Pet Chickens - HOA CC&R

Please help! Our HOA gave us 30 days to get rid of our pet chickens. I read our CC&R and I found language under Pets that "dogs, cats and caged birds are allowed" and specifically notes that fowl is now allowed. We live in a single-family neighborhood of 60 houses. The CC&R is from 1992 and the HOA has not taken much action regarding non-compliance by other neighbors. This is the reason I didn't double check the CC&R prior to getting our girls and instead, we checked with the City and found that 4 chickens are allowed per Code. Does anyone know what can happen to our girls if we don't comply? Does anyone know if the HOA can call animal control and have our girls picked up for non-compliance of the CC&R? The complaint is for chicken noise since their dogs would bark when our girls passes by the fence between our properties. Thank you in advance.

Animal control would not play any role in this. Nobody should be entering your property in an effort to enforce this rule.

The HOA would have various compliance methods as defined in your governing documents. Most commonly this would be fines (only if allowed by your docs and/or state law), and suing for compliance.

You agreed to a contract when you purchased and had an obligation to read and follow those items listed. In my last HOA a neighbor was building something in his garage with door open most of time ... when it finally was noticeable that was chicken coop I casually asked what he was building. Response was a chicken coop for a neighbor (our City allowed 6 chickens). Stated after that was going to build one for himself I unfortunately had to let him know that both he and his neighbor needed to read their CCR's as chickens were not allowed in our HOA.

The City animal control most likely will not get involved unless you violate their ordinances regarding chickens. However, the HOA if allowed can issue letter to remove, fine (if allowed by CCR's or State Laws) for failure to follow letter to remove, or sue to have removed. As Tim noted you need to decide if those chickens are worth potentially many thousands of dollars to defend in a potential lawsuit. Which if your documents do not allow you would most likely loose.

Personally I do not have anything against chickens, ducks, or most animals because I am an animal lover. In my new HOA I can have most any animals I want or desire now. However, I do agree with following a contract everyone purchased under in good faith. Another option if you want chickens is to gather the majority of your homeowners together to Amend your CCR's to allow X number of fowl to be allowed. At that time you will be following the contract (a.k.a. CCR's).

First moral of the story (you know this now, but it bears repeating) – assume nothing and check your CCRs BEFORE making changes that could impact your neighbors or be against the rules. It’s true selective enforcement can be the issue, but it may be your board hasn’t enforced this one because other issues are taking priority.

If your neighbors are squawking (sorry, couldn’t help saying that!) because of the racket when your “girls walk by the fence and their dogs go ballistic, have they complained to you about this before? If so, what did you do to try and resolve it - dogs are predators and of course, they will bark when they see prey, even if there’s a fence)? Are your birds in a chicken coop and if so, can you move it to where the dogs can’t see it? Can you run some sort of barrier along your side of the fence so the dogs don’t see the birds? Are there any other issues like smells and poop?

If your HOA has an appeals process for CCR violation notices, I suggest you file and state your case. You might also want to talk to the neighbors to see what the problem is and discuss ways to resolve it – Google “keeping chickens in urban areas” and see what comes up if you need ideas. You’ve already checked with the code on its code – how about doing a little more research to see if the code addresses noise and other things you might need to address.

If you’re able to keep your birds, you might want to bring over some eggs to the neighbors every now and again – don’t laugh, but on one urban gardening website, this was suggested when dealing with HOAs – an omelet or frittata may calm the neighbors down.