Are backyard chickens allowed in your city?

This is a hot topic in our city right now. As it sits, you have to be outside the city limits and have a certain amount of land plus they cannot be free range. They have to be in a coop. Certain groups are trying to have it changed to allow a certain number and on smaller lots.

Given the number of free range cats we have in my neighborhood, I don't think I'd want chickens. There are a few houses with bigger lots that could easily have a few chickens. Backyard gardens are increasing in number here. I'm not opposed to it. I just wouldn't have chickens and wouldn't want my immediate neighbors to have them either because my beagle would never shut up at the sight of them.

Our town allows chickens, but none of my neighbors have any. I did see a little girl down the road a bit selling eggs not too long ago, it was pretty cute but I didn't buy any.

So..you chicken keepers..tell me why you like keeping them? Don't the coops smell really bad? How much work is it?

Do the eggs taste differently from store bought? Or is it just a fun hobby?

I've always wanted to keep little goats as pets because they are so dang cute.

Fresh eggs taste completely different than store bought eggs.  Better.  And the yoke is a different yellow - more fresh.  I would highly recommend fresh eggs if you have the opportunity.

I'm in the heart of Seattle. Chickens are allowed. Roosters are not.

StephDRebel , those pictures are so helpful, wow look at the difference in yolk color!

I have never had a fresh farm egg I don't think. And that's a shame because I live in a very agricultural area/town.  I do have an acquaintance who keeps hens who doesn't live far from me but I've never asked her for eggs.

And look how pretty those shells are!  You make it sound so easy and fun, Steph..and I know how busy you are so it must not be that much work. Do your boys help you with clean up and stuff?

The only thing that makes me worry a bit is rats. <shudder> we had a rat problem last year, so bad we had to get the house exterminated and rat proofed and the exterminators told us our area is bad for rats, it's suburban but it's semi-rural setting I guess. I'd be afraid with all the feed scattered or what ever, it would be like ringing a dinner bell for rodents. We get opossums, raccoons too. Ah, and squirrels. 

But you make me want chickens! 

I live in a suburb of Dallas and we do allow backyard chickens. They recently changed the footage to adjacent homes from 150 feet to 20 feet. Here is our ordinance:

Council members have approved a change to city ordinance, allowing for backyard chickens on some residential properties.

The ordinance allows up to four hens to be kept in a coop located 20 feet from adjacent property lines. Residents must live on a property that does not prohibit backyard chickens, whether by HOA policy or deed restrictions.

One of the suburbs just to our north has a Chicken Coop tour this month on the 29th that I really want to attend. I think it would be fun!

They are allowed in parts of NYC. I just don't know the rules. I know that I live in one of the 'outer boroughs' and there are quite a few houses I've driven buy with bigger yards and chickens in the back.

Where I live (Auckland, New Zealand) you're allowed to keep 6 chickens (no roosters) on a property that's less than 2000m2 (roughly 1/2 acre).

I'm a little surprised by the no rooster ordinances. We have a number of roosters in our neighborhood and they really aren't that loud. Nothing like the dogs. But, most of us are on an acre or more, so we are spread out and I may just be used to them at this point. But they don't go on and on and on, like the damn dogs do.

We can have 6 hens. No roosters allowed. First we have to take a chicken class through the nature center. Then apply for a permit and you have to notify your neighbors you're getting chickens. I want them so bad, but I'm not 100% sure our dog Harley wouldn't eat them. My friend contacted me about her friend rehoming chickens and offering a free coop. I tried to get DH to go for it and he won't because he doesn't want Harley to kill them.

That would bother me.

Yes we are just outside of San Francisco and these are the rules - lots of chickens around here!

we are allowed up to 6 but they have to be contained in a coop. No free range chickens here.

DH wants them, but I don't.

Knock on wood we've never had an issue with rats or mice and weve got lots of critters around my area.

The biggest nuisance is a husky that had gotten loose twice and tries to get them. The last time I chased him through the yard in my panties and a tank top and shot him in the butt with my official red ryder bb fun. I'm not sure if it hurt or he's emotionally scarred from the sight but he hasn't been back

They really aren't that much work. I go visit in the mornings and feed them, I have a feeder built so there isn't feed all over and I take a break from work at lunch and walk the dogs and then take the girls a treat if I walk that way. Usually scraps from the veggies from my lunch and I check for eggs while I'm back there. Dh checks and fills the water after work and we just choose the door at night. They go in the coop on their own when it starts to get dark.

Ours are in a 12x12 dog run and I just let them out in the yard if I'm with them. They don't leave the yard but they do cut down on mosquitoes!

As we do yard clean up we just mulch the leaves/twigs/whatever and put it in the coop, they break it down super fast and we have a 12x 36 area in the yard that we rotate the run in. We have them in one spot and then move the run 12 foot and till the spot where they were. We move it 3x a year and by the time we plant in the spring the two sections were planting a garden in are super rich and we get the best veggies ever.

As we use them up, they eat the scraps and as the garden dies in the fall we just move the coop and they feast on the leftover plants. As I weed, they eat those too.

I have a hen first aid kit, but (again, knock on wood haven't ever needed it) and when we move the coop every 3 months or so I hose it out and put fresh being in the nesting boxes. Pretty easy!

Our girls are pretty spoiled and I cook for them in the winter, usually warm oatmeal and they LOVE biscuits and gravy but that's just ridiculousness and totally unnecessary.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls and I'll try to attach a video. They can be loud, but they were mad in this video, my dh had a doctor's appointment this morning and they heard me inside an hour after they're usually fed. Ha