Citizens Guide to Where Chickens May be Kept in Sarasota County

Can I legally keep chickens in Sarasota County?

 Do Some Research

In order to find out what chicken rules apply to you in Sarasota County, you need to know several things: whether you live in a city or the unincorporated county, and what zoning district are you in. To find out go to the Sarasota Property Appraiser’s website and enter the street address or property owners name. Then click on SEARCH at the bottom of the form. You’ll see a list on the right that describes various aspects of your property, including LAND AREA (area of your lot in square feet) MUNICIPALITY (if you live in a City with its own, separate rules) and ZONING.

 Do you Live in One of Four Cities?

If the MUNICIPALITY says City of Sarasota, North Port, or Venice, you can have chickens pursuant to their rules. Venice is actually silent on the subject, but does say it "is unlawful for any person to allow chickens . . . or other domestic fowl to run at large within the city."  So be considerate -- no roosters and respect your neighbors. If it says Town of Longboat Key, the answer is no backyard chickens If it says Sarasota County you will be governed by Sarasota County rules. Make a note of your zoning code.

                       Do you Live in a Mandatory Homeowner Association Neighborhood?

 Before going further, figure out if you live in community with a mandatory homeowners association (HOA). These are the places that have mandatory annual fees and which can put a lien on your house if you don’t mow your lawn or follow other rules you agreed to. The rules in these mandatory HOA’s take precedence over the County rules and you are governed by them and you need to consult those rules. If you live in a traditional neighborhood with no neighborhood association or a voluntary one, the County or City rules will apply.

 Unincorporated Sarasota County Zones RSF, RE-2, RE-3, and RC 

If your zoning code is any of the following: RSF, RE-2, RE-3, and RC you will now be allowed to have up to four hens. Go forward to the section summarizing the rules that apply. If you are in OUA or OUR you can have more. 

County OUE Zoning

If your property is zoned OUE, things are a little trickier. You need to determine your neighbor’s zoning. Back on the Property Appraiser’s website, click on MAP to see your property’s dimensions and your adjoining lots. As you click on surrounding lots a box will come up with some info, click on the Property Detail Page to see what your neighbors’ zoning is and make a note.

If you have an OUE parcel five acres or greater, then there is no limit on the number of chickens and you have a fifty foot setback for the coop. (To convert your parcel’s area in square feet to acres, divide by 43,560) If your OUE parcel is less than five acres and you are adjoining other OUE properties, then you have a fifty foot setback for the coop. If any adjoining properties are residential (RE, RSF, RH, RMH) then for those parcels you have a hundred foot setback for the coop and the birds when they are out of the coop. You only have to meet the greater setbacks adjacent to RE, RSF, RH, and RMH zoned properties. So if your side neighbors are OUE, use the 50 setback, but if your back neighbor/s is/are RE, RSF, RH, or RMH the coop and hens will have to be 100’ back.

So if you are zoned OUE and your side neighbors are also OUE (and assuming you have a rectangular parcel and your coop is no more than 6 feet wide), any lot wider than 106’ will work. If your have back neighbors zoned RE, RSF, RH, or RMH, the coop and chickens will have to be set back 100’ to be legal.

 More on OUE and RE1

The Sarasota County Zoning Administrator wrote to say: “What we are essentially trying to do is say if you are OUE, RE1, you are not restricted in the number of chickens that you can have.”

Small Non-conforming OUE Lots

If you have a nonconforming OUE lot less than one acre in size, then the verbiage in 5.3.1.a.8 (see Ordinance 2016-044) kicks in and you will be treated as any other nonconforming lot, which means you would conform to the closest zoning district similar in use which will be an RSF lot.

RULES for RSF, RE-2, RE-3, and RC ZONING DISTRICTS

The keeping of chickens is allowed if the following standards are met:

1.   No more than four (4) chickens may be kept, with roosters prohibited;

2. No person shall slaughter any chickens;

3. The chickens shall be provided with a movable covered enclosure (i.e. "hen house/coop") and must be kept in the covered enclosure or a fenced enclosure at all times. Chickens must be secured within the movable henhouse/coop during non-daylight hours;

4. The space per bird in the henhouse/coop shall not be less than four (4) square feet per bird;

5. No covered enclosure or fenced enclosure shall be located in the front yard or side yard, nor shall the henhouse/coop be closer than ten (10) feet to any property line of an adjacent property, nor within twenty-five (25) feet of any adjacent residential structure. [OUE setbacks can be greater – see above] Odors from chickens, chicken manure, or other chicken related substances shall not be detectable at the property boundaries;

6. All enclosures for the keeping of chickens shall be so constructed and maintained as to prevent rodents or other pests from being harbored underneath, within, or within the walls of the enclosure. The henhouse/coop must be impermeable to rodents, wild birds, and predators, including dogs and cats. Enclosures shall be kept in neat condition, including provision of clean, dry bedding materials and regular removal of waste materials. All manure not used for composting or fertilizing shall be removed promptly;

7. All feed and other items associated with the keeping of chickens that arelikely to attract or to become infested with or infected by rodents or other pests shall be kept in secure containers or otherwise protected so as to prevent rodents and other pests from gaining access to or coming into contact with them;

8. The sale of eggs or any other chicken products generated is prohibited.

9. Nothing in this subsection shall affect any homeowner association declarations or restrictions.

10. Chickens that are no longer wanted by their owners shall not be taken to

Animal Control, nor shall they be released. Unwanted chickens may be taken to Health & Human Services Mosquito Control Division for utilization in the Sentinel Chicken Program.

11. These provisions shall sunset on January 1, 2019, unless reviewed and saved from repeal, through reenactment by the Board of County Commissioners. In the event that this ordinance sunsets, the keeping of any previously allowed chickens shall be considered a nonconforming use for five years thereafter.

Sarasota CLUCK back in the News

It's been quite awhile, but it was worth waiting for the most recent Sarasota Herald-Tribune article dealing with backyard chickens and Sarasota CLUCK, which occupies most of the front page of the local section. The February 25th 2014 article titled Chickens pass their test by Ian Cummings features longtime CLUCK supporter Fran Tiner and, indirectly, Betsy, Pippy, Rose, and Roz, Fran's four hens.

CLUCK News: Consumer Reports Dings Grocery Chicken

In a seven-page story that filled the cover of the February 2014 Consumer Reports, the magazine tested more than 300 raw chicken breasts and concluded "97% harbored bacteria that could make you sick".

CLUCK News: Chickens in Orlando, Tampa, Venice!

Three years ago no one probably thought the City of Sarasota, Hernando County, Pinellas County, Holmes Beach, and Manatee County would vote to allow backyard hens. They did and it looks like chickens aren't done. Check out recent developments:

Orange County and Orlando: Move over mouse, the chickens are coming. Orange County is looking at a three hen ordinance that may be approved July 2nd. 

Orange County Ready to Welcome Backyard Chickens After Public Hearing

And after Orlando started with a three hen pilot program involving 25 households, in April they tripled the number of pilot households and bumped the number of birds up to 4. It seems unlikely these changes would have happened if the original program was going astray.

Urban Chickens, Backyard Coops Allowed in Orlando. and More Chickens Flocking to Orlando.

And, that's not all. According to the Orlando Sentinel:

"Maitland is hatching its own ordinance, and Lake County and Winter Park are exploring the idea."

Tampa: After two years of consideration, a measure relaxing chicken rules in Tampa has passed the City Council. The final vote is July 18, but with only two (of seven) City Council members voting against, the change is believed to have a strong chance of passing. Provisions inlcude: hens only, one bird per 1,000 square feet of land, coop no more than 125 square feet and no more than 6 feet high. They will have to be confined to the owner's property by a fence or wall. The Council wisely directed staff to review the City's Wildlife Sanctuary laws to make sure they don't complicate enforcement.

Tampa Bay Times Story

Venice: It turns that what CLUCK has long claimed is true: Chickens are not illegal in the City of Venice. They cannot be "at large" (ranging off the owners property) and are no doubt subject to standard nuisance laws that would make roosters (noise) and large numbers violations, but apparently discreet hen harborers need not fear the man in Venice. 

Sec. 10-4. - Domestic fowl running at large.

It shall be unlawful for any person to allow chickens and other domestic fowl to run or be at large within the city. The term "chickens and other domestic fowl," as used in this section, shall be construed to mean any chicken, goose, turkey, guinea hen, duck, peafowl or other domestic or domesticated fowl.

(Code 1982, § 5-4)

Sarasota CLUCK to supply eggs for Mattison's Farm to Fork Brunch

Sarasota CLUCK will be providing eggs for a special Suncoast Food Alliance farm-to-fork event at Mattison's City Grille.

This April 21st brunch promises to be the most unique meal of the Spring when they host this Locavore Brunch. This brunch will source local items from within 50 miles of the restaurant! And the featured item will be the egg. But not just any eggs, oh no, these eggs will be donated by Sarasota C.L.U.C.K. members. This way you can taste the difference in free-range (most organic) fresh eggs compared to what most people buy from the grocery store. 

Other items being featured will be Mote Marine caviar, Watercress Farms baby swiss chard and watercress, My Mother's Garden pork belly, Mitchell's Natural Produce snake radish, Jones Farm potatoes and Lake Meadows chicken. (All items are subject to change due to availability). And do we have a good price for you, $35 per person (plus tax and gratuity). Some proceeds from the event will be donated to Sarasota C.L.U.C.K. for educational purposes. Adult beverages will be available at noon. 

Reserve your seats by calling 941/330-0440.Sponsored by Mattison's City Grille, Suncoast Food Alliance, Sarasota C.L.U.C.K. and Slow Food Sarasota/Bradenton

Menu: Grits and Sausage - baby Swiss chard, poached egg, warm bacon vinaigrette; Salmon and Cream Cheese - smoked salmon mousse, peppered watercress, cream cheese, onion marmalade, bagel chip topped with Mote caviar; Main Street Bacon and Eggs - crispy pork belly, grilled asparagus, sunny-side up egg, smoked fingerling potatoes; Chicken and Waffles - waffle breaded crispy chicken breast topped with maple gravy.

___________________________________________________________________

Innovative Coop Design Could Change Local Chicken Tractors

Could this design lead to a new generation of movable coops?

Quonset Hut? Conestoga Wagon? Egg-Shaped Hoop Coop? Although this coop wasn't designed to be moved, with a few modifications it could inspire a new generation of movable coops. This approach ditches a heavy roof for a wire frame and tarps.  Check it out here on the Backyard Chickens website.

Spotlight Shifts to North Port Chicken Ordinance

As you may recall, North Port planning staff has been working since January 14th on an ordinance to make it possible to have chickens in the city -- that's when four commissioners discussed the possibility at a workshop. The idea was to have an ordinance similar to the one in the City of Sarasota. If you would like to know their thoughts at the time, (which seemed split two-to-two) click on this text. 

Now the North Port Chicken Ordinance is taking shape and is about to begin its public journey -- hopefully to adoption. Here is the current schedule, but check back, because things can change.

Local Chicken News

• Still time to Volunteer at the Sarasota County Fair Friday March 15 through Sunday March 24th. Some volunteer slots may already be filled, so contact Janie at 941-907-0011 to see what is still available.

• TAMPA BAY TIMES Hernando County okays chickens in residential neighborhoods

• Manatee County Commission will be considering chickens on March 19th at 9:00 am. 

CLUCK Volunteers Needed for the County Fair

For the third year, CLUCK volunteers (that may include you) will be helping out at the Small Animal Tent at the 2013 Sarasota County Fair, which includes feature chickens and also includes rabbits and cavies (AKA Guinea Pigs). The Fair runs March 15th through the 24th, so there are lots of opportunities to participate.

Why would you want to do this? There are at least four reasons. First this a great opportunity for education -- both your own and the education of fairgoers. For volunteers, it is a great chance to see different breeds and gain insight into their temperament and the size and color of their eggs. In addition, your participation assisting the organizers helps both educate fairgoers regarding 4H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) and manage the excitement that is generated by cotton candy-fueled kids, curious teens, crowing roosters, and baby chicks. It's also an opportunity to promote CLUCK at our CLUCK OUTREACH TABLE. Finally, volunteers serving at least a two hour shift will be given free fair entry on the day of their service. What I like to do is help out for a two hour shift, then enjoy the fair, and come back later to see if they need any help.

It's easy to sign up. Just contact Janie Besselman at jbesselm@scgov.net.

Some volunteer slots may already be filled, so contact Janie

at 941-232-8420 to see what is still available.

 

This is just another way local CLUCK can promote successful, responsible chicken ownership in Sarasota County. 

Glenda "Janie" Besselman

Administrative Specialist

Sarasota Soil & Water Conservation District

University of Florida/IFAS Sarasota County Extension Services

Sarasota County Community Services

USDA-NRCS Manasota Service Center

6942 Professional Parkway, East

Sarasota, FL 34240

941.907.0011 (office)

941.907.0015 (fax)

jbesselm@scgov.net

http://sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/

CLUCK NEWS: National, Regional, and Local

NATIONAL NEWS

What are chickens doing inside WIRED magazine? Here's their lead paragraph:

"In the past months, there have been several troubling research reports, from different parts of the world, exploring aspects of the same problem: Multi-drug resistant bacteria are present in chicken, apparently because of the use of antibiotics in poultry production, and are passing to people who work with, prepare or eat chicken, at some risk to their health."

The article goes on cite five different sources. Read the article here.

More evidence that crowded factory conditions are dangerous and inferior to backyard hens.

REGIONAL NEWS

As reported earlier, the Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend allowing chickens in residential areas. The final public hearing will be February 26th.

It's not too late to catch the chickens at the Florida State Fair. Fast forward to the end to see some chick pics from this year's fair. 

Tampa is rumored to have considered chickens on February 7th, but we've seen no press on the matter. if you have, please let us know. 

LOCAL NEWS

Manatee CLUCK is reporting that Manatee County is scheduling public meeting and work session regarding chickens on March 19th with a tentative starting time of 1:30 pm.

CLUCK is looking for a volunteer to update and organize our email contact list. Please write to sarasotacluck@gmail.com if you might be interested.

CLUCK's "Fried Egg" Tee-Shirt Now Available

Responding to pent-up demand, and just in time for the two-year anniversary of the City's revised chicken ordinance, Sarasota CLUCK announces the "Fried Egg" Sarasota CLUCK Tee-Shirt from Zazzle. 

This is the back of the shirt.

CLUCK Campaign Next Steps by Jenny Marie Brannon

CLUCK meeting tonight was exciting!! Things are starting to happen. We watched the commission meeting where CLUCK spoke and the commissioners responded. They are reluctant because they just don't see the support. They want us to get neighborhoods to support us. Jono is going to respond to them that neighborhood associations can and will set their own rule regarding the issue. We need more community support to back us up. Show them that there are more people in favor, or even just indifferent, than there would be against. To do that, we need to get ourselves visible. We are hoping to get booths at the local farmers markets and community events. Also, The problem has been raised that the county covers so much area that evening meetings in Sarasota can be difficult for people to attend. There was support in the meeting to have rotating meetings throughout the county that may be more convenient. 

CLUCK NEEDS YOUR HELP! The time is NOW to make this happen. Soon we will be posting new meeting times and places and asking for specific assistance in manning tables at the farmers markets, making phone calls, and getting signatures. even if you have a busy household, we hope you can help from your phone or computer. Keep an eye on this page for updates and let us know if you have a specific talent, idea, business, or contact that you can share.

For those in Venice, Englewood, North Port and the surrounding area. I'm asking for your help specifically. Where is a good place to hold a south county meeting? Jennifer Miller Cortez and I discussed maybe at a restaurant with a large separate room so those of us with families can bring them and we can all eat. If anyone has involvement in the local high school's environmental or government clubs where the kids may want to use this platform as a project, are you able to tell us who to contact. Commission Thaxton is the commissioner for our district and he is supporting us. Lets show him that we are up to the challenge.

Sarasota Patch Covers County Chicken Campaign

Today's (September 27, 2012) Sarasota PATCH contains a lengthy, well-researched article by Charles Schelle Group Requests Approval for Backyard Chickens covering CLUCK's campaign for relaxed chicken regulations in the unincorporated county and the County Commission's reaction. 

If CLUCK had a journalism award (or any award) this piece would the top contender to date. 

September 2012 Sarasota CLUCK meeting

If you missed this meeting, check out the Sarasota Patch article: Sentinel Chickens An Important Part of Mosquito Control based on the presentation at our meeting. [comment added Sept 23rd)

You won't want to miss our next meeting of CLUCK where Natalie Osborne from Sarasota County Mosquito Control will describe the crucial Sentinel Chicken program. These birds are our county 's early warning system for mosquito-borne diseases, including West Nile Virus. 

As always, we'll also be talking strategy for our campaign to legalize chickens in more areas in the Unincorporated County.

And the meeting starts at 6:30 not some earlier time previously advertised.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH  6:30 P.M.

LOCATION: Florida House, 4454 Beneva Road Sarasota, FL 34233. 

Questions? Call Laney 941-322-1000.

Sentinel Chicken & West Nile Virus Illustration from http://westnile.ca.gov/wnv_faqs_basics.php?id=74

FOR MORE STORIES ABOUT SENTINEL CHICKENS

PREVIOUS BLOG POST

WEST NILE VIRUS IN SARASOTA (JULY 2012!)

SARASOTA COUNTY MOSQUITO CONTROL MANAGER RESIGNS (September 4th!)

Local Coop Builder Profiled in Herald-Tribune

A Tom Becnel article in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that ran on Monday September 3rd profiled local coop builder Tom Dye. Titled "Carpenter turns his hand to cashing in a growing trend in poultry", the article acknowledges Sarasota CLUCK's role in local chicken advocacy.Tom is one of at least three local Sarasotans that have taken to building chicken coops as part of their income stream. Tom's website backyard-coops.com includes descriptions and photos of the "Mini-Cooper", "Chicken Little" and "The Leghorn".

For previous postings about coop builders see: Ira Kleinschmidt's Chicken Tractor and Mike Lasche's Another Chicken Tractor. For local chicken resources, visit Sarasota Chicken Resources.

FOOD&WINE features Peter Burkard's fresh eggs and CLUCK

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's FOOD & WINE supplement (May 30th 2012) features a Cooper Levey-Baker EAT NEAR story about Peter Burkard, the only remaining original vendor at the Sarasota Farmer's Market. On Saturday morning's Peter can be found at the west end of an alley running between Main and State and he is usually at the end of a line of people buying fresh greens, honey, cuttings, fruits, vegetables, etc. The photo accompanying the article shows lanky Peter holding two pullets and the article mentions that Peter "has nothing but great things to say about Sarasota CLUCK (Citizens Lobbying for Urban Chicken Keeping)".

Sarasota CLUCK hits 50,000 pageviews!

Sometime over the past weekend at the end of April 2012, the Sarasota CLUCK website logged its fifty thousandth pageview - an impressive showing for what was ostensibly a local blog with a narrow goal (re-legalizing chickens in Sarasota).

Backyard Chickens: Unfortunate Pawns in Neighborhood Chess

We had a CLUCK meeting tonight with a good turnout, but a sobering, somber assessment. As we went around the room listening to people's chicken stories far too many sounded something like: 

We had a few chickens illegally in the County, but they weren't bothering anyone and all the neighbors were okay with them until we had an issue with one neighbor and in suspiciously coincidental, apparent retaliation, county code enforcement showed up and we had to give up the chickens or pay a really steep fine, which was really hard on the kids, who still want to know where their pets are. 

CLUCK blog records 35,000 pageviews in less than a year

When the first Sarasota CLUCK blog posting went up on June 11 2009, it was assumed it would simply be vehicle for advocacy of passage of a local City of Sarasota backyard chicken ordinance.  Then, nearly a year and half later, on December 18th 2010, the blog recorded its 5,000th pageview (averaging 9 pageviews a day) and the ordinance was passed just a few months later on February 7th, 2011. Now, exactly fifty-one weeks after hitting 5,000, CLUCK has recorded its 40,000th pageview, an average of nearly 100 (97.49) pageviews a day, which is a ten-fold increase. That means the vast majority of pageviews have occurred after passage of the ordinance. This posting is a summary of some of the dimensions of this success. 

The most viewed post, (out of 187 posts) with over 1,800 pageviews is Sarasota CLUCK's Top 25 Funky Chicken Facts. Posted in mid-January, this posting (now with 30 funky facts) lists interesting, and sometimes nearly unbelievable, information about chickens and includes links to sources, a feature virtually all other chicken fact sites lack.

The second most popular, with nearly 1,400 pageviews is an annotated version of the City Ordinance. This document includes both the official language of the ordinance, and an accessible interpretation of what each section means and the intent behind it.

The third most popular, with about 1,200 pageviews is a discussion of treadle feeders, which are feeders that chickens activate to access food by standing on treadle. 

Other noteworthy posts include the Are You Ready for Backyard Chickens Quiz, which has over 550 pageviews and the reprint of the Backyard Poultry magazine article based on the Sarasota experience, which has been averaging six views per day and is expected to become one of the more popular posts. 


No doubt about it -- December 2011 has been a big month for local CLUCK: hitting 40,000 pageviews, an article published in Backyard Poultry Magazine and the first meeting of Manatee CLUCK. 


And clearly the blog has evolved from just a one-time, campaign-driven, local-focus resource to a site accessed all over the country and planet (over 2,000 pageviews from United Kingdom and Russia combined).


But one goal remains unmet, and that is relaxing restrictions on backyard chickens in unincorporated Sarasota County. That is a big target for the coming year. If you are interested in changing the county rules, please write to us at SarasotaCLUCK@ gmail.com or join the Facebook Group. 

Manatee County Chicken Advocates Meet Tonight- Dec 7th

Manatee CLUCK plans a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight, December 7 at the 

Central Library, 1301 Barcarrota Blvd. W., Bradenton.

The tentative agenda includes a review of current status in Manatee County on backyard chickens, a summary of issues of urban backyard chickens, lessons learned from the successful Sarasota CLUCK campaign in the City of Sarasota, committee tasks assignments for Manatee CLUCK, and scheduling a next meeting.

For more information about keeping urban chickens, call 941-232-3090, or consult the website:

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manatee-Cluck/200716266632260