What would you do?

[go-veggie]

Before I bought baby chicks this spring, I asked our town chairman if we could have chickens here. After two weeks of looking through the books, as he said, there were no laws about having chickens at all. It is farm country where I live and the farm behind me is well over 250 acres of beautiful rolling hills. We are on 2 acres, the neighbors to our south are too, and the ones to the north are on 3.25 acres. So, anyway, the chairman said I could get some chickens...he just said like 4 or 6 or something. Well, I have 6 with a few more on the way, but he did say that I shouldn't get a rooster because the neighbors might get mad. I had 3 roos and gave 2 away. The one we have left is our little EE buddy, 10 weeks old, and I don't want to see him go. He hasn't started crowing yet, but what do you think about the amount of land I described? Do you think we're just too close, or with 2+ acres, will our roo maybe not sound so loud? Any thoughts? The same lady who took the first 2 will take him if we absolutely can't keep him, but again, there are no laws on the books, so even if a law comes into play, would we be grandfathered? (or would it be considered a nuisance?) Sorry this is so long...any thoughts? Thanks!!!

 

[dangerouschicken]

Civil Disobedience

 

[fullhouse]

I would keep him.

We have a small lot and our 11 yo daughter has become glued to our Sussex roo. He's is bigger at 16 weeks than our RIR hens and will be carried around like a lap dog. I figure if he starts to crow and it annoys the very tolerant neighbors, then we will deal with it then. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

 

[LynneP]

Your local guy was hinting that nobody is likely to complain about hens, but as a country man he knows about roos. It sounds like you're on safe grounds and that if anyone complains the laws will be written around your birds. It may be an opportunity to break ground if laws are deemed necessary. It sounds like you have a lovely spot for keeping chickens, too!

 

[averytds]

When we were trying to find out if we could get chickens, we got about every answer under the sun. Most were "No, absolutely not!" We talked to our neighbors and they said they didn't care, so we went ahead. Of course we also went with the obvious "No Roosters". Some things you just can't hide.

I now know we can have chickens, no limitations, including roosters, we just have to get a permit. I'll get to work on the permit once school starts so we can be law abiding citizens once again. The only problem I perceive is that our permit can be revoked based on complaints from neighbors. So I've talked to them again as we may have a rooster or two, don't know yet. They said they would bring any complaints to me first, IOW I'll have the opportunity take care of it first before city involvement.

So while the law is mostly on my side as it also seems to be in yours, it's always good to hedge your bets. I'd chat with your neighbors.