where I used to live, they allowed up to 10 chickens to be kept, not for commercial purposes. Not allowed to free roam and could not be housed between the road and front of the house facing the road. Must be 30 feet minimum from a neighbor's house.

We lived in town, walking distance to campus, and had a neighbor several houses away who kept chickens . We never heard them.

You should be fine.

(I need to check if they have finally removed that. For those who did not know, it was illegal to operate a motor vehicle in the Chapel Hill city limits back in the last century and they never have removed it as far as I know.)

Reason being, they are noisy little buggers! Hens make noise, too, but clucking isn't nearly as loud or shrill as a rooster crowing. (And they don't just do it at dawn; they do it whenever they damned well feel like it. )

I grew up around chickens, and I love them. My Grandma had chickens, and I have fond memories of lying in bed on summer nights, listening to them clucking to each other as they settled down for the night, gradually getting quieter and quieter until they all fell asleep. It was very soothing. But crowing roosters I can do without, especially in a city or suburban neighborhood.

There is a reason they call women gathering "hen parties." Those hens are loaded with personality! Add a rooster and things always get more complicated (and the eggs don't taste as good to me.) but the roosters even remind me of an exaggerated human male ego--the smaller the rooster, the more he has to prove! When I raised chickens I enjoyed watching their dramas far more than I ever have enjoyed watching a "reality show".

He made sure I was up to get ready for school

I’m out in the country so all is good neighbor wise. Some Roos are almost like wartch dogs - crowing if someone drives up my road.

Nothing like getting still warm fresh laid eggs for breakfast.

I live a suburb and the same is happening in my city. Trying to change the law to allow chickens.

Last edited Sun Jan 29, 2023, 07:31 AM - Edit history (1)

If anyone complains, ask to borrow their car to return the chickens to the wild.

loved even more upstate. Rverhead even has a "chick day" when you can get day old chicks cheap.

The laws around here go back to when Suffolk was largely rural farm country.

Things have changed a lot since the rules were written, but farmers still have a voice, so feathered friends are stil around in the back yards and rarely are complaints heard.

Except for roosters.

more than three pigs. I originally got some Rhode Island Reds for the kids to make a few bucks
on egg sales. But never did the egg money equal the cost of feed. Yeah, I had good fresh eggs.
I still marvel that a hen can produce almost an egg a day. Our rooster, Hannibal, was a huge mean
guy with long spurs and some of the hens lost their back feathers from his lovin', but he attacked
the kids one too many times and I got rid of him. With eggs so expensive now, I may think of getting
some chicks, But the old chicken coop is where I grow my weed now. Good fertilizer.

Weed loves chicken manure. You can forget about all the expensive fertilizers out there.

My current roo is sweet - has never attached anyone but I’ve had a mean roo in the past.

I feed my chickens organically - 50lb bag went up $15 - that’s insane. I also give them lots of veggies.

If your roo does in your chickens back feathers - lots of people online sell adorable chicken saddles - flower prints with lace - same way people dress up their dogs 😊😊😊

and left them alone with their eggs. However, I never had any hatchlings. Oh well, chickens will lay
for at least five years and baby chicks are inexpensive at the feed store, so forget the roosters. They're
too noisy and I just can't picture myself putting little saddles on the chickens' backs.

Here (Minneapolis) you have to get a permit to keep them. You need a special permit for a rooster or more than 6 hens, and to get that permit you need the written approval of all neighbors within 100 feet of your property. https://library.municode.com/mn/minneapolis/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_TIT4ANCACO_CH63LIPE_63.90FO Another person I know has a rooster along with her hens, and apparently the neighbors are OK with it (the lots are pretty big in that area). The rooster is really beautiful and he's very protective of the hens.

...here in Clearwater my wife went for a walk, and told me that she was chased by a white peacock!!! I thought she was crazy, but nope! One neighbor was raising peacocks that got loose.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/peacocks-in-miami-should-they-stay-or-should-they-go/2702779/

It's so hard to describe exactly what animals are acceptable and how they are kept, that many areas just ban everything. Florida is covered with all kinds of non-native creatures that got away or let go - and they thrive! Nature finds a way.

Codes are hard too. Does the chicken coop have to be hurricane proof like almost all new buildings? You get the idea.

I grew up in mostly rural GA and SC where no one cared unless you were annoying the neighbors, but when rural and suburban meet up, there's always some friction.

Yes, I get nobody in suburbia wants a commercial pig farm popping up next door. But a few domestic animals kept at home, that they have no idea are even there, is enough to send some people straight to the governor.

Anti-livestock laws are a lot like hoa rules. One size fits all and if you let a wildflower grow in your lawn you will get reported snd fined.

We run into this in beekeeping. Honey bees are categorized as livestock by the usda. These anti livestock laws impact backyard beekeepers as well.

It's just more local authoritarian crap we have to struggle against.