Want to Keep Backyard Chickens? First, Check Local Regulations
With the local food movement growing so quickly, perhaps you want to keep some chickens in your back yard at home.
Your children might be begging for baby chicks to raise.
You have enthusiastic visions of feeding your family fresh, organic, chemical free eggs and meat you proudly produced yourself.
These are splendid goals.
But before you rush out and buy a coop full of chickens, make sure you look into local regulations to make sure poultry is allowed in your neighborhood.
It might not even occur to you that there could be rules governing whether or not you can have those half dozen hens pecking about in your yard.
But if you live in an urban or semi-urban area, there most likely are regulations about keeping domestic farm animals, including chickens, within their boundaries.
Check first to avoid the tragedy of having to give up birds you and your kids have made members of the family and learned to love.
Places to check: - Your local animal control office - Your municipal government - City ordinances including noise and nuisance ordinances - Zoning regulations - Local health board Most likely you can make this investigation online.
However, a phone call or a visit might be necessary to make absolutely sure you are allowed to keep chickens at your home.
Even though people have been keeping chickens in cities for hundreds of years, many cities have gone through a campaign to remove farm animals from within their limits.
On the other hand, if your city or town has a strong agricultural past, there may be no regulations at all.
Regulations may define how far a chicken coop must be from a human dwelling or whether you are allowed to keep hens but not a rooster.
While hens are quiet creatures who only cluck loudly after laying an egg, a rooster is a noisy fellow whose territorial crowing is apt to get your neighbors up at dawn.
Hens will lay eggs perfectly well without a rooster, though those eggs will not be fertile.
Even if local regulations forbid chickens, don't give up.
You might only need to make a convincing case before the deciding body to get the rules changed in your favor.
Other groups have done this and you could research their arguments online.
This also makes a great learning project for your children.
As they put the case together, they learn how their local government works and what the individual can do to make positive change.
Your children might be begging for baby chicks to raise.
You have enthusiastic visions of feeding your family fresh, organic, chemical free eggs and meat you proudly produced yourself.
These are splendid goals.
But before you rush out and buy a coop full of chickens, make sure you look into local regulations to make sure poultry is allowed in your neighborhood.
It might not even occur to you that there could be rules governing whether or not you can have those half dozen hens pecking about in your yard.
But if you live in an urban or semi-urban area, there most likely are regulations about keeping domestic farm animals, including chickens, within their boundaries.
Check first to avoid the tragedy of having to give up birds you and your kids have made members of the family and learned to love.
Places to check: - Your local animal control office - Your municipal government - City ordinances including noise and nuisance ordinances - Zoning regulations - Local health board Most likely you can make this investigation online.
However, a phone call or a visit might be necessary to make absolutely sure you are allowed to keep chickens at your home.
Even though people have been keeping chickens in cities for hundreds of years, many cities have gone through a campaign to remove farm animals from within their limits.
On the other hand, if your city or town has a strong agricultural past, there may be no regulations at all.
Regulations may define how far a chicken coop must be from a human dwelling or whether you are allowed to keep hens but not a rooster.
While hens are quiet creatures who only cluck loudly after laying an egg, a rooster is a noisy fellow whose territorial crowing is apt to get your neighbors up at dawn.
Hens will lay eggs perfectly well without a rooster, though those eggs will not be fertile.
Even if local regulations forbid chickens, don't give up.
You might only need to make a convincing case before the deciding body to get the rules changed in your favor.
Other groups have done this and you could research their arguments online.
This also makes a great learning project for your children.
As they put the case together, they learn how their local government works and what the individual can do to make positive change.