04/06/12, 08:15 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 54
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City ordinances and chickens - when would you be investigated?
I checked city ordinances which specifically state poultry is allowed providing you don't tie their wings, overcrowd them, neglect them, or let them run at large, nor can I sell baby chicks or eggs unless I'm an approved store.
I already built the coop, enclosed the run, laid mesh 1 1/2 ft under the dirt to prevent rats and have 9 chicks in the brooder. 3/4 of my yard is enclosed in privacy fence and neither of my next door neighbors mind chickens. We've talked with them before doing all of this and offered them eggs when we start getting them. Our one neighbor told us 'get 100 chickens, I don't mind at all!' lol.
But it appears as though I did not use the proper terms/words to search for....
If I search my city ordinances under 'poultry' only the above regulations come up, which made me thought they were legal. The ordinances I cited in the first paragraph are from a chapter in the ordinances titled 'animals and fowl' and in a subchapter called 'general'
If I search for 'fowl' the following comes up in the DOG section (rather than the GENERAL section, which is where I found the poultry regs) "It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any animal or fowl within 500 feet of any dwelling, street, alley or public place, except such animals as are commonly kept or housed as household pets. "
So is there a way around this? Will the city come knocking if there are no complaints, or should I be alright providing the neighbors dont complain? How can I ensure there is no odor with the waste? I was planning on composting - do you think 9 henswill overload a compost pile and smell?
I don't want to disobey the law because my city is usually reasonable and my husband knows most the cops and the ordinance officer pretty well as a result of volunteering for the city CERT team and helping them often - he's in good standing and I don't want to look like the crazy chicken lady and start trouble.
If I am confronted, I've already mailed a copy of the 'poultry' regulations I stated in the first paragraph to myself and will plead the 'I didn't look through the dog section because these aren't dogs and had assumed all non-dog ordinances would be listed under the only other available subchapter of 'general' and when I searched for poultry those are the only ones that came up. That was the impression I was under before we decided to go ahead with this.
What to do, what to do?
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Sarah in Michigan
Homesteading in the city, homeschooling and homemaking with my husband and 6 kids 
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