# Chicken Ownership



## Mfutu (May 12, 2020)

I live in East Tawakoni TX about 50 miles east of Dallas. We have been forbidden to own chickens within the city limits. We are a community of about 1000 people. A new city code has been written to allow chickens within the city limits with crippling constraints.

I've attached this new code to show you the mentality of our governing body..

Most asinine code I've ever read


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Without going into rant mode, explain your objections to this code. While I do think the fees are exorbitant, I don't see much wrong with it. Although that two feet per bird is not enough room, it should be four.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

That is pretty standard and very similar to any other city I have lived in that allowed chickens. It wasn’t difficult to stay within those rules. We just kept everything clean and didn’t have a rooster and we were fine. I’m sure it seems annoying (especially if you’ve never had such regulations) but it is for a good reason. Without those rules you could have someone with 25 (or more) chickens crammed in a too small coop right up next to the fence within a few feet of your house. But I feel ya. That’s why we moved outside the city limits.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sarah1up said:


> That is pretty standard and very similar to any other city I have lived in that allowed chickens. It wasn't difficult to stay within those rules. We just kept everything clean and didn't have a rooster and we were fine. I'm sure it seems annoying (especially if you've never had such regulations) but it is for a good reason. Without those rules you could have someone with 25 (or more) chickens crammed in a too small coop right up next to the fence within a few feet of your house. But I feel ya. That's why we moved outside the city limits.


Besides the fact you could have a rooster or two?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I double what Sarah said. There was someone just recently that moved on to a piece of property in the country. No regs because it was zoned farmland. Problem is he bought a small plot and the guy directly adjacent to him was someone with 20 plus game roosters tied out not far from his windows.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

robin416 said:


> Besides the fact you could have a rooster or two?


No, no city we have ever lived in allowed roosters and 6 hens was always the max. There were people who would try and swing having a rooster or more chickens than allowed. As long as your neighbors didn't complain you might not ever get caught. The idea was that you give eggs in exchange for everyone keeping their mouth shut . I never risked it though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I meant that was one of the reasons for getting out to the country.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

robin416 said:


> I double what Sarah said. There was someone just recently that moved on to a piece of property in the country. No regs because it was zoned farmland. Problem is he bought a small plot and the guy directly adjacent to him was someone with 20 plus game roosters tied out not far from his windows.


Yikes!


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

robin416 said:


> I meant that was one of the reasons for getting out to the country.


Ah, yes then. And I needed 18 chickens apparently Seriously though, the last town we were in didn't allow chickens at all. (And had a limit of three pets total! Strictest town ever! I could go on but I will spare you). I haven't had chickens in almost ten years so I guess that's why I went crazy. Lol.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sarah1up said:


> Ah, yes then. And I needed 18 chickens apparently Seriously though, the last town we were in didn't allow chickens at all. (And had a limit of three pets total! Strictest town ever! I could go on but I will spare you). I haven't had chickens in almost ten years so I guess that's why I went crazy. Lol.


Tom is the one that went crazy, you've just gotten started.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Yeah, I read that section very carefully, several times to make sure I read it right. 2 feet is definitely waaaaay too small and honestly, with some of those absurd restrictions I wouldn't even bother. For example: Section C subsection 5 says that you cannot eat your chickens...I personally could never eat my chickens but a very large majority of people keep chickens for eggs and meat. Also, if you can't sell the eggs, what do you do with the overage? 6 hens will lay (approx, give or take since they don't necessarily lay every single day but for the sake of argument...) 6 eggs a day which is 3 dozen a week, what do they expect you to do? (I know! EGG THE MAYOR'S HOUSE!!!!..oh wait, no don't do that).
There are so many things wrong with this code that if it were me...I'm non confrontational ( mhmm, trust me) I'd be down at the next town hall meeting (or whatever they are called in Texas) and raising a major fit. Especially that 2 feet per hen rule, that is not healthy for the chickens and will cause fights, injuries and even death. Whoever wrote this code has ZERO clue about chickens and should not be allowed to have a say in it. Idiots...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I can see the reason for the no sales provision. If they are in a sub division type of arrangement then having extra traffic on the road for the egg sales could become a problem for the other residents and their children. 

I'm thinking about the slaughter thing. And I think that's what it's about. They don't want animals slaughtered in a residential area. What happens to the feathers, parts and pieces after a bird is processed? Who has control over any odor created afterwards.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

Email the mayor ([email protected]) and cite these websites: 
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/how-much-room-do-chickens-need/
https://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2011/08/02/how-much-space-do-my-chickens-need/
https://www.hobbyfarms.com/how-much-space-do-your-chickens-really-need/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-space-do-chickens-need.73765/ (this one is long and rambles a bit but she explains why she is rambling and the reasons are completely relevant)
https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2020/03/the-beginners-guide-to-raising-backyard.html (scroll down to the section titled "Where do chickens live?" to find the space requirements)

So basically, the only chickens that you would be allowed under this code are bantams. Which kind of works because you'll still have the same number of eggs but they are tiny so you'll eat more of them in one sitting, plus they are too small and not meant for eating so, there ya go hahahaha....


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

Years ago, I was a police officer in a small town of about the same size. I have seen many of these types of ordinances for different things, specific dog breeds, pigs, horses, chickens, etc. Usually, it is a result of the city council not really wanting the animals, but can't give a good reason for not having them. Therefor, they develop an ordinance that is overly restrictive in hopes that no one actually goes through the trouble to meet the requirements. One of the things that caught my one right off was that the coop had to be at least 50 feet from all other property lines. That would require a property to be at least 100' by 100' plus the size of the coop. Very few of the residential properties in small towns around here are larger than 75', most only 50'. That in itself would keep most people from having chickens.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

TomC said:


> Years ago, I was a police officer in a small town of about the same size. I have seen many of these types of ordinances for different things, specific dog breeds, pigs, horses, chickens, etc. Usually, it is a result of the city council not really wanting the animals, but can't give a good reason for not having them. Therefor, they develop an ordinance that is overly restrictive in hopes that no one actually goes through the trouble to meet the requirements. One of the things that caught my one right off was that the coop had to be at least 50 feet from all other property lines. That would require a property to be at least 100' by 100' plus the size of the coop. Very few of the residential properties in small towns around here are larger than 75', most only 50'. That in itself would keep most people from having chickens.


It's been so long since I lived anywhere before living in a country setting I forgot about that. My own mother's house was built in '49 but if I remember right the lot depth was only 120 feet which included the house on that 120 feet.


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## Thomas Lippert (May 10, 2020)

Mfutu said:


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More reason to vote those morons out.


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## Thomas Lippert (May 10, 2020)

Sarah1up said:


> Ah, yes then. And I needed 18 chickens apparently Seriously though, the last town we were in didn't allow chickens at all. (And had a limit of three pets total! Strictest town ever! I could go on but I will spare you). I haven't had chickens in almost ten years so I guess that's why I went crazy. Lol.


Again you gotta get out and vote those idiots out.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

My town has restrictions also, 10 birds, only certain kinds (I cannot have guineas, the big party poopers), only hens, the coop must be 40 ft from the neighbor's HOUSE, not property line (makes things much easier hehe) and of course sanitation etc etc. Our property is 75 wide and I think it's 120 long so to make sure that we were in compliance I put the one edge of the one coop at the forty mark, in the backyard (also in the ordinance) at an angle so that it angled away from the neighbor's house completing the 40 foot rule on the other side. After discovering that the city doesn't REALLY care what you do as long as your neighbors don't complain and the fire chief can't come up with a valid reason to harass the crap out of you, we just put coops wherever we wanted and I have 9 female birds of the legal varieties  haha. My neighbor on the side of the house that the coops are on absolutely loves my birds and has rearranged her living room so that her recliner looks out the window into our back yard. I have one neighbor on the opposite side of the house that MIGHT be the only one that I would worry about but I give her eggs so if she says anything to the city she has to buy eggs from then on hahaha *evil grin* TECHNICALLY I am within the law on all but 1 coop and it's only shy of the law by 4 inches.


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