North Canton Chickens

My friend sent me a text this morning with announcing that Hartville Kitchen is going to be hosting a free presentation on March 27th at 6:30 to learn how to start your backyard flock.  (330) 877-3631 for more info.  So it's back to thinking about chickens again.  I don't want a lot--just two or three.  I really want them more as pets, not so much for the eggs, although that would be an added bonus.  So I thought I'd look into it yet again.  This time, I took the big step.  I called the city.  After asking the woman who answered the phone in the Permits office if she could tell me about North Canton's laws on chickens her response was , "Oh boy!".  So they're legal, but not really favorable?  Here's what I found out:



Within the City Limits of North Canton:

• You can have up to 6 hens--no roosters
• The birds need to be in an enclosed yard or pen up to 18 sq feet
• The enclosure has to be 50 feet away from any residence and 20 feet from the property line
• Chicken feed must be kept in a rodent proof container and chickens must be fed in a manner as to not attract rodents.
• You can't slaughter chickens within city limits 

That kind of rules out free range chickens for us since we don't have a fenced yard...UNLESS...do you think we could fit the chickens with little tiny Invisible Fence collars?!?!  I would have to go outside and measure to make sure that we even have the space to keep them 50 ft from the house and 20 feet from the property line.  I think the dream of raising chickens is quickly fading for me.  Maybe I should focus on my children like the one who is walking around the yard with a cigarette butt in his mouth and just broke an old milk bottle on the steps outside.  We ooze class, don't we?

Is it better or worse that he found it on the ground and didn't smoke it himself?