OKC Urban Chicken Ordinance

[Plutonic Panda]

The council will vote Tuesday(10/24/22) to allow or not possessing up to six hens(no roosters) on urban lots under an acre. I hope it passes. I’m setting up a coup right now in Edmond.

[HangryHippo]

The council will vote Tuesday(10/24/22) to allow or not possessing up to six hens(no roosters) on urban lots under an acre. I hope it passes. I’m setting up a coup right now in Edmond.

I know you’re upset about the NIMBYs, but is a coup really the way to go? 😆

[Plutonic Panda]

I know you’re upset about the NIMBYs, but is a coup really the way to go? ��

Lol *coop* but hey getting an army of chickens and marching to Hafer park might not be a bad idea

PS, here is the announcement by JoBeth Hamon

https://twitter.com/jospacebear/stat...313721360?s=21

[unfundedrick]

I grew up with chickens on our farm and, for a while, was involved in a commercial aspect with selling eggs from a fairly large operation. They are useful but nasty animals and I never want them anywhere near where I'm living.

[oklip955]

Long time chicken owner here. I'm just outside Edmond on 10 ac but work to get the Edmond chicken ordinance passed. Chickens and any other animal can be nasty if you dont take care of them. Trust me on this. I had one for about 2 months in my garage conversion due to her having to stay clean and heal from surgery. She potty trained herself and her dog kennel stayed clean and no smells. She was clean so no mites after staying at OSu vet med post surgery. I can say that dogs or cats are very nasty. Anyone deal with litter boxes or been in homes with them that were neglected. If you keep the coups clean, dust your hens for mites or any other critter then not bad. Leave a dog to get mange and not clean the poo from a back yard and what do you have?

[oklip955]

By the way the hen stayed most of the time in my little shop building but still she potty trained.

[unfundedrick]

Long time chicken owner here. I'm just outside Edmond on 10 ac but work to get the Edmond chicken ordinance passed. Chickens and any other animal can be nasty if you dont take care of them. Trust me on this. I had one for about 2 months in my garage conversion due to her having to stay clean and heal from surgery. She potty trained herself and her dog kennel stayed clean and no smells. She was clean so no mites after staying at OSu vet med post surgery. I can say that dogs or cats are very nasty. Anyone deal with litter boxes or been in homes with them that were neglected. If you keep the coups clean, dust your hens for mites or any other critter then not bad. Leave a dog to get mange and not clean the poo from a back yard and what do you have?

I lived with chickens for about 20 years so I respectfully disagree and I don't think that most people interested in this are just thinking about one chicken nor do they live on 10 acres. If there could be a minimum requirement of at least 5 acres with a required distance of the chickens to neighbors, I might be OK with it. I also had a great deal of personal experience of eating eggs from our chickens versus store bought eggs and never saw anything of note. I know many people are passionate about "organic" food but I'm not one of them. Eggs are hardly expensive and any benefit from "organic" eggs are negligible at best in my opinion. I think it's just a trendy. feel good, thing for most people who are interested so they can tell people that they have their own chickens and eggs.

[BoulderSooner]

The council will vote Tuesday(10/24/22) to allow or not possessing up to six hens(no roosters) on urban lots under an acre. I hope it passes. I’m setting up a coup right now in Edmond.

just to be clear the council is not voting to allow "back yard chickens" tomorrow ..... they are voting to send a proposed ord. to the planning commission for consideration .... if it makes it past planning it will arrive back at the council sometime in the future for a vote ..

[Rover]

Has anyone considered the occurrences of Histoplasmosis with people around and adjacent to populations of chickens? It is something farmers with chickens get. It occurs when chicken feces dries, becomes powdery and becomes airborne. It Is then breathed in by people and fungus is planted in their lungs. Can lead to bronchitis and other problems.

[BigSully]

Has anyone considered the occurrences of Histoplasmosis with people around and adjacent to populations of chickens? It is something farmers with chickens get. It occurs when chicken feces dries, becomes powdery and becomes airborne. It Is then breathed in by people and fungus is planted in their lungs. Can lead to bronchitis and other problems.

I doubt this is a serious concern for a small residential backyard with 6 chickens or less...

[oklip955]

As one who has had backyard chickens for over 20 yrs, maybe 25, i've never had an issue with it. Now dust yes, dust from mowing my acreage and from the job i retired from. My usual amount of chickens was around 18- 30. I currently have 5 and have moved them to a friend's house who has chickens also. Why because of knee issues. I am older and having to cut back on things. The idea of backyard chickens is usually 4 to 6 hens for a family to keep them like pets and have fresh eggs. The manure can be composted along with yard waste. If done right it cuts back on the amount of waste in the trash. The compost can be used in ones flower beds or small garden. Veggie and fruit scraps can be fed to the chickens. I am not talking about molding or yuck stuff. Or if you are a person like me then you buy treats at the feed store for them. They are friendly and can be pets. They can be trained to be walked in a harness too. Yes they sell chicken harnesses as well as leashes.

[Rover]

I doubt this is a serious concern for a small residential backyard with 6 chickens or less...

Probably not If the feces is managed correctly and pens kept clean.

[oklip955]

Just to note that cat poo contains harmful organisms also, but people keep cats in the house. I am not saying to keep chickens in your house just a clean coop.

[Plutonic Panda]

just to be clear the council is not voting to allow "back yard chickens" tomorrow ..... they are voting to send a proposed ord. to the planning commission for consideration .... if it makes it past planning it will arrive back at the council sometime in the future for a vote ..

Thanks for the clarification.

[unfundedrick]

As one who has had backyard chickens for over 20 yrs, maybe 25, i've never had an issue with it. Now dust yes, dust from mowing my acreage and from the job i retired from. My usual amount of chickens was around 18- 30. I currently have 5 and have moved them to a friend's house who has chickens also. Why because of knee issues. I am older and having to cut back on things. The idea of backyard chickens is usually 4 to 6 hens for a family to keep them like pets and have fresh eggs. The manure can be composted along with yard waste. If done right it cuts back on the amount of waste in the trash. The compost can be used in ones flower beds or small garden. Veggie and fruit scraps can be fed to the chickens. I am not talking about molding or yuck stuff. Or if you are a person like me then you buy treats at the feed store for them. They are friendly and can be pets. They can be trained to be walked in a harness too. Yes they sell chicken harnesses as well as leashes.

You indicate that you live on an acreage and that is different than what is being proposed. As I said, I would probably be OK with allowing it on a minimum of 5 acres which would allowed for a required distance from neighbors.

[Rover]

Just to note that cat poo contains harmful organisms also, but people keep cats in the house. I am not saying to keep chickens in your house just a clean coop.

Chicken feces is smaller, dries faster and turns to dust quicker. That makes it more of an airborne issue.

[Plutonic Panda]

It looks like the proposal passed so it will move forward in the council. Hopefully it’ll come up for a vote and pass!

[Plutonic Panda]

https://www.news9.com/story/617877ee...cken-ordinance

[BoulderSooner]

It looks like the proposal passed so it will move forward in the council. Hopefully it’ll come up for a vote and pass!

it will now move to the planning commission and if it passes there it will return to the city council

[Urbanized]

All of those chicken hipsters are going to be in for a shock when their hens eventually stop laying (inevitable) and they turn into just another mouth to feed. Now, there’s a long-standing solution for this “unintended pet” situation - and it’s delicious - but I suspect most of them won’t be able to bring themselves to do it.

[catch22]

We have urban chickens in Colorado Springs and it is by and large not an issue at all. They are as clean as you allow them to be. As long as you don't have a rooster there is virtually no noise. A few clucks every now and then. My best friend has 6 chickens and they reliably produce about 4 eggs a day between the 6. He gives out excess eggs to people at work, or if they were super active with laying and they were not eating a lot of eggs he will put them in a shoebox on his sidewalk and usually by the end of the morning neighbors will have taken all of his excess eggs. This means the neighbors may have made one less purchase at the store. One less egg to be grown in an industrial setting, transported by semi-truck, etc. I think small things like this, widespread, can make a large difference in how we function as a society. Bring things back to the neighborhood level.

I don't eat a ton of eggs and don't really need any more responsibilities around the house, but I definitely support the idea of being able to grow some of your own food. It may make people a little more conscious about where their food actually comes from and perhaps be a little less wasteful or selfish. As Urbanized mentioned end-of-producing age has to be factored in as well.

[Plutonic Panda]

Approved. Ordinance goes into effect March 4th:

https://www.okc.gov/departments/deve...chickens-quail

“ Urban fowl

Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council was the culmination of the three-meeting process to create a new ordinance for the City and seven years of debate. The ordinance in question this time provides for the non-commercial raising of only six chicken hens and quail. No roosters are allowed.”

https://freepressokc.com/urban-hens-...-city-council/

https://okcfox.com/news/local/oklaho...osters-council

[oklip955]

All of those chicken hipsters are going to be in for a shock when their hens eventually stop laying (inevitable) and they turn into just another mouth to feed. Now, there’s a long-standing solution for this “unintended pet” situation - and it’s delicious - but I suspect most of them won’t be able to bring themselves to do it.

Long time chicken owner here, like 20 plus years. I did work to get through the Edmond ordinance. I m on 10 ac and jus outside Edmond City Limits so I can have what I want. With that said, I've had one hen that lived to 14 1/2 yo and was still saying 2 to 3 eggs a week. She lived about twice the normal age of a chicken but it happens. In my experience they can continue laying until they die, just not as many as in their first 2 yrs. Most well kept hens will live to about age 5 to 7 yo.

[bombermwc]

Im glad they are not allowing a rooster. Everyone will appreciate that.

[shawnw]

Except folks still have roosters, I hear them all the time when riding through neighborhoods