The girls are feeling pretty dramatic after finding out that we’re the 1st to submit our coop paperwork to the city. Apparently lots of people have gotten the packet, but nobody had turned it in… until now. The clerks at the city offices were wonderful and helpful, and even gave me the contact information of someone asking about chickens. Hopefully I can call them later to give them all the info they need to make a decision to get some hens!
Coop inspection is scheduled for 3:30pm Tuesday the 15th, next week. Time to put the finishing touches on the coop and get ready to wow our city officials.
Ferndale Chickens 
Congratulations on the ordinance passing and being the first to register!
I’m feeling lucky to live in Indianapolis after reading that ordinance. There’s no chicken limit or registration here.
My jealousy knows no bounds. While I’m glad that we’ve finally gotten to the point that everyone can have chickens, I’d be a lot happier if the ordinance didn’t limit the number of hens.
good luck with the chicken police i got a state testing coming up soon, last time i had to catch 200 chickens and individually blood test every single one, took hours but nice to know none of them are carrying the avian flu!
Ok, that state test sounds like a nightmare. You have to test ALL of them? I’d think they could just take a random sampling- it’s not like bird flu doesn’t spread quickly through a flock.
one of the test is done with a random swab test but blood test is done on every chicken over 6 months old and have to have the test once a year to be certified
Congrats! The whole flock must be thrilled!
They sure look like it: tail up, walking tall. If chickens can be proud, these ladies are!
I got my 6 week old “girls” Saturday. I chickened out trying to build my own coop (sorry about pun), the guy I got my chicks from also builds really nice coops, way nicer than I could do, it should be here Sat. I’m really looking forward to leaving them outside instead of toting them in and out. I picked up my paperwork before I got chicks and am waiting until I have the coop so I can illustrate it for the city. I hope your inspection goes well!
good luck!
So exciting! What breed did you get? I’d love to see some pictures! There’s part of me that wishes I had just gone ahead and purchased a coop- we’d already be done with the whole process. But, it’s nice having the custom enclosure; once it’s passed inspection, I’ll post pics explaining why we did certain things and how it evolved.
Congratulations on being number 1! The coop looks beautiful – I’m swooning a bit over the pergola. Holy awesome! Are your girls buff orpingtons? They look just like our Henrietta.
They are! Love the buffs- theyre like big old orange cats.
I have 2 Barred Rock and 1 Buff Orpington. The Buff is much more outgoing and people oriented, and is leader of the pack, the Rocks follow her lead. It’s hard to get work done outside, I end up spending way too much time watching them.
Since I’m buying my coop do you think I still need a diagram? If I do, a lot of it will be guestamates! I’ll try and post pix soon.
Hey Jerri- you might want to check with whoever is building the coop and see if they have the “structural plan” that includes the dimensions/materials. You would still likely need to site plan, which is like an overhead view of your property and where you plan on placing the coop, so the city can make sure it’s far enough away from neighboring structures (10ft). Let me know if you get hung up on that step- that was the big struggle for me. I’m hoping we can put some pics of the site plan and everything up after it’s all approved- I’ve been waiting until we get the thumbs up from the city, so that I’m not sharing something that they deem “wrong” in any way. I can’t imagine that they’ll have any issues with it since we hit all the main requirements, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
also- can’t wait to see your pics! There’s nothing I love more than some fluffy butt chickens and fancy coops 🙂
Thanks for all your info. I made copies of the diagram (?) that was made when I bought my house, it shows lot lines etc. I just drew in neighbors garage, it’s quite a distance from neighbors, I have a double lot. I already had an unused dog run, so I was pretty set for chickens, just needed a few chicks,a coop and the ordinance changed. For that last thing, I want to thank you for your tireless work on making that happen. thank you – thank you – you made this happen!
Hi Jerri: that was likely your site map/platt map. We copied mine too, after double checking dimensions 🙂
Thank YOU- without public support, all my effort likely would have been for nothing. I’m so glad that we got it changed and that nearly anyone in Ferndale could have them if they wanted to.