Please read my CCRS.. Can I have chickens?

[hemolymph]

I am wondering if I can have a hen or two as a pet in my backyard. I do not live in a city or town, I live in an unincorporated area but I do have an HOA.
The CCRS confuse me. First paragraph makes it seem like you can't have a chicken, then second paragraph makes it seem like it's ok as long as they aren't a nuisance and they're housing is kept from view from other property's. What do you think? I live in a "rural" area.. many farms and lots of livestock here but I live in a cookie cutter hoa type community.

 

[hchorselover]

hmmm... That is confusing

I hope someone else can help you. Also if you do get a chicken I would suggest getting two because their very social

oh! and

 

[hemolymph]

Yes, it's really confusing! I am thinking it IS allowed because it says that if a poultry/fowl/livestock is making an unreasonable amount of noise the homeowner can write to the board and have them check it out. So if we couldn't have poultry.. then why would it even say that?

I welcome all input! Thanks in advance!!

 

[Ema]

I think you can have them but not for commercial purposes only as pets!!! but I would call and request more information such as how many can you have. Also your coop/run cannot be visible to your neighbours as it states on your ccrs. the only way to really get a real idea of this is to call them or go see them during business hours and tell them you want to get a few chickens. show them the copy of the ccrs you have, and then take it from there.

 

[Desert Rooster]

why cant they just make these things easy to read

???????????? either a yes, or a no. they have to be all technical with there wording and stuff

 

[Kat's Silly Chickens]

Definitly check into it you may be able to have a few hens but roos may be the no no's. And

from Texas

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

They pulled boilerplate from various places, and there is a certain about of contradictory information. Based upon the 2nd paragraph, you have a good chance of getting a court to agree that pet chickens are allowed; but it is not a certainty. The first paragraph's purpose is to limit the numbers and types of animals; the purpose of the 2nd paragraph is to limit nuisances from the allowed animals. Your biggest threat is the 3rd paragraph, which allows the board to further restrict and regulate animals that may be kept. Meaning that the board can create a rule disallowing chickens (or parakeets or dobermans or canaries or malti-poos or ...), or determining that more than 2 is unreasonable.

In our CC&Rs we have two separate sections that are similarly somewhat contradictory. In one section, we are allowed fences to contain horses and livestock up to the front property line (no setback); in another section, we are not allowed to graze animals in the front yard. I asked our association attorney if that was contradictory, and her answer was that it is technically not. The animals are allowed to be there. but they are not allowed to graze while they are there.

Wondering how you convince a horse to ignore the nice green grass he is standing in?

 

[hemolymph]

I sent an e-mail over to the property management asking who I need to talk to. Maybe I can convince them to let me have a "trial" run to see if it bothers my 2 neighbors.

 

[hemolymph]

Property management e-mailed me back and said that this issue has come up before and that the board allowed a chicken.

"a chicken".. has me worried. I e-mailed her back for clarification. If she says they only allow 1 chicken then I'll have to make a case to have 2. You can't just have 1 chicken, right? They are social.. and 1 more chicken can't make that much more of a difference.

 

[hemolymph]

Ok I got an e-mail from someone in the HOA and they said this..

"I can tell you that the HOA has allowed people in the neighborhood to have hens for the purpose of fresh eggs. But there were stipulations."


WOOHOO!! Now to find out what the stipulations are..