The requests from home buyers to be able to raise chickens or goats in neighborhoods has greatly increased in the last few years. Some developers have recorded covenants to allow chickens (rarely allow a rooster) to broaden their buying pool and many neighborhoods have amended their covenants to allow chickens.
If your neighborhood allows chickens, is considering chickens or has already changed the covenants to do so, I would like to get your feedback on the pros or cons in your experience.
We don't have covenant controlled neighborhoods in our town. Developments of more than a handful of homes just don't exist here. However, the chicken and goat questions has come to the forefront recently. Basically, our city does not have an ordinance against chickens in any zone, but goats are only allowed in rural residential and agricultural zones.
More and more people in town are adding chickens. Most here are choosing not to have roosters, since the city has indicated that if your neighbor protests too much, you may be asked to remove them. So far, this is working well, unless one tries to set up a large coop for meat. The slaughtering of animals is not allowed in town, so most are raising the chickens for eggs only.
As long as your chickens are not continually escaping and causing a traffic hazard, there really seems to be no intrusion upon your neighbors happiness and peaceful enjoyment of their property. In fact, the birds tend to bring neighbors together.
Are you a suburb? with what size lots? --- and now I need to go peek at our POA by-laws but memory tells me there IS prohibitive language in there. We're a gated community north of Houston with several greenbelts surround "lakes" -- the lakes are mandated drainage areas to alleviate flooding, but the developer made an honest effort to make them attractive instead of just a culvert that collects water . Hike & bike trails are around them, they have fountains on them, mature trees, landscaping and shrubbery is maintained etc. (not to mention the "lake front" homes were more expensive).
Anyway, a serious problem now is ducks... or specifically duck poop! Apparently ducks are poop-factories and its a real problem. Our last few newsletters have instructions on how to remove duck poop from your car ... as it has a fine grit in it --- if you try to wipe it off you are going to scratch up your car -- apparently you have to soak it off. The ducks are apparently "grown-up" Easter chicks or gifts that have been let loose to "live and be free". So, in light of the community being in an uproar over the ducks and attendant duck poop, I'm having a hard time believing goats and chickens are (ever) going to be welcome.
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