Texas Town Enforces Chicken Ban, Assaults Sustainable Living
The small city of Lancaster, Texas has had a law on its books banning all chickens within the city limits, but for years it had gone unnoticed and unenforced, until recently. That changed when a local resident found out that the previously unknown law would now be enforced citing anyone who kept chickens within the city limits.
Local food writer and sustainable living proponent Marye Audet, has kept a flock of 19 chickens on her 2 1/4 acre rural homestead for the last five years in a rural area of town, unaware that she was breaking the law by doing so.
“This is not about us living in a subdivision of $400,000.00 homes and being the Beverly Hillbillies.”
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In the current economic environment, a flock of backyard chickens may not be the difference between prosperity and poverty, especially in one small town in one state, but it certainly does affect a few households. When comparisons are being made to the Great Depression it isn’t hard to assume that for many people, every dollar matters, especially when it comes to a families’ food budget. It’s difficult to comprehend why the city is choosing now to enforce this ban.
This isn’t the biggest news story or a far reaching cataclysmic event worthy of note, but one small example of bad government at work. Having an ordinance on the books and enforcing it can be two separate things, if used judiciously it could be utilized only in extreme cases. For example the law could be cited for the person who has thirty loud roosters on the their apartment balcony and disrupts an entire neighborhood, while ignoring the rural chicken keeper whose chickens aren’t adding to noise pollution or being a public nuisance.
Marye is now faced with the decision of continuing abandoning her chickens and source of cheap, free range, organic eggs or openly violating the law and risking the consequences. You can read about Marye here as she describes her situation in her own words.
Laws pertaining to livestock and pets are made by local municipalities and can vary widely. Check a terrific website here to read about the local backyard chicken laws in many towns throughout the United States. If you don’t see your city listed here, check your local ordinances or contact city hall for more information.
For more information on laws affecting urban farmers, read about one Urban Farmer Cited for Illegal Composting in Los Angeles, or read about a New California Law Protects Farms Against Genetic Engineering Threats on PlanetSave.
Image credit: Lilly M at Wikipedia under a Creative Commons License.
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Isnt it wonderful how people running cities and towns make laws but don’t enforce them until they feel like it. Like they didn’t know this family had chickens? Our desire to live a sustainable life style will be fought at every angle. Get ready, there will be more of these types of stories. Maybe we should have laws against the laws! Something like this..If this ordinance has not been enforced in 17 years..plain and simple… WRITE IT OFF!
Having chickens in the backyard means you have a sustainable life style?
I believe it is a lot more complex than that plus many other items one can follow up on.
İf you want livestock then live in the country. Personally I would not care for any noisy, stinky chickens in the next yard - and they are noisy & stinky at best.
Hey, thanks so much! The support I have gotten has been overwhelming and the story has been circulating. The city seems to be waffling a little… so we’ ll see.
It is important that Americans stop giving away their freedoms. The government isn’t even taking them, we seem to be happily trading them for the false sense of security we are offered in return. It is important to note that ultimately the government is not going to take care of you. We should be helping each other and leaving government out of the equation as much as possible.
Thanks again! This was an awesome post.
Sorry, I meant to add to Russ… We have 2 1/2 acres and have one house on the left side of us,no houses on the other, no houses behind us (we back up to a wide creek ravine) and our house is approximately 1/2 acre back from the road. We are not in a subdivision, nor do we have such an abundance of chickens that they are noisy or smelly.
2 large dogs in a small back yard can also be noisy and smelly, but no one seems to be harassing dog owners. As far as whether or not we are trying to live a sustainable lifestyle? We have dairy goats which the city says is *probably* not an issue. They *think* we can keep them. They even said we could probably have a cow if we wanted. Just not chickens. We use solar energy in the barns, and try to grow much of our own vegetables. My husband became disabled so we are not moving forward as fast as we planned, but we are still moving in the direction of sustainability the best we can.
I hope this reassures you that my family is not the equivalent of Ma and Pa Kettle Move to Beverly HIlls 90210.