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You are here: Home / Keeping Chickens / Working On My HOA To Allow Chickens

Working On My HOA To Allow Chickens

August 21, 2017 by Cathi 2 Comments

Is it possible to overcome an HOA and have backyard chickens?

Currently, the city in which I live allows backyard chickens, but my Homeowners Association does not.  I am endeavoring to change that.  Phase one of my plan was attending board meetings whenever I was in town so that my face would become known.  Phase two is to actually make a presentation to the board.  Here are some points that I will be making in that presentation.

 

What do Martha Stewart, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts have in common? They all are a part of one of the smartest trends going, in that they all have backyard chickens.

When our original HOA guidelines were written, which as far as I can tell was in the early 70s (correct me if I’m wrong) I’m sure that Article 8, Section 6 which refers to poultry, was standard boilerplate language added to every neighborhood without really thinking it through. Plus, backyard chickens in residential areas weren’t really a “thing”, but now they are.

And, they’re a good thing.

The City of Austin is giving residents classes on keeping chickens and will reimburse $75 per household for backyard chickens. This is a step toward their “Zero Waste” initiative.

SB 1620 passed the Texas Senate in the 2017 legislature which would have made it illegal to restrict backyard chickens to fewer than 6. The bill didn’t get to be voted on by the House of Representatives before the end of session, but I’m sure it will come up again.

Besides the well known nutritional advantage that backyard chicken eggs have vs even the most expensive store bought eggs, Chickens also reduce pests, household waste and improve the fertility of soil.

Many people who have never been around backyard chickens, and who perhaps have been exposed to commercial chicken operations have some understandable concerns. Chief among them, smell and noise. Let’s unscramble those myths now. (Get it? Unscramble?)

A well kept backyard chicken coop will never have an offensive odor.

As far as noise, laying hens — at their loudest — have about the same decibel level as human conversation (60 to 70 decibels). Hens are so quiet that there have been cases of family flocks being kept for years without the next door neighbors even knowing it. Roosters are not a part of a Backyard Chicken flock and are not allowed by (City) Code of Ordinance.

Don’t we want (neighborhood) to be known as a progressive, forward thinking neighborhood? Isn’t that the kind of place where we want to live? I think so.

I would therefore like to propose that I be allowed to be a trial for (my neighborhood) in keeping backyard chickens.

I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and experience in the comments.

Filed Under: Keeping Chickens Tagged With: Chickens, HOA

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shelley says

    April 19, 2020 at 1:36 am

    Hi Cathi,
    How did your HOA appeal work out? I’m preparing to do the same thing and would love to get some tips if you were successful!

    Reply
  2. Cathi says

    April 20, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    It flat didn’t work out. In the bylaws of our HOA, they would have to put it up to a vote of all homeowners. 70% of homeowners would have to approve it. Not 70% of those voting…70% of all homeowners. That flat will never happen in this neighborhood.

    I found a landowner nearby who lets me keep my flock (which now numbers twenty) on her land. Three minutes from my house. It’s a good solution.

    Reply

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Meet Cathi

After managing my strange hobbies for years living in the suburbs in an HOA, we finally bought 13.25 acres in rural Collin County, Texas.

We dubbed our piece of Texas "Nonsense Farm"

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