I live in a very small neighborhood. My neighbors have acquired chickens. There is a city ordinance against.?
Question:What should I do? The crowing in the morning is one thing, the insect, vermin & odor issue is another. Not to mention you can't clean up chicken waste the way you can dog/cat.
Answers:
We had this exact same problem.
I had a neighbor who decided to raise several dozen chickens, mere yards away from our bedroom. The best approach is to talk directly to the neighbor. Explain the ordinance, explain the impact the chickens are having on your quality of life, ie. the smell, the feral cats prowling around, the crowing. Leaving notes on the door just doesn't cut it. If he refuses to remove the chickens or if the neighbor is one of those disagreeable, non approachable types, then call the Code Enforcement division of your City's Planning and Zoning department.
You must file a complaint, an officer then comes out and writes them a warning. Most cities are understaffed in this department~sometimes it takes a couple of calls to City Code to move things along. It also helps if you can get another neighbor to call in a complaint too.
The neighbor has the right to know who filed the complaint against him, the code officer might not tell him, but it all becomes part of the legal record. This is why I always recommend talking to the neighbor first.
If there is an ordinance (Check with zoning) notify animal control that they are in violation. If there is no ord, ask animal control for advice
sounds like a good time for a neighborhood BBQ
The only way to find out is to call your town or city hall and ask.
Complain. It's diminishing your quality of life. It's insane that he's turning his backyard into a chicken farm (unless you own 10 acres of land and farm for a living!)
I guess it depends on what kind of zoning your neighborhood falls into. You can easily find the regulations at your borough's office, website or courthouse.
If it is not zoned farmland, I'm confident your neighbor is violating the rules.
Call your local animal shelter or the police. Explain the situation and let them handle it.
Perhaps your neighbours are ignorant about the bylaws and the problems that may arise from having chickens in a residential city, therefore, you should call your municipality and complain. They have no right to tell them who put in the complaint. Have you talked to other neighbours? If they are also complaining perhaps you can do a letter with several signatures to the municipality and that way it is not only you who is against their chickens.
See if there's not a code compliance officer that works for the city. Call them and have them pay a visit.
You went above and beyond your responsibility by directly sending the neighbor a copy of the ordinance. You could have sent a complaint directly to Animal Control. You gave your neighbors the opportunity to take care of the violation the way they would want to, now you are forced to notify AC and let THEM take care of the chickens the way THEY want to. Ordinances like this are in place for a reason - your neighbors are breaking the law, and they know it.
This is not an issue you should deal with yourself, as there is an ordinance against it. Notify your city employees. It is their job to enforce such ordinances, not yours. I kept chickens on a farm and they can be clean animals, but it requires much labor that most city people don't want to bother with.
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