Raising Urban Chickens in Jacksonville, FL

[TheGardenAtJacksonSquare]

In Jacksonville, FL, it is against city statute for us to keep chickens. BUT, there is a petition going around to change that. You can also sign it online.

http://www.petitiononline.com/hens4jax/petition.html

 

[hawk101687]

i understand if had 20 chicken in backyard what if had 2 to 3 just control insect in yard?

 

[flgardengirl]

Whatever happened with the petition to allow hens in Jax? I am interested in an update or what the outcome was? I am in rural residential but support the other areas of Jax that want to have poultry. There are so many neighborhoods in Jax that do not have any stores except convenience stores and a bunch of restaurants that serve fried food.
Lots of older folks who like and remember raising chickens could also benefit as some of them have limited transportation to get to a store and then are limited as to what they can purchase (can only get what they can carry) if using public transportation like the city bus etc.

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. in terms of area. Everything is really spread out and even farmers markets could be hard to get to and then there is the issue of how to get everything home and stored.
So farming on a small scale like with chickens, composting, and having a backyard garden and lots of public education about it, should all be encouraged. Obesity and malnutrition is a huge issue here as cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes. Eating a healthy diet is one way to control these diseases.

 

[PaintedCavalry]

I signed the petition.

We live on the far northeast side of Jacksonville surrounded by horse farms, cattle farms and plenty of hobby farmers. We currently have 2 horses, 2 goats, 3 dogs and 14 chickens with not a peep. However, we really do live out in the sticks area so there's not going to be anyone to complain anyway.

I wish I had known about the event!

 

[dkowalski87]

The answer is that within Jacksonville city limits, chickens may only be kept in districts that are zoned as "Rural Residential" or "Agricultural." Additionally, the chickens' coop may not be located within 50 feet of your property line.
http://library.municode.com/HTML/12174/level4/ZOSE_CH656ZOCO_PT4SURE_SPAPESTDECR.html

For most of use living in the city, this means that raising chickens is prohibited. However, there is an organization here that is trying change this. It's called "Hens in Jax." Below is the link. I encourage you to join the group and to sign the online petition found on the Hens in Jax website.
http://www.hensinjax.com/Welcome.html

 

[katty401970]

I am in the process of getting my first chicken coop, and was researching best laying hen breeds and found this group! I live off of Collins rd on the west side near NAS as well. My next door neighbors have had chickens for years and someone did call they just hid them better. It was a pretty steep fine if I remember correctly.

 

[katty401970]

I should have mentioned that I am in Jacksonville Fl.

 

[MATA]

I consider my house to be the exact center of Ortega so I wonder if there are chickens right near my house and I never knew! That is so awesome. I do not have chickens but want to want to want to! I'd love to check out your set up. If you're keen, drop a note on my porch swing. I'm in the yellow house at the corner of Cherokee and Longfellow. --MATA

 

[katty401970]

Hi, we live on the west side and our neighbors have some. Someone turned them in and they were told to get rid of them. They had turkeys and they were kinda loud. So...... they got rid of the noisy birds and kept the hens. I'm waiting for a chicken coop I bought on ebay to get here any day and I'm only going to get a couple of hens, maybe 3. And just pray that no one calls (on my neighbor too) I'm tired of spending a fortune on "decent" eggs that may or may not be what they claim them to be.

 

[marcochicken]

can anyone tell me if iam allowed to have chickens in beach blv university area