It's a good problem statement, is there a solution brainstorm? Maybe HOA's could charge more money and hire home inspectors who know what issues are caused by not following guidelines, then enforce. I d k, it's like I keep saying, if you don't have a solution then expect everything. Expect people to complain and challenge you, expect to be unfairly judged, all of it... It's the people who are completely surprised that other people don't like them having chickens, whether based in fact or fiction, that I don't get. People didn't like me having a fire on 2 acres. I can't change that. I can just be within the law.I've taken a liberty and tried to condense/classify OP's stated reasons against; my classifications in bold:
My thoughts on each class of issue:
- Smell, flies, rodents (sanitation)
- noise (annoyance/human quality of life)
- pollution (chicken ), run off from poultry, Death loss disposal, disposal of in trails when harvesting (sanitation/sustainability)
Every stated issue is manageable in a backyard setting, so long as the flock is scaled appropriately and follows zoning/HOA standards.
- Sanitation: Managed via coop/run cleaning, feed management, composting, and fertilization
- Annoyance: This is subjective to the individual in question, and is accounted for via zoning/HOA rules. It is on each person to know what they are zoned for or allowed on both sides
- Sustainability: Poop and bodies/entrails both function as fertilizer; no waste or pollution involved unless we're objecting to fertilizer itself as a pollutant? If so, then a backyard keeper is still doing less than a commercial one just based on numbers
I'm guessing the objection is more based around a judgement that backyard keepers do NOT do these things, and therefore should never be zoned to own chickens in the first place. I understand being frustrated with humans not "doing things right according to me" lol, because that happens all the time! But thankfully I don't have the power to revoke almost everyone's permission to drive just because a lot of them don't do it the way I think they should. Zoning and HOAs, if also imperfect, at least help establish expectations that greatly reduce the number of conflicts we'd have otherwise over items exactly like this.