Village Ordinance - opinions would be greatly appreciated

[roxanna924]

I called the local village office to find out if it was legal to keep chickens and I was told no. I decided to speak with the code enforcer, who then told me there was no such ordinance on the books stating this. The village office still states chickens are not allowed, because they are not domestic animals, they are barnyard animals - not my opinion, theirs.


The ordinance states this:
The keeping of small, non dangerous domestic animals, insects, reptiles, fish, or birds, but only for the personal enjoyment or household use and not as a business. This does not include commercial or private animal kennels.

They also have the definition of domestic animal.
Non dangerous docile household pets that have been adapted to life in intimate association with and to the advantage of humans.


Now, call me mean but I have the oddest feeling the village office hired the village idiot to interpret that for me.

Am I legally wrong in thinking chickens are not prohibited?

HELP!

 

[enola]

I would say that "small, non dangerous domestic animal" pretty well describes a hen (maybe not a rooster). Furthermore, the ordinance goes on to mention "birds", the last time I checked chickens are still birds.

So, I would go for it on a small scale, like, maybe 4 hens.

...........to start out that is...........


4 leghorn hens would probably supply you with 2 dozen eggs a week in their prime. And leghorns come in many different colors, so you wouldn't have boring white.....

bantams are cute, but they don't lay really well, just in the spring.

Easter eggers are great chickens too.............

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I would say that "small, non dangerous domestic animal" pretty well describes a hen (maybe not a rooster). Furthermore, the ordinance goes on to mention "birds", the last time I checked chickens are still birds.

So, I would go for it on a small scale, like, maybe 4 hens.

...........to start out that is...........


4 leghorn hens would probably supply you with 2 dozen eggs a week in their prime. And leghorns come in many different colors, so you wouldn't have boring white.....

bantams are cute, but they don't lay really well, just in the spring.

Easter eggers are great chickens too.............

I don't know of any breed of chicken that lays only in the spring. All my bantams lay year-round except when molting, broodying or during heat stressed summer.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

That's a weird definition of "domestic animal." But I can see how chickens would apply to not being domestic under that definition.

 

[enola]

Many bantam breeds lay well in the spring, they lay may year 'round, but only sparingly. You admit yourself that yours don't lay well when they are molting, broody and during heat stressed summer. Which would be approximately 4 months of the year. Take off the dark cold winter months and all you have left is the spring and early months of the year.

I did not state they "only" lay well in the spring, you did................

 

[roxanna924]

I was only going to keep 2 chickens as I want to make sure the ladies have plenty of space. To be honest, I feel from their definition that I am fully within my rights to have them as hens are small, docile, adapted to living with humans, and their eggs provide me an advantage. To further show the ignorance of the people in the village office, when I stated that I would not have a rooster, they kindly tried to tell me that I would then not have eggs. I found it very difficult not to laugh. I'm honestly not too worried about the village - Most of my neighbors are elderly and unless you have a rooster, chickens are not very loud creatures. I doubt anyone would even notice that they were there. As far as breed, a friend of mine has offered me a couple of black stars.

 

[enola]

Black stars are a very good breed.......

Welcome to our world..........

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Many bantam breeds lay well in the spring, they lay may year 'round, but only sparingly. You admit yourself that yours don't lay well when they are molting, broody and during heat stressed summer. Which would be approximately 4 months of the year. Take off the dark cold winter months and all you have left is the spring and early months of the year.

I did not state they "only" lay well in the spring, you did................

My birds lay daily all winter long without added light. It helps that Arizona is relatively far south, so our winter days are not as shortened as in northern-tier states; but those northern states have less hot summers, so I would expect less heat stress laying reduction up north.

Mine lay less during the hottest couple of months, but do not completely stop laying. No breed lays during molting or broodying. Molting happens for all breeds; broodiness depends on breed, but also on the particular line. Exhibition and heritage lines of breeds not known for broodiness do often go broody. To an extent you can control broody behavior by making sure that eggs are collected daily, and keeping a watch for hidden nests.

Your comment was "bantams are cute, but they don't lay really well, just in the spring." Sure sounds to me like you are saying they only lay in the spring...

 

[roxanna924]

I see how that sentence could be misconstrued, I personally thought she meant that they did their best laying during the spring. I love the internet for the most part, but typing sure does a lousy job conveying tone and causing silly misunderstandings.

 

[Wrooster]

That's a pretty weird ordinance (Sonoran Silkies already said that) but defining domestic animals as "Non dangerous docile household pets..." doesn't really describe most chickens. Maybe you should get them their own bedroom.