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.

 

[Dlanor]

Before we got our hens (and one surprise roo) in May, we checked with our township to be sure that we could in fact have chickens here. Our township governs by Ohio Revised Code . We're on one acre of unplatted land, and after some checking, our township said that it is okay per ORC for us to have chickens.

We have no neighbors to the back (it's a wooded ravine that backs up to a farm). We did check with our neighbors on either side, and they both said that they were okay with us getting hens. So we did. We modified our barn to contain a coop, a door, and a chicken ramp down to the yard. We range our yard birds, and we do not have a fenced yard. Seriously, we didn't anticipate problems because we talked to our neighbors and they said sure, get chickens!

Now 6 months later, guess what? Somebody is complaining. I don't know which neighbor it is, but I have my suspicions: I think it's the neighbor who became stand-offish over the past 2 months.

It began in August with a visit from Animal Control. They left a door hanger that said we might be in violation of ORC 951.02: Animals Running at Large. I looked up the code before I called AC, and saw that the list of critters that must be contained do NOT include chickens. I called the officer -- who is a fellow back yard chicken owner -- and she said that no, I was not in violation of ORC. She said the caller complained of chicken poo, and said that if they wanted to live in the country, they'd move, but this is the suburbs and not farmland. She told me that the call was anonymous so she could not call them back to explain that we were not breaking any laws, but she also did suggest that to maintain good neighborly relations, we might want to consider building a run.

On of our neighbors feeds the birds and gladly accepts eggs. The other neighbor is the one who has stopped being friendly, barricaded his deck, and won't accept eggs. Previously, though, whenever our neighbor was outside with his grandkids, either me or my kids made sure they chickens stayed away from them. We have chased the birds off of his deck and out of his flowers. Every time, he has told us not to worry about it. So the animal control call came as a shock.

We did consider building a run or enclosure, but at the time my husband was working 80 hours/week and simply didn't have time to build a run. What we did do was limit the number of hours the chickens could range to only a couple of hours late in the day, after I get home from school (I am a teacher). They go into their run just after dusk.

Yesterday we received a call from our township zoning officer, who said that he received a neighbor complaint. He could not tell us who complained. He asked that we contain our chickens to keep the neighbor happy, and I told him about the ORC, the animal control issue, and the the AC Officer said we were not in violation of code. I told him what we'd done so far (limiting range hours).

The zoning officer is going to look at the ORC and talk to Animal Control, and he said he would get back to me. He asked that I contain the birds in the meantime, which means no ranging until at least Monday, given that it's a holiday weekend. I'm not good with that and am strongly considering letting my girls out tomorrow in spite of all of this.

I also told him that I am concerned that even if we compromise with an enclosure, they will still not be happy (given their dissatisfaction with our previous compromise), and this will end up in our chicken-owning rights to be revoked. He said that wouldn't happen because they follow ORC -- but I replied that if they do follow ORC, then my ranging hens shouldn't even be an issue, right? And I know that townships can in fact write their own ordinances, when ORC doesn't meet township needs.

I refuse to totally contain my birds. It's not healthy for them, and I might as well buy eggs from somebody else if I have to keep my birds in a factory setting. Unfortunately, that was the Zoning Administrator's first response to this whole endeavor: why don't you just buy eggs like everybody else?

So that's the background. I guess my questions to all of your are, one, have you encountered this type of resistance before? Anybody have experience dealing with ORC and can tell me what to expect of the township's interpretation of the law?

And if your advice is to just build a run, does anybody have photos of what they've built?

Well I myself and my wife were never consulted when our neighbors behind us decided to raise chickens, it's disgusting the way they are raised and they often get loose and tear up our garden. I actually feel sorry for the chicks because these folks don't care about them and treat them poorly just as they do their dogs, we won't except eggs from them because we see what they are fed and what there living conditions are. So I wish our zoning Dept would investigate. If you want to live like a pig move out to country and buy acreage. It's the only resident in the entire community that lets their property, pets and chicks create a nuisance. Most of the surrounding neighbors feel the same as we do. What can you do.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Well I myself and my wife were never consulted when our neighbors behind us decided to raise chickens, it's disgusting the way they are raised and they often get loose and tear up our garden. I actually feel sorry for the chicks because these folks don't care about them and treat them poorly just as they do their dogs, we won't except eggs from them because we see what they are fed and what there living conditions are. So I wish our zoning Dept would investigate. If you want to live like a pig move out to country and buy acreage. It's the only resident in the entire community that lets their property, pets and chicks create a nuisance. Most of the surrounding neighbors feel the same as we do. What can you do.

You can read your code.

and not toss aspersions at those of us who choose to live in the country by suggesting that we do so in order to "live like pigs".

Because I'm feeling generous, I'll suggest that you read the bylaws of your HOA or POA, if any, as well - since they are probably more restrictive than local zoning.