But my city has an ordinance against them :( They are classified as farm animals, and even though we have a 1/2 an acre, apparently we can't have them.
I am thinking about petitioning the city. We live near Minneapolis and St. Paul, both of which allow chickens!
Do any of you keep chickens in a suburban setting? My parents have always had them, and we have so many friends with them, I want some too. I want the eggs, and the experience for my kids.
Just curious what other cities do around the country. Suburban cities especially. We live in Plymouth, MN and some of our friends in Minnetonka have chickens. If they can have them there, why can't we?
**EDITED TO ADD*** I don't want a rooster. I want 3-4 hens. I have a large garden, and the waste would be composted to add to my garden. We have a 1/2 acre - so I don't actually think my neighbors would hear 3-4 hens... but maybe I'm wrong about that. I don't think if you were my neighbor you would smell them... my neighbors on all 3 sides have dogs (which bark loudly at 4 a.m.... and poop in the yard). Would 3-4 well kept chickens be much different?
Thanks again for your comments - even the negative ones - they are helping me!
Thanks!
J.
THANK YOU. You all provided me with great links to info, different perspectives, and also showed me that things that seem obvious to me, probably don't to others.... that I would build a coop with a fenced "run" for them, keep it heated (with a heat lamp), not have a rooster, not let them roam. My Mom keeps 6 hens in a coop (insulated and heated with a heat lamp). She gets 6 eggs a day, she uses pine shavings for the bottom of the coop and cleans it regularly. I would never put up with my chickens running free in the yard, so it was helpful for me to know that is how many of you perceived what having chickens meant!
**I also have to add, I'm not one to disregard rules. I expect everyone to follow the rules, and I'm not an exception. So, if I can't get permission from the city, I'll let this one go. My city councilmember responded to an email I wrote and was less than encouraging... :( But, someone in my neighborhood already has bees :) Maybe I'll try that instead.... it would be good for my garden and my kids too - and no noise or smell to worry about.
Thanks so much everyone! Very helpful.
J.
Chickens, large animals, and other animals like adult male goats have a stench and therefor they are not allowed inside city limits. If you have pygmy goats or wethers then you don't have a smell so they are okay.
I love having chickens. I live in the country though. If you have a good setup like you mentioned, it probably won't be a problem. To me, it would be worth the risk. I love looking out on my property and seeing the hens pecking for worms and bugs. I love the fresh wonderful eggs. It is so peaceful. And they are quiet, unless something is chasing them. Then, thankfully, they are loud so we can run off the fox or whatever it is who is getting them all excited. Go for it.
Added: Allison - hysterical! BUCK ACKKK! I can just hear it ringing in my ears!!
Original:
I just want to say if they give you a variance, please don't get a rooster. Your neighbors will hate you.
Dawn
I love chickens. But, they are a huge pain in the rump.
Hens are not as quiet as you might think. You'll be thinking "Yay for chicken poop" until there is poop just about everywhere you don't want it. Unless you have a VERY large coop, it's not fair to keep the chickens in it, plus you need to have the nesting boxes, etc, and in Minnesota, how are you going to keep them warm in the winter?
Where I live in California, we get hard freezes and my sister's chickens ended up in her garage to keep them from freezing to death and you don't even want to know what kind of mess they made. The eggs were nice, but by the time you factor in the cost of the feed and everything else....they are some damn expensive eggs.
It's not my business, but I'm not sure I'd try to fight City Hall on this one.
Just my opinion.
Best wishes.
go to backyardchicken.com that is a fantastic site for helping to find out ways around or to improve city rules. can you build them an encloser that wont be seen like a privacy fence? Hens are usually not loud as to call atention to themselves. We have 4 hens and a roo. We are planning to add more next year.
As for your ? about the comparison to dogs chickens are easier and their mess is more contained, and they are sooo much quieter. To keep the coop from smelling like a barn use equine pine to layer the bottom it makes a big diff.
There's quite a few groups nationwide that are organized to help change laws in the few areas that don't allow them (there are VERY FEW areas in the country that have chicken ordinances, usually there are exceptions written in for them). Just google 'city chickens' and you'll be able to start finding those groups and how to go about things.
In our city you're allowed 3 chickens per lot (no roosters... which means not incubating eggs, unless you're prepared to eat the boys), plus an extra chicken per every extra 1000 square feet above a normal sized lot (5000sqft). So I could have 8, but like you, only want 3-4. Thing is... chickens are only productive layers for a few years, so it's nice to have the wiggle room to 'rotate' new ones in and old ones to the table, but that's just me. ((Of course, we don't eat pets. Family poultry/farm animal rule: Everyone gets ONE chicken -or rabbit, or whatver- to name and become a pet. The others are NOT pets. But, like I said, that's us))
Also in our area... if you let your chickens run free... they're gone. Either the hawks or the raccoons munch them. So they're SUPER easy to care for, and your yard stays exactly how you wish it to be, because they can never just be allowed to roam around. You just have to set up a coop and a run. A lot of people prefer "tractor runs" that can be rolled to different portions of the yard, while a lot of others prefer to keep the runs in one location and schlep the manure to where they want it.
For our area, double walled insulation is pretty key, as are 18-24" ground guards to keep raccoons and opossums from digging under the pen. If you need similar warmth & protection *check these guys out*!!! http://www.omlet.us/products_services/ Totally out of my price range (the cube), but it's only about $100-$200 to build the same thing in wood and heavy gage wire rabbit fence.
3 of my neighbors have chickens (we have 3 acre lots - we are out in the country. I've got soybean fields on 2 sides of our lot).
Two have a dozen (no roosters) and one has two (they were a gift - 1 hen 1 rooster).
That rooster is noisy but he's a distance away (across the street and behind some houses) so we hear him but it's not a jarring in your face noise.
I've known dogs that were way louder (and a donkey is way louder - he lives down the street).
The girls are pretty quiet so far.
The most noise we hear from the closest brood (a dozen are right next to us) is when they scratch through piles of leaves (neighbors put raked leaves in the coop to give the chickens something to play with - the scratching is like a self turning compost pile and the leaves break down very quickly).
They might get noisier when they are old enough to lay eggs.
They get their water and chicken feed but will also eat most vegetable matter except for anything potato related.
We've seen them eat pumpkin - cut one in half, put the halves in the coop and they'll peck it down to nothing within a few hours.
They love watermelon rinds.
You are not going to get a lot of poop from 3-4 chickens - again, a dog can be way worse.
Check out the sites that advise about chicken regulations and see if you can work to change your local code.
Check with your local 4H - they might have some useful advice.
If/when you do get a few, take good care of them and make sure they are not being a bother to your neighbors and you'll be fine.
We have chickens. At the moment there are 5 hens out in the coop. We had 8 at one point, but have lost a couple to predators (our property backs up against woods where the predators roam). We live deep in the heart of suburbia. Go ahead and petition your city! It's wonderful, and the only complaint we got from our neighbors is that one day they wandered into her yard and ate her hostas. We've kept a much closer eye on them when they're freeranging since then, and there have been no further problems. They are very quiet unless something scares them, the they get a bit squawky, but it's definitely quieter than a barking dog. Love the eggs.
Kids and neighbors love the chickens. They make me very happy.
If my neighbors got chickens, I would have a fit. I say if you want farm animals, you need to live out in the country. What good is it to keep your house nice and tidy, if your neighbor has a bunch of loud stinky chickens running around. My mother has neighbors, that have chickens against city ordinance. They had a cage that was almost as big as the backyard, and noisy. Dogs barking at the chickens. Think about your neighbors before you think about yourself. If your neighbors dogs bother you, call the police, and let them enforce the noise ordinance. Just because their dogs wake you up at 4am, doesn't give you a green light to get chickens. That is backwards thinking in my book.
Why don't you just ask your neighbors if they care. It isn't like the city will know unless your neighbors call them. Last time I checked no chicken police.
just something to think about (i am totally anti chicken btw, i can't stand them and will leave the raising, butchering, and egg-gathering to others more qualified! my grandma had them and i never had good memories of them- and i'd have a problem if my in-town neighbors had them - because about 2% of people with city chickens would actually do it RIGHT) if their dogs are unruly and bark all the time (too much pent up energy?) and poop in your yard (not properly contained?) is it a good idea to get chickens? those dogs will most likely make it a nightmare.
My hubby is also desperate for chickens. Here in Ft Worth, Texas, in a residential area, you are allowed up to 12 chickens. You have to have a coop and the coop has to be 50 feet away from any houses, including your own. I don't think roosters are allowed. Here's a website dedicated to city chicken laws... http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html
I live in Mpls, but in a condo, so don't have chickens (but almost all of the 12 residents here have a dog). I would consider it if I had a backyard in an area that allowed it.
I would research the cities in the area that do allow chickens. I would find out exactly how their ordanances are written. I would want to know what arguments were used against them in the process of getting approval.
You may have already found this, but these seem to be good resources:
http://heavytable.com/the-abcs-of-raising-urban-chickens/
http://thechickenenthusiast.com/
You might ask around if anyone else in your area is thinking of this. There is strength in numbers. A group in Bloomington started a FaceBook page to gain support. I have not ever petitioned a city council, but I'm betting that it is a tricky process, and would it would take a careful campaign, with the more people convinced ahead of time the better, to make your case.
I grew up on a farm, and several chickens smell less and make less noise than one dog.
Good Luck!
My neighbor had them. You don't want them. Trust me.
I live rurally, and have chickens, love love them! You know, it's funny, but my hens are just as loud as my rooster, when they lay an egg they will BUCK ACKKK for a good 15 minutes, and I have 7 of them, so there is a lot of buck accking! My rooster crows in the morning, but not much otherwise.
A really great site, with a lot of traffic is backyardchickens.com. They have a forum, and a lot of people have petitioned to keep chickens sucessfully.
This would be a great place to pose your Question
And for the record, I can't lie, there is a smell sometimes, mine do not smell as they are free range, but if they are locked in for a few days, then there poop smells a bit, but so does dog shite.
A small number of chickens (my daughter kept 4 for a few months) does not smell if you keep their coop clean. (It's larger numbers contained in a small space that really get stinky.) She let them have the run of her suburban back yard, and they did tend to poop wantonly. A city back yard, even a large one, is not really enough space for 4 chickens. But they are friendly, curious, fun to watch, produce high quality eggs, and eat lots of yard bugs.
These hens didn't make much noise except for an "egg song" they would make after laying, which could be fairly loud for several minutes. The factors that became too much were the poop, which was impossible not to step in, and the powerful scratching which were hard on garden and lawn. They also ate favorite vegetables right out of the garden. If your petition is successful, I strongly suggest you have a well-constructed, large run that can keep them in and predators out.
Maybe you can find a friend who lives in a chicken zone and they will house them for you and let you and your kids come over everyday and experience them and all they entail. Share the eggs with them and now and then a nice fryer.
This is such a cool question? I can't beleive so many moms on this site have chickens and roosters. I'm a city person, so to hear of families still raising chickens and roosters is something out of the ordinary. My dream is to one day live in the country and experience this. Great....
We go to a local park in a very snooty, little suburb city and one of the houses lining the park has a couple hens.
I think they are awesome!
I would love to have a couple hens. And good, fresh eggs!
But thinking about how cold I am right now sitting at my computer...maybe I don't want to go outside and deal w/ chickens. Lol. :)
But I think you should certainly pursue it!
