We have a 'rough draft' of the components we would like to present as important to our chicken ordinance. We would like to keep things as simple as possible, which will allow room for suggestions from the city staff. Please make any comments/suggestions. We will be posting a poll through facebook over the weekend to see if there are any additional components our members feel are important to include. Here is what we have:
- require permit to allow chicken keeping - limit 100 per year
- 3 chickens per permit, maximum 6 chickens per household
- no roosters
- provide chickens with 'covered evening shelter'
- chickens to be retained in backyards only - behind solid 4 foot structure (wall)
- free range only in backyard area
2 comments:
I’m curious where the 100 permits figure came from. If it’s for a pilot program, I understand. If it’s for forever, it seems like a very small percentage of residents would be able to participate.
While I value that it is necessary to include in the wording that the birds will be confined to address the concern some people have of the chickens roaming the neighborhood and to protect the birds themselves I think mandating a solid 4 foot fence is excessive. I’ve read several ordinances that stated that the enclosure be built with considerations for predators, like this one from Fort Collins, CO: hens must be provided with a covered, predator-resistant chicken house that is properly ventilated, designed to be easily accessed, cleaned and maintained, and at least two (2) square feet per chicken in size. I think that would work here too.
Also, I’m a little concerned by the wording “Free Range in the backyard”. I can see how a non chicken person could be confused by that. Maybe we could say that they aren’t permitted to roam free or that they must be confined (and let the fence/tractor/run/coop be up to the individual).
Many Thanks to those who have worked so hard to get this started.
Go Chickens!
~Kate
yes,, we were thinking a 100 permit experimental period (maybe 2 years).
I like the Ft. Collins wording, but we are hoping to avoid getting lost in a morass of permit requirements for coop design... it will become unworkable if people need architects, engineers, inspections, etc. ; so we are starting simple and seeing what develops. I'm hoping the rolling "chicken tractor" and waist-high, hutch-type coops will not need any permiting.
"Confined to the owners yard" might work.
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