Sacramento County

[pichikeen]

I'm in Sacramento too, keeping my silkie chicks in a coop against the garage. I hope we can get the law changed...

I just heard a peacock call from outside as I posted. Another illegal!

 

[Sacchicken]

I live in Sac County also but my property is just a little over 10,000. Thus, it is OK for me to have chickens. However, when i was in touch with the County last year I was told that they are in the process of changing the ordinance to place a limit on the number of chickens and how far the coop may be placed away from any structures(homes).

I have not heard anything since. Has anyone heard anything? I asked for info on who was working on the changes in order to give input but never recieved a response.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i live in Fair Oaks - we just moved here last April from Los Angeles. i did a LOT of research before we bought this house as it was imperative that we live somewhere where we would not have to worry about our chickens being taken away. i can't recall if it was zoning or code enforcement who gave me the information. But we were told that no chickens are allowed at all in the City of Sacramento, but in the unincorporated portions of Sacramento County you must have 10,000 square feet or more and then you can have as many chickens (or turkeys or ducks or geese or other fowl) as you want (keeping in mind that they must be kept in clean conditions) and you can keep any other barnyard animal that will not exceed 75 pounds at adult weight. i think the other contingency was that they must be housed at least 10 feet from any neighboring property line.

gorgeousarmageddon - the link you provided to that short article on the conditional use permit is dated 2006 at the bottom, and i have not heard of that. However, my friend recently said she saw an article in the paper that they may soon be implementing ordinances restricting the number of roosters. She said the article suggested that this is being implemented due to a large number of cock-fighting rings in the area (who knew?).

In Los Angeles County they don't restrict you on your land size, but do require that you house your hens at least 20 feet from your residence and 35 feet from any other residence (not property line, but your neighbor's actual house). If you have roosters or other loud fowl you must have 100 feet between their housing and any of your neighbor's residences.

We had a dinky yard in L.A., but most neighbors didn't know we had chickens until i told them. My closest neighbor (whose bedroom window was like 10 feet from my chicken coop) was totally cool with me having my girls. It may have been a different story if i had kept any of the roosters i hatched.

i would be interested in helping with letter writing or anything else to help others have chickens. Really, as long as people use common sense and keep their coops clean, there shouldn't be a problem. When i lived in West Sacramento 8 years ago i was told no chickens allowed. Now they allow everyone to keep up to 4 hens, no lot size or setback requirements at all. So, things are changing as more people want to keep a backyard flock.

 

[Momof4wantingmore]

Wow I am surprised. I have a third acre but when I called the county to make sure we could have chickens and the said absolutely! I said that I had to make sure cause we have neighbors that complain all the time about everyone (has even already asked me to not get a rooster) and the lady at the office told me that basically I can tell them to shove it cause I have the right to have as many chickens as I want! She actually said that I could tell them that it came strait from the county office. It thought that was great! I am looking forward to getting them now. BTW where is the best place around here to get some chickens?
Thanks!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Wow, good for you! How exciting! Well now, what kind of chickens are you looking for? Do you want good laying chickens or more ornamental? Do you want standard size or bantams? Do you want to buy chicks and raise them up yourself, pullets already started, or adult hens? The possibilities are endless!

 

[ChickeeNewbie]

Hello there - from Citrus Heights (Sacramento County). I just found this thread

I am fortunate enough to live on a little over 12,000 sq/ft so I qualify on that end - but there is no way in He!! I am paying $4,500 for a stupid permit. That kinda defeats the purpose of having a few hens for the eggs - I could buy a lot of eggs for $4,500. My BIL is a Sac County Animal Control Officer (he has chickens too) and he said that unless there was some major funky business going on with your chickens and a lot of calls from angry neighbors, then you should be fine. He said, especially with all the cutbacks in the the budgets, they really don't have time to come out for a noisy chicken call - it's not as high a priority as a loose vicious dog. Just be a good chicken owner and give your neighbors some eggs and everything should be fine. Don't take my word as the law of course. My neighbor had no idea I even had three hens until I was talking to her over the fence while holding one of my chickens. I had already had them for two months. I was very worried about the noise in the beginning, but then I sat back and just listened to all of the other noises that I hear in the neighborhood and my girls are nowhere as noisy as the neighbors dog or the other neighbors kids or the people across the street who are in a band or the other songbirds that are just chirping away. I hope you get some chickens. Please update us on what you find out

 

[ybmagpye]

Hurray! Reading this forum is a nice load of chicken fluff off my mind.

I live in Fair Oaks on a .25 acre plot. I have 4 Faverolles female chicks coming my way in late August. Honestly, with all the chickens in Fair Oaks, it never occured to me that there might be any problem with owning poultry.

I would love a rooster, but never seriously considered having one (and I still don't) because my neighborhood is quiet & I want it to stay that way!

At a later time, I have thought to get round the rooster noise, I might get a small flock of large quail, which do not crow - then I can enjoy hatching out chicks and such.

 

[Ivy]

I live inside the Sac city limits, and as of now, I am illegal, but I understand that there is a movement toward petitioning the city council to allow a certain number of hens so people could have their own eggs. I would still be illegal, as we have an Old English bantam roo (named T-Rex) and a black silkie we call Jack, but at this point, they don't crow much. I think it's because they are less than a year old, and just haven't really "needed" to claim territory. If they begin crowing, we are planning an inside area for them to sleep, so the 3-4 AM crowing won't bother the neighbors.

Ivy

 

[RobynLacy]

Well, I live in an unincorporated area in Florin and was just told that there's no way I can have chickens, period.

Funny, I have more space for them now than we gave them when I was a kid and had a flock of 15 in a small town.

 

[cindys6436]

I know I'm going to sound like an idiot, but how do I find out the square footage of my property in Orangevale? I thought I could find it online but I'm not having much luck.

Thanks,
Cindy