Stealth Coop Plans

[TheCooper]

I don't necessarily believe that it will and I'm willing to sue them if it isn't, and I get busted. The law that exists is badly written and it won't stand.

But I've waited a long time, I think the law is ridiculous, and I intend to circumvent it. Legally, if possible, but by all means.

 

[Blooie]

Sounds like our current political climate - don't like a law because it interferes with your plans? Break it.

 

[Wise Woman]

I must put out a scenario for you here. Imagine this: I'm a town official. You live in my town, and chickens are illegal but you go ahead anyway. One of those "all in favor of it" neighbors suddenly gets a thorn in his/her kilt because the noise and possibly odor will be more than any of you expect, and turns you in. Or your chickens are spotted by someone else who takes exception to them. Do you seriously think you can hide chickens in your backyard and not have a police officer or town maintenance worker drive by with their windows down hear the singing of the egg song? So we send someone out to take a look and to give you a cease and desist order. You then take your chickens to your friend's place until you can get the law changed. So far so good.

Where I live, police officers are spread too thin dealing with real crimes to drive around looking for chickens. Code enforcement officers are not allowed to trespass onto your property to check out what you are doing. They also cannot just drive around looking for violations. Someone has to file a complaint in order for them to start an investigation. I spoke to 2 different county supervisors several times about changing the ordinances and it was not a priority for them. So people just started doing what they wanted. We now have many people in my area keeping chickens, goats etc. against the law because they won't work with us and they don't have the resources to go after all of us.

When I got cited, I had the choice to pay the fine and comply or go to a hearing. At the hearing, it was up to the code enforcement officer to prove we were in the wrong. It is all very stupid and a waste of time and resources. We won our case and haven't been bothered since. Our zoning also states that you must have 1 acre of land in order to own a parakeet. Who can take these kinds of rules seriously?

Perhaps you could get a letter from your neighbors so they cannot retract anything they say at a later date. Mine were more than happy to write a letter for me. One neighbor even got upset with me when I took my 2 hens that turned out to be roosters back to the breeder. He loved hearing the roosters every morning. I might be crazy but I am not stupid enough to push my luck keeping a rooster! Hope it all works out for you.

You might want to check out other cities ordinances as well in order to make an educated case for keeping chickens. I had a councilman from Seattle that was willing to help me with my goat fight and sent me tons of research they did which saved me a lot of time and money. I saw a show on chicken keeping in the city and it said that in Brooklyn NY you can keep as many chickens as you will clean up after. I thought that was funny since NY is such a large city. Sometimes the cities seem to be much more forward thinking than smaller towns.

 

[Blooie]

Where I live, police officers are spread too thin dealing with real crimes to drive around looking for chickens. Code enforcement officers are not allowed to trespass onto your property to check out what you are doing. They also cannot just drive around looking for violations. Someone has to file a complaint in order for them to start an investigation. I spoke to 2 different county supervisors several times about changing the ordinances and it was not a priority for them. So people just started doing what they wanted. We now have many people in my area keeping chickens, goats etc. against the law because they won't work with us and they don't have the resources to go after all of us.

When I got cited, I had the choice to pay the fine and comply or go to a hearing. At the hearing, it was up to the code enforcement officer to prove we were in the wrong. It is all very stupid and a waste of time and resources. We won our case and haven't been bothered since. Our zoning also states that you must have 1 acre of land in order to own a parakeet. Who can take these kinds of rules seriously?

Perhaps you could get a letter from your neighbors so they cannot retract anything they say at a later date. Mine were more than happy to write a letter for me. One neighbor even got upset with me when I took my 2 hens that turned out to be roosters back to the breeder. He loved hearing the roosters every morning. I might be crazy but I am not stupid enough to push my luck keeping a rooster! Hope it all works out for you.

You might want to check out other cities ordinances as well in order to make an educated case for keeping chickens. I had a councilman from Seattle that was willing to help me with my goat fight and sent me tons of research they did which saved me a lot of time and money. I saw a show on chicken keeping in the city and it said that in Brooklyn NY you can keep as many chickens as you will clean up after. I thought that was funny since NY is such a large city. Sometimes the cities seem to be much more forward thinking than smaller towns.

I don't believe I said anything like that. I said that they could be driving around on their regular rounds and hear the cackle, not that they'd be actively patrolling just to find chickens. That would be just plain silly in any community. And I never indicated that any code enforcement officer would be trespassing either. But if the officer reports that he thought he heard something an investigation might likely ensue. That would involve coming to the door, not skulking over a back fence.

I was on the town council when we passed our community's first animal control ordinance. I'm not a neophyte when it comes to being on the opposite side of the fence, well before I even thought about getting my first chicken.

 

[redsix]

It would be nice if you could build them a tunnel out of an arched piece of welded wire so that they could get to the green area. Chickens can eat a lot of grass and save you some cash on feed. On the other hand, you could just let a section of your grass grow up and harvest it for them. Our young chickens aren't out in the run area yet, so we try to pick them some clover every day.

 

[TheCooper]

I'm trying to figure out how important more or less permanent outside access would be -- I think I'll be able to let them free range at least a few days per week, but some of the time I'll have to keep them in, at least until I get a sense of how well they behave and we build our auto door opener.

 

[TheCooper]

Ok, so, logistical questions:

1. What's the minimum width that you would suggest for a coop?

2. How high would chickens be interested in roosting?

 

[luckysaysgo]

I think it's admiral that you have checked in with those who could possibly be bothered to see where they stand. I think it's wonderful that you want to provide healthy eggs from happy chickens. Laws change to reflect changing times. New healthier thinking is changing laws all over to make room for backyard flocks. The under your deck area look great for four hens. Stagger the roosts all the way up and plant a bunch of berries and veggies outside the coop. Make them a tunnel and select your breeds carefully for noise. My quietest hen in one I hatched from a trader joes egg. She's in out and on with her day without a sound. She also lays daily. Marans, ees, and cochins have been very noisy! Cream legbars have been much quieter and they lay a blue egg and are sex able so no chance of roosters. Good luck!

 

[Briza]

Good luck with your coop! I second the idea by another poster about plants that hide the view. Bamboo(use the clumping kind or it might spread out of control) can be used to suppress sounds as it makes noise when it sways and strongly scented herbs like rosemary may be a good idea to keep people from being able to place the scent because I imagine it will have one even if it isn't strong. If they can't see the chicken then they would have to prove that it was a chicken making the sound which might be hard to do considering mockingbirds will imitate them. If you don't have cats, beware of rodents. I have cats and usually the smell of their urine around the property keeps the mice away but since I got the chicks, my cat has been bringing me lots of presents.

 

[TheCooper]

Good tips. Thank you!

I see a lot of designs that are basically a box within a run -- but if I can make the whole thing fairly predator-proof, do I need a box within a run? Or can I just make a big enclosure that includes everything?

(My old coop was basically a modified closet, but the chickens could free range every day.)