Before we got our hens (and one surprise roo) in May, we checked with our township to be sure that we could in fact have chickens here. Our township governs by Ohio Revised Code . We're on one acre of unplatted land, and after some checking, our township said that it is okay per ORC for us to have chickens.
We have no neighbors to the back (it's a wooded ravine that backs up to a farm). We did check with our neighbors on either side, and they both said that they were okay with us getting hens. So we did. We modified our barn to contain a coop, a door, and a chicken ramp down to the yard. We range our yard birds, and we do not have a fenced yard. Seriously, we didn't anticipate problems because we talked to our neighbors and they said sure, get chickens!
Now 6 months later, guess what? Somebody is complaining. I don't know which neighbor it is, but I have my suspicions: I think it's the neighbor who became stand-offish over the past 2 months.
It began in August with a visit from Animal Control. They left a door hanger that said we might be in violation of ORC 951.02: Animals Running at Large. I looked up the code before I called AC, and saw that the list of critters that must be contained do NOT include chickens. I called the officer -- who is a fellow back yard chicken owner -- and she said that no, I was not in violation of ORC. She said the caller complained of chicken poo, and said that if they wanted to live in the country, they'd move, but this is the suburbs and not farmland. She told me that the call was anonymous so she could not call them back to explain that we were not breaking any laws, but she also did suggest that to maintain good neighborly relations, we might want to consider building a run.
On of our neighbors feeds the birds and gladly accepts eggs. The other neighbor is the one who has stopped being friendly, barricaded his deck, and won't accept eggs. Previously, though, whenever our neighbor was outside with his grandkids, either me or my kids made sure they chickens stayed away from them. We have chased the birds off of his deck and out of his flowers. Every time, he has told us not to worry about it. So the animal control call came as a shock.
We did consider building a run or enclosure, but at the time my husband was working 80 hours/week and simply didn't have time to build a run. What we did do was limit the number of hours the chickens could range to only a couple of hours late in the day, after I get home from school (I am a teacher). They go into their run just after dusk.
Yesterday we received a call from our township zoning officer, who said that he received a neighbor complaint. He could not tell us who complained. He asked that we contain our chickens to keep the neighbor happy, and I told him about the ORC, the animal control issue, and the the AC Officer said we were not in violation of code. I told him what we'd done so far (limiting range hours).
The zoning officer is going to look at the ORC and talk to Animal Control, and he said he would get back to me. He asked that I contain the birds in the meantime, which means no ranging until at least Monday, given that it's a holiday weekend. I'm not good with that and am strongly considering letting my girls out tomorrow in spite of all of this.
I also told him that I am concerned that even if we compromise with an enclosure, they will still not be happy (given their dissatisfaction with our previous compromise), and this will end up in our chicken-owning rights to be revoked. He said that wouldn't happen because they follow ORC -- but I replied that if they do follow ORC, then my ranging hens shouldn't even be an issue, right? And I know that townships can in fact write their own ordinances, when ORC doesn't meet township needs.
I refuse to totally contain my birds. It's not healthy for them, and I might as well buy eggs from somebody else if I have to keep my birds in a factory setting. Unfortunately, that was the Zoning Administrator's first response to this whole endeavor: why don't you just buy eggs like everybody else?
So that's the background. I guess my questions to all of your are, one, have you encountered this type of resistance before? Anybody have experience dealing with ORC and can tell me what to expect of the township's interpretation of the law?
And if your advice is to just build a run, does anybody have photos of what they've built?
We have no neighbors to the back (it's a wooded ravine that backs up to a farm). We did check with our neighbors on either side, and they both said that they were okay with us getting hens. So we did. We modified our barn to contain a coop, a door, and a chicken ramp down to the yard. We range our yard birds, and we do not have a fenced yard. Seriously, we didn't anticipate problems because we talked to our neighbors and they said sure, get chickens!
Now 6 months later, guess what? Somebody is complaining. I don't know which neighbor it is, but I have my suspicions: I think it's the neighbor who became stand-offish over the past 2 months.
It began in August with a visit from Animal Control. They left a door hanger that said we might be in violation of ORC 951.02: Animals Running at Large. I looked up the code before I called AC, and saw that the list of critters that must be contained do NOT include chickens. I called the officer -- who is a fellow back yard chicken owner -- and she said that no, I was not in violation of ORC. She said the caller complained of chicken poo, and said that if they wanted to live in the country, they'd move, but this is the suburbs and not farmland. She told me that the call was anonymous so she could not call them back to explain that we were not breaking any laws, but she also did suggest that to maintain good neighborly relations, we might want to consider building a run.
On of our neighbors feeds the birds and gladly accepts eggs. The other neighbor is the one who has stopped being friendly, barricaded his deck, and won't accept eggs. Previously, though, whenever our neighbor was outside with his grandkids, either me or my kids made sure they chickens stayed away from them. We have chased the birds off of his deck and out of his flowers. Every time, he has told us not to worry about it. So the animal control call came as a shock.
We did consider building a run or enclosure, but at the time my husband was working 80 hours/week and simply didn't have time to build a run. What we did do was limit the number of hours the chickens could range to only a couple of hours late in the day, after I get home from school (I am a teacher). They go into their run just after dusk.
Yesterday we received a call from our township zoning officer, who said that he received a neighbor complaint. He could not tell us who complained. He asked that we contain our chickens to keep the neighbor happy, and I told him about the ORC, the animal control issue, and the the AC Officer said we were not in violation of code. I told him what we'd done so far (limiting range hours).
The zoning officer is going to look at the ORC and talk to Animal Control, and he said he would get back to me. He asked that I contain the birds in the meantime, which means no ranging until at least Monday, given that it's a holiday weekend. I'm not good with that and am strongly considering letting my girls out tomorrow in spite of all of this.
I also told him that I am concerned that even if we compromise with an enclosure, they will still not be happy (given their dissatisfaction with our previous compromise), and this will end up in our chicken-owning rights to be revoked. He said that wouldn't happen because they follow ORC -- but I replied that if they do follow ORC, then my ranging hens shouldn't even be an issue, right? And I know that townships can in fact write their own ordinances, when ORC doesn't meet township needs.
I refuse to totally contain my birds. It's not healthy for them, and I might as well buy eggs from somebody else if I have to keep my birds in a factory setting. Unfortunately, that was the Zoning Administrator's first response to this whole endeavor: why don't you just buy eggs like everybody else?
So that's the background. I guess my questions to all of your are, one, have you encountered this type of resistance before? Anybody have experience dealing with ORC and can tell me what to expect of the township's interpretation of the law?
And if your advice is to just build a run, does anybody have photos of what they've built?
