Model Chicken Ordinance

[Metfan]

I would like to see if anyone can point me to a good model ordinance that would allow chickens. Ideally, it would allow certain number of chickens within certain square footage parameters, but then provide for exceptions to allow additional chickens if the space is appropriate (notwithstanding the square footage limitations). Any thoughts?

 

[Acre4Me]

I’ve heard of some, but cannot point you to a specific one.

Keep in mind dept of Ag requirements, such as # of chickens sold at one time. In Ohio that was/is (?) 6 chicks, so an ordinance of 4 would be odd.

Don’t count chicks. So, only applies to young chickens 3 or 4 months old and older. Then, if someone purchases 10, but are only allowed 6, they can ID any boys by 3 months old and be able to remove them. Or, if someone does a 4-H project on meat chickens, they are hatched and out the door by 8-12 weeks. Most males aren’t noisy until closer to 10-12 weeks and their crows don’t carry very far until they are older than that.

Spacing of coop -usually it’s noted that the coop has a setback of x feet from property line or neighbor home. Make sure that a coop could be placed in most yards then. Some limit size of the coop, but I’d recommend that a shed size could be fine (whatever local shed policies are) so that the coop could be repurposed if chickens are no longer kept there, or the reverse: a shed currently there could be turned into a coop.

Don’t let a neighbor be easily able to “complain” and the chickens are removed without any proper recourse. Does the city/town remove dogs based on one noise complaint? Probably not.

Is the ordinance for “chickens” or “poultry”. Maybe it can say 12 chickens, or 4 ducks, or 12 cotournix quail (this is the usual quail for eggs, not usually considered wild birds), or 2 turkeys -or a combination not exceeding individual limits and maximum of 12 total, so a family with 2 turkey, 4 ducks and 6 chickens does not exceed that ordinance, as an example.

Fencing requirements: must be fenced in, the back yard at least. Cannot free range past boundaries of yard.

Extra chickens: Ordinance works for up to 0.5 acre (add minimum if needed). Every 0.25 acre allows 3 or 6 more, with a max cap at X poultry. Keep in mind, a 500sqft run can hold 50 chickens: 50x10 ft or 20x25. That’s really not huge.

You might even require the feed and treats to be kept in rodent proof containers.

 

[Penpal]

I love the suggestion of Acre4Me, all feed must be in rodent proof containers. Nobody really likes the rats your chicken feed is attracting.

You might want to say that the chicken breeds must be limited to those breeds that do well in containment. So, you could have Brahmas, even though they are quite large. You might want to say no flighty breeds, because they tend to fly over the fence.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I would like to see if anyone can point me to a good model ordinance that would allow chickens. Ideally, it would allow certain number of chickens within certain square footage parameters, but then provide for exceptions to allow additional chickens if the space is appropriate (notwithstanding the square footage limitations). Any thoughts?

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