What do you think about keeping chickens in my garage?

[Cocoschickens]

We live on 1.6 acres in the city limits. We have 9 hens that we raised form chicks and they are about to start laying. "Someone in the neighborhood" complained that we have chickens. Animal control came out and said that we have to get rid of 5. However, I looked over the ordinance and it stated that the limit didn't apply to pets kept inside INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO parakeets, parrots, etc. Do you think I could put 5 of them in the workshop area of my garage and call them pets? I found a laying chicken cage that would work. I thought I would just rotate them between that and the outdoor pen but only keeping 4 at a time in the backyard. My 10 year old is freaking out and doesn't want to get rid of any of them and my husband and I don't want to either. My son wants to show some of them in the Co. fair. I don't even know which ones are good layers for crying ouy loud and they are our babies!
Any suggestions or thoughts about this? I live in Rogers, AR.
Thanks!

 

[chickiebaby]

Feel for you. Lots of people on this board are stretching the limits of their towns' foolish ordinances. Yours seems like a creative, if maybe temporary, solution.

best of luck.

 

[keljonma]

Do you think I could put 5 of them in the workshop area of my garage and call them pets? I found a laying chicken cage that would work. I thought I would just rotate them between that and the outdoor pen but only keeping 4 at a time in the backyard.

Well, I'd try to keep them all together as a flock, if at all possible. Everytime you change the dynamics of the group, you could have infighting and that could get ugly..

Why do you think (just asking) keeping some indoors and some outdoors will work? It will still leave you with 9 birds. And if the neighbors are willing to call animal control, they'll be watching your place to see if you really got rid of the birds.

I'd go talk to a lawyer if it were me.​

 

[dangerouschicken]

Seachick, I think, does the same thing. Search here for garage coops and see what you find.

DO IT! I hate stupid anti-chicken keeping laws

Go here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17801

or here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4733

 

[ChickenToes]

Try it! The dust and the smell might get to you after awhile. Maybe you could put up some sort of wall separating the chickens from the rest of the garage, that way you wouldn't have dust all over your tools.

 

[dangerouschicken]

Truthfully, if the place we lived in we owned and not rented, our garage would become a chicken coop. All the other stuff could go in our basement or root cellar.

 

[Cocoschickens]

Thanks for the replies. Haven't decided exactly what we're going to do yet. Just trying to soften the blow some for my 10 year old (and me) ha ha

 

[dangerouschicken]

Well, there are people here, including kids, who have challenged their cities to change the laws and have SUCCEEDED. Maybe you could look into it?

 

[patandchickens]

It seems to me you could (if you really wanted to push your luck) keep at least 8, in two permanent groups of 4, and rotate 'em between outdoors and garage coops. If they're all more or less the same color, who would know.

(Until of course the wrong neighbor sees inside your garage and goes all ballistic and forces a big litigious scene about what exactly constitutes a pet and what doesn't)

Safer, though less simple, would be to try to shake a favorable decision out of your municipality regarding whether a chicken can indeed be a pet.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[TommyVT05]

Its not a good idea unless they are REALLY small and don't make much noise like the Serama. Otherwise, its gonna turn you down real quick. Imagine the echo...the smell...just...I wouldn't try it again...Wasn't a good experience for me.

- Tommy