Stafford County, VA

[drlcb]

I agree, no reason not to keep,ones own animals on their own property be them fowl or mammals. The chicken people on my street keep their birds in fenced areas or in a coop. I would not begrudge a neighbor that complained if there was an odor or my animals were causing them grief... on the other hand we have a dog in our neighborhood that barks all night and the owners could care less if anyone is upset. I would rather have a free range quiet chicken than a neurotic dogs endless barking for no reason...
Then there are the cats- cats - they do what they want anyway.
Bottom line is that we should all treat each other with courtesy and respect unless given reason to do otherwise.

 

[Ann H Csonka]

"Free range" = roaming the entire neighborhood? NO. Ridiculous. Too many folks live too close together in too many areas to just let the chickies run loose all day.
Every ordinance should define the area as ON THE OWNER'S PROPERTY ONLY! Free-range within an adequately fenced area (with clipped wings also), but preferably in a run with a coop, in a tractor-style movable coop-and-pen structure or similar.
When we were more loosely settled, even our doggies ran loose in the neighborhood, but as we increase density of settlement, we do need to respect boundaries.
Unfortunately, cats rule and can run loose anywhere . . .

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

"Free range" = roaming the entire neighborhood? NO. Ridiculous. Too many folks live too close together in too many areas to just let the chickies run loose all day.
Every ordinance should define the area as ON THE OWNER'S PROPERTY ONLY! Free-range within an adequately fenced area (with clipped wings also), but preferably in a run with a coop, in a tractor-style movable coop-and-pen structure or similar.
When we were more loosely settled, even our doggies ran loose in the neighborhood, but as we increase density of settlement, we do need to respect boundaries.
Unfortunately, cats rule and can run loose anywhere . . .

In most cases the proper terminology for animals roaming outside their owner's yard is "at-large," and that means off-leash, so a dog on a leash being walked down the street is not at-large, while one that is heeling right beside his owner or is running all over the place is at-large.

And the vast majority of places in the country do not allow domestic animals of any sort to roam at large. There are exceptions such as livestock on open range, and a very few places that do not have leash laws.

The feds actually define "free-range" (for the purposes of egg and meat production), and it is not at all what one thinks of when hearing the term. It simply means that they are not caged, and there is some access to natural light and airflow. They might be in an pen that has as little area per bird as in a cage, and the door to the outside may be open. And that meets the definition of "free-range."

 

[thegreatmayo]

Does anyone have an updated information about having chickens in stafford, VA?

 

[FarmerBetty]

Not to my knowledge. I have never seen anything mentioned in print or elsewhere. It's hard to find any info at all. I was actually looking for rules pertaining to selling the eggs. I don't know why it's so hard to get any information. I'm thinking of calling the ag co-op extension. If I remember lol.

 

[Tifanie29]

Does anyone know if you can have chickens in Ferry Farm Area

 

[sneakychicken]

We recently learned that homeowner's insurance comes in to play with selling. We would have had no idea until recently with getting new insurance. We were asked if we had chickens and at first the rep (we were using a search company) said we couldn't get insurance. After a few days she said we could get it, but...'do we sell eggs?'. Nope was the reply, and we meant it. The new flock hadn't started laying yet and we will not sell them as we'd planned. HTH

 

[ashawee]

The neighbors behind our house have chickens in their back yard. We live in Ferry Farm. The only thing that bothers me about it is that it gives my dog something else to bark at. I don't have a problem with the chickens, however. I do have a problem with the dog that they allow loose to poop in our driveway (on the asphalt), however. At the same time, we have a cat (as do many of our neighbors) that we allow to roam. I'm sure there are some people who would take issue with that.

I have another neighbor who called the county last year about whether or not chickens were allowed in Ferry Farm, and the response she got was no, but if no one complained, they wouldn't intervene. But I personally don't have a problem with it as long as they don't come on my property. I don't want to have to bury chickens when my dog kills them. They are quiet, and I would be happy to have some of the waste for my compost pile. I am also open to bribes of fresh eggs I think if you ask your closest neighbors beforehand in order to curb complaints, then you should be fine.

 

[sneakychicken]

The issue with selling eggs can come in the form of a problem with your homeowner's policy. Better to barter--it is a pain, but then you aren't selling.

 

[jnr005]

I'm getting ready to hatch some chickens this spring in Stafford. We live in a subdivision, but not hoa. My property has mostly trees around it (half acre) and the neighbors behind us and a few houses over have a bunch of chickens. My neighbor next to me had one when we moved in, completely free range. He said he doesn't mind us having some chickens. Neighbor on the other side is the only one I'm worried about, but I'm going to put the coop on the nice neighbors side of our yard, we are completely fenced in, and I have some bamboo growing a privacy like fence between yards so they should t even see them. Doing all this for my daughter who as begged for years to have them.