Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And thus another bird flu pandemic takes shape...

No, not really. The bird flu pandemic is more likely to occur as a result from the chicken farms that produce your mass produced chicken found at McDonalds, or Perdue. Too many chickens in too small of an area.

A handful of chickens in someone's backyard with enough space isn't going to cause bird flu.

Nice try on the fear-mongering though.

Thanks for taking the bait, trout. Once you're pan fried you'll make a nice dinner.

Anonymous wrote:And thus another bird flu pandemic takes shape...

No, not really. The bird flu pandemic is more likely to occur as a result from the chicken farms that produce your mass produced chicken found at McDonalds, or Perdue. Too many chickens in too small of an area.

A handful of chickens in someone's backyard with enough space isn't going to cause bird flu.

Nice try on the fear-mongering though.

We had them in MoCo for a while. As long as the coop is 100 feet from where you live. Ours wasn't...but our neighbors loved the chickens and the fresh eggs. It was such good fun! Our flock got eaten a couple times (raccoons, hawks, rats,...) I am looking forward to getting more again soon. We took a hiatus while we had our first baby 7 months ago!

I had chickens growing up in frederick. We were on the other side though, about an hour and a half from DC (without traffic)

And thus another bird flu pandemic takes shape...

Anonymous wrote:It's legal in arlington

But the restrictions make it very difficult unless you have a huge property. I think they are relaxing some of the rules though in the near future?

PP took the words right out of my mouth. My husband laughs at me when I say if the HOA allowed me I'd slowly turn our backyard into a mini free range farm and vegetable garden.

Let us know how it works out OP if you do decide to do it!

I was reading about this a few months ago, and it sounds like such a great idea.

In MoCo you have ot have your coop 100 feet away from any dwelling place.

Hens are legal in Falls Church City. (I don't think roosters are legal anywhere non-rural.) I was looking into it before my child tested positive for an egg allergy. My husband says karma's a bitch.

It's legal in arlington

I knew a family in Bethesda who had chickens.

There are a number of chickens (and a few roosters) on my street in Takoma Park (well inside the Beltway). I will say some neighbors aren't happy with the roosters, but no seems to have a problem with chickens.

I know a number of areas in Montgomery County are zoned in such a way that chickens are fine. I'm not sure of all the areas, but I think most of the places outside the beltway that aren't in subdivisions are fine. Look more at the zoning rules and then you should be able to figure it out based on the zoning laws for the neighborhoods you are looking at. I imagine a lot of areas of NoVa are similar.

Looking for a jurisdiction where it's legal to keep a few chickens (not roosters) in the backyard, and it's been surprisingly hard to find the laws online. Do any of you raise chickens within an hour of DC? Where are you, and how much land do you have?