickens, this is a debate that will be going on for some time and I'm sure more revisions will be be brought up again.

In the meantime, chicken owners may wish to choose their battles and find a happy place somewhere between standing up for their rights as property owners and free citizens of an enterprising first world country, their right to self-sustinence, and keeping on good terms with their neighbors and community.

You do not need a permit to have backyard chickens in Ohio and you can petition your local lawmakers to allow certain provisions locally but here is a case that went to court and the chicken owner lost. I would not want the cost or hassle of a lawsuit so prevention of any neighborly disputes would be desirable. Here is the link, this is specific to Ohio:

https://farmoffice.osu.edu/blog-tags/backyard-chickens

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sure, but whether or not you can have backyard chickens wasn't the issue. Chickens leaving the Owner's property was. and as suspected, consistent with the practice of every other State in which I've checked over the years (as well as our Federal Gov't), the bill was rendered a dead letter at the end of the legislative session.

Regarding Bedford v Deal, I find it best to go to the Source, and read the Court's ruling directly. It appears to me, perhaps mistakenly, that you have read the blog summation of it you linked to, once again, draw an erroneous conclusion. You **may** need a permit in OH to own chickens. You **may**, as Mr. Bedford did, be forbidden from owning chickens at all. It depends upon your local zoning, which the OH Supreme Court affirmed the local municipality (Bedford, in that case) had the authority to issue, subject to a very deferential balancing test. Removing that authority from local municipalities is one of the things the Bill proposed last session would have done.

Mr Deal proceeded pro se, functioning as his own attorney in that case. You know what they say about a Lawyer who represents themselves... It is doubly true for a private citizen.

...and again, for the home audience, I am NOT an Attorney. In Ohio or otherwise. This is not Legal Advice. I am merely well read, with some (for a lay person) peculiar areas of focus, owing in part to past employment.

Now, I think I need a cup of coffee. A very good morning to you all. I'm stepping off.

 

[NatJ]

You are, actually, in violation or ORC 951.02 the moment your chickens leave your property.

To wit:
No person, who is the owner or keeper of horses, mules, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, swine, llamas, alpacas, or poultry, shall permit them to run at large

This thread was from 2009.
I followed that link, and it says "Effective: March 28, 2017"

So OP was probably not in violation at the time of the original post & discussion.
Dates really matter in things like this

 

[U_Stormcrow]

In 2009, the claim would have proceeded under different statutes, ORC 3767 and ORC 715.23 (whose current version has been in effect since 1987). ORC 951.02 created certain per se violations, which of course makes prosecution easier. While 951.02 was in effect at the time of the original posting, it listed "geese", not "poultry". Revised substantially by the state in 2011, and again in 2017, the 2017 version made the alteration from "geese" to "poultry". It seemed unnecessary to track the various legislative changes to the present, since any poster reading would likely be more interested in the current status than "back when".

While it was just a tiny portion of my job, I did in fact do research of this sort for a living. Even so, regret jumping in after this ancient thread was resurrected by another poster.