*The City of San Diego, California - Chicken and Gamebird / Fowl Law*

[TommyVT05]

Dan,

It should all be the same pretty much. 50 feet from all residents and roosters must be kept in a ventilated box every morning to reduce noise...

Ask the neighbors around you just to play safe. Better than getting 25 nice chickens and they come take it away 2-3 weeks later....

 

[hensplease]

in san marcos r u alowed tohave roos

 

[TommyVT05]

You can have Roos almost anywhere as long as you are not fighting them or have them crow 24/7. They can crow after 10AM to about 6PM if your neighbors are nice : )

Otherwise, you have to build a sound proof cage for them. Haha

 

[OlivenhainChickens]

Great thread. I live in Olivehain and many people out here have lots of chickens, horses, goats, etc.

 

[susansrour]

Anyone know what the laws are regarding slaughter of chickens in unincorporated San Diego? We are thinking of getting a few meat chickens. We live on 1/2 acre in the Mt. Helix area, which is unincorporated county. Or if you know where I can look to find this info, that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks for the info!

 

[kaya]

Hey all - i am new to the forum but i was on here a lot when i first got my own chickens about a year ago . I live in North Park in san diego .

All of the neighbors who lived adjacent to my house were all totally excited about the chickens, and our landlord too .. but eight months in these two dudes FOUR HOUSES DOWN (130 #@!$% feet away ) called the city and we had to put our babes up for temporary adoption (thankfully a neighbor less than three minutes away also had chickens in her backyard and is keeping them for us now .. ).

They cited us on not having 50 feet from the coop to our house or neighboring houses (we only had 35 feet). I dont' know if others have actually gotten notices from the city but we did and they threatened fines and that they'd take the babes away.

Anyways - the real news is this:
I started doing some research and on page four of the code it states that residences with LESS THAN 50 feet CAN LEGALLY have chickens : that the 'director of public health ' will issue a "special permit" that will allow chickens in small urban spaces so long as the chickens are not endangering nearby public health or welfare . (which everyone on this forum knows they are not) ..

For some reason NOBODY knows about this.. so here is the link. look to the last paragraph on page 4 of the doc:

http://docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter04/Ch04Art02Division07.pdf

The problem is this: no one has asked for this permit for 30 years so the city doesnt have anything in place for dealing with it -- I have been calling the department of environmental health (who has apparently replaced the director of public health for these types of issues ) but they dont want to take any responsibility for it . They've asked me for a formal request .. I'm assuming so that they can write a formal denial..

So - we don't even have to change laws here, we just need to get the city to actually follow the law and issue us permits ! Anyone have any ideas or legal experience or want to help in any other way ??

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

Kaya, I live right by you in South Park and just got some chicks in June. I'm sorry to hear that they made you relocate your chickens, that is disheartening. I figured it would be ok to get chickens because there was someone else across the canyon from us that had one and we have a decent amount of room but I haven't seen or heard the hen in a while. Now I'm somewhat worried. I've wanted to own chickens as long as I can remember, I don't know what I would do if they told me to get rid of or took my babies! I hope you get yours back soon!!

 

[suburbanminifarm]

Wow thanks everyone I was happy to find the list of numbers of chickens allowed!! I am new to the forum too and it's nice to see some other chicken lovers in S.D. Please IM me if anyone out there is interested in very pretty Show Potential Silkie Cockerels, I'll get in trouble with the roo police soon- they are practice crowing, thx!

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

It's sad that most people are racist against chickens...

Crowing rooster? What about that darn yippy feeder poodle that does not stop barking?? Or the noise of airplanes and cars and sirens? I think roosters are cute and sound lovely. I thought that it was ok to have a rooster too as long as you can keep it quiet before a certain time in the morning? I love my little silkie OEGB cockerel!! If anyone ever makes me get rid of him then it's noise war!

I've heard that the size of a rooster doesn't necessarily determine the size of his crow but I'm hoping his is as tiny as he is! Tiny roosters are adorable!

 

[Phage]

Hi all I am pretty new to this as well. I have a peafowl question.

We live technically in Unincorporated San Diego, that wierd square between Solana Beach and Del Mar - actually we are overlooking the horse park. The noise, flood lights and smell from the horse park land (horse and dog shows, soccer tournaments etc etc ) is quite substantial, but my feelings are live and let live. We would not have moved here if it bothered us too much.

We have 4 young hen chickens in a coop which I think is legal but I have also hatched out some peafowl which I would consider to be pets. Anyone know the laws on keeping peacocks? We would keep them in a pen/run so that they would not get on neighbor's property but I worry about the noise. Does anyone know what is likely to be tolerated?

Sorry about the ramble