Creating an HOA-approved Backyard Farm in the City

Backyard farming is truly one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do.

Sure, some plants will die and you’ll make beginner mistakes like the best of us, but your life will become so much richer in the process.

Gathering fresh eggs from your chickens and milk from your goats in the morning, along with some chives, kale, and blueberries from the garden is EVERYTHING.

Unfortunately, there are some people who want to regulate what we can and can’t do on our own properties. For some reason, we moved from families taking care of themselves to cities banning families FROM taking care of themselves.

It’s nuts, I know.

Getting past those damn HOA rules and city codes:

It’s important to know what you’re up against before you start gardening and farming on your property. Be sure to look up the following rules in your city/town. A simple Google search or a trip to the local government offices will do it. Also, don’t be afraid to call. They’re not going to write down your number and drive by your house to see if you’ve violated rules.

• City Ordinances – A city ordinance is a law that only applies to your city. The city right next to you may have completely different laws than you, so be sure to check these regarding animal allowances for your lot size.
• HOA Rules – Homeowner’s Associations are a relatively new concept (well, within the last 20 years or so). Their job is to make sure that nobody leaves a rusty old car on their front lawn. Most of the time they just make sure that city ordinances are followed, but sometimes there are additional rules to your neighborhood that the HOA has set. An HOA can be run by a management company or by the neighbors themselves. Most HOA’s can be abolished every 10 years or so if 80% of the homeowners sign a petition. Find out which year that can happen and you may get lucky if enough of your neighbors want to get rid of it completely. 
• CC&R’s – Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions are sometimes the exact same thing as your HOA Rules. In places where there aren’t HOA committees, often times there will be a set of CC&R’s laid out instead, usually by the first people that developed the neighborhood. CC&R’s trump even your city codes, unfortunately. So, your city could be lenient, but not your neighborhood.
• Nuisance laws – Understand that even if you don’t have a lot of city rules regarding animals, there are always nuisance laws which refer to ANY animal. If you have an annoying dog or cat, people can claim they are a nuisance to the neighborhood.

One tip to avoiding problems in the first place:

Most issues are complaint driven, so if you can keep things neat and attractive, this one tip will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. Build a gorgeous coop, keep fencing for animals neat and clean, and you’ll have less complaints and more awe at what you’re doing. Take eggs to your neighbors, talk about organic farming practices, share your passion for home grown veggies and fruits.

When people think of chickens, they think of smelly, germ-ridden animals. When people think of goats, they think of a junkyard with a smelly goat standing on a car chewing on a can. 

We, as a people, are SO disconnected from our food that we can only imagine animals as being disgusting. But the truth is, animals are inherently clean and healthy if we provide a neat space and maintain it. 

Getting past HOA rules and city codes regarding gardening.

The good news is this will be the easiest thing to do on your property. Nobody is against growing plants, at least nobody I’ve come across.

COMMON RULE:

No garden boxes in the front yard – Often times this is worded “no veggie boxes” or “no vegetable growing in the front yard.”

HOW TO GET AROUND IT:

Front yard rules almost always have to do with “looks.” You know, keeping up with the Jones’ stuff. So, instead of building a typical raised garden box, I suggest building either concrete front planters or just incorporate some beautiful front yard boxes like on my Pinterest board here.

I’d also recommend growing your greens and root veggies in the front and avoiding things like corn or any vine fruits veggies that grow too fast and clearly look like a garden. It’s always a good idea to throw flowers around it as well. Most people can’t tell the difference between a kale plant and a regular bush anyway.

Edible plants can be just as gorgeous as the non-edible varieties as long as you’re willing to spend a little more money to achieve that aesthetic effect. 

Another idea is to plant all your fruit trees in the front yard. These are gorgeous and sometimes it’s nice to keep them away from the animals (especially if you have goats). Chickens actually do well under fruit trees, as they will eat the fallen/rotting fruit and will fertilize the base as well. But, it’s still a great idea to keep the majority of your fruit trees in the front to take advantage of that space.

Start with trees that are native to your area, so they don’t need much protection from the elements. Most HOAs are fine with frost cloth (it’s against city regulation to not allow people to use them) but shade cloth through the summer can be an eyesore.

Whether you get native trees or start to branch out from the norm and grow trees that are rare, it’s always a good idea to plant in the best area possible. Most, if not all, trees love morning sun/afternoon shade. Plant a native, hardy tree first to provide the shade for your others.

In your backyard, you can go to town will all kinds of veggie and fruit growing. Build raised garden boxes, trellises, in-ground planting, whatever your heart desires. As long as it doesn’t peak over the fence and look horrible from the street, you should be good!

The picture above is our 500 square foot garden in our backyard. It has (2) 3×16 boxes, (1) 2×10 box, and a trellis/box combo. We lay DEEP layers of leaves and straw all around to keep the grass from growing in and the animals trim the outside edges for us. 

Getting past HOA rules and city codes regarding chickens.

In some areas, people have been able to own chickens just fine. In others, it’s become an all out war and a fight for a change in regulations. 

COMMON RULE:

No fowl raised for meat or eggs.

HOW TO GET AROUND IT:

Just like cockatiels and parrots are pets, chickens can also be claimed as pets. I think the biggest mistake people make when owning chickens is that they…

1. Get too many chickens in the first place
2. Get a loud breed
3. Get a rooster
4. Don’t talk to their neighbors first. 

Trust me, if you and especially if your neighbors are new to chickens, then you need to start slow and subtle. There will always be more chickens to purchase in the future. Once a chicken reaches 6 months of age, they should lay an egg about every day until they reach three years of age, at which point they’ll slowly go down in production. Chickens also take a break in the winter because their energy production goes into keeping themselves warm instead of laying eggs, though there are some things you can do to support their bodies during winter if you need them to keep laying. That being said, just start with 2-3 chickens. Once your neighbors see how innocent and quiet they are, they won’t blink an eye when you have 8-10 of them.

Start with a quiet breed like Australorps, Wyandottes, Brahmas. Avoid Rhode Island Reds, as they always seem to be loud and obnoxious. When Rhode Island Reds lay an egg, they act like the whole world needs to know… for about three hours. The quiet breeds usually lay an egg, caw proudly for a couple minutes, then go on their way. 

Don’t get a rooster. Just don’t. Hens don’t need roosters to lay eggs, they do it just fine without them. Roosters are only needed if you are wanting to have your chickens breed so that they lay fertilized eggs which turn into baby chicks. They’ll only turn into baby chicks if you incubate them or if your hen lays on them for 21 days, but you might end up with more rooster babies, which is NOT what you want. My advice is to just purchase sexed female chicks from the local feed store and avoid roosters. If you’re hell-bent on getting a rooster, then consider a rooster collar to keep the noise down. 

If you’ve always wanted to raise chickens for meat, you may have trouble living in an HOA. Meat birds act (and smell) completely different than laying hens. If you can build a chicken tractor and rotate areas around your yard so they have fresh grass each day, then it may be possible. Some HOA’s have rules against butchering in your backyard, so you may have to take them to the butcher to be processed. (Or you can just do it quietly…at night… in the dark) 

Above all, no matter what you do, keeping things clean, and spending the time and money to create a beautiful chicken coop will probably save you a lot of problems with your neighbors. 

If you’re currently fighting your HOA or neighbors on your rights to have chickens, check out this article on defending your right to have chickens. Also, read this forum to learn more about how to protect your flock from an HOA. 

Getting past HOA rules and city codes regarding goats.

In some areas, people have been able to own chickens just fine. In others, it’s become an all out war and a fight for a change in regulations. 

COMMON RULE:

No livestock on certain sized lots.

HOW TO GET AROUND IT:

While it’s true that goats are considered “small livestock,” many times you can get around this rule by doing a few things and knowing what type of goat to get.

• Get a miniature goat. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ve heard me say this a hundred times and I’ll continue to shout it from the rooftops! Nigerian Dwarf goats are the BEST goats! They are small in size (80-100 lbs.) and can produce 1 quart of milk at EACH milking. If you milk once a day, you’ll get 1 quart. Twice a day will get you 2 quarts. This means that every week this little adorable goat will provide you with anywhere from 1.5-3.5 gallons a WEEK. For most families this is plenty. However, goats ALWAYS need at least one other goat to be happy. Trust me, one goat will be louder than hell because she needs a goaty friend. A dog or chicken won’t do:) Two small Nigerian milking goats will give you PLENTY of milk a week for your family. You can read more about how to raise and milk goats here. 
• Female goats only. Male goats are not for the small backyard farm. They are one of the smelliest animals around and I can guarantee you your neighbors will complain. When it comes time to breed your females, just take them to the buck owner’s house for a month. You can read more about how to breed goats here. 
• Claim that your goat is your pet. I’ve seen people get away with owning a Nigerian Dwarf because they claim them as their “dog.” A large dog is roughly the same size so sometimes you can wing it just by doing this.

  Show animals and exotic breeds are more likely to qualify as pets in the eyes of your municipality or HOA than other types of livestock, so the more rare you make them seem, the better. 

• Keep the housing/fencing simple, clean, and neat. Now isn’t the time to put a mishmash of old supplies together to build a fence. Go for a clean goat fencing design like this one. You can check out all of my recommendations for goat fencing here. 

Understand that this may be your biggest hurdle when it comes to farming. I would suggest that you talk to your neighbors first and tell them about how these adorable mini goats are going to be fun to have next door. Tell them they will be loud for a few days as they adjust to their new home, but after that, they are more quiet than dogs. For more tips on how to raise goats in the city, go here. 

More advice from fellow Homesteaders!

“We have just stuck to a backyard garden because I’m on our HOA Board but we have considered doing quail (who already visit our yard!) or bunnies to get around the no chickens thing.” 

– Joy 

 

Meat rabbits are a great source for meat and can easily be hid from neighbors, make very little noise, don’t smell as long as you keep up with them, and are also 2nd best thing you can have for a garden.

Meat chickens as a short term meat animal (female only). These guy’s grow very fast and are a lot of maintenance but only for 8 weeks which by the way is faster than any HOA can force you to get rid of. Also you’ll get a lot of manure for the compost pile.

Ducks can also be used for egg laying purposes along side with quail. Ducks and quail are quieter but tend to be stinky so you’ll have to keep up with them a lot more.

Last but not least if you must have chickens I suggest you build them a straw bale coop. These are actually not as cheap as you would think but do drowned out the noise and are a good visual block.

Now if you want fish there is always aquaponics. Fish tend not to be any problem with HOA but you never know what they’re reaction will be when they find out you use them to farm. Also the noise from the water will help drowned out the noise of any animal that is close.

In conclusion you should always be leary of what you’re neighbors can see and hear so cover your animals with plant or shade cloth. Also remember HOA aren’t always that great so you might want to think about moving if you find this hobby as rewarding as my family does hear at our homestead.”

– Curtis and Dani at The Desolate Homestead

 

“Muscovy ducks are dual purpose birds. They are great meat and egg layers. They are actually related to geese vs ducks. This is part of why they don’t need wading pools like other ducks. They also are quiet. Instead of quacking, they make a raspy, hissing noise.“

– Chelsey from Tiny Homestead

 

“I had my layers taken away by the HOA twice, which was a bad experience, but so was running outside to shut them up every time they started squawking. So we raised quail for a few months but I don’t like the meat. Then we raised meat rabbits for a year and a half until we got out. The rabbits weren’t visible from any of the 2 story houses that surrounded us, we dispatched them out of view, and they don’t make any noise. In the summer, you need to clean them frequently or the ammonia smell will creep up. Also, make sure processing day is close to trash day… we also had almost our whole yard full or raised garden boxes. Rabbit cleaning day went straight into the garden and it was a SLAMMIN garden. We are on cloud 9 now that we have our irrigated acre – we raise chicken for eggs, goats for milk, and for meat we raise chickens, turkeys, rabbits, sheep, goat, and occasional pigs.”

– Brittney from Worthewait Farmyard

 

Planning your backyard farm in an HOA neighborhood.

Don’t let your local city codes and laws deter you from your dreams, just get creative and think outside the box! In any case, if you keep your numbers low and keep everything very clean, you will be far less likely to attract attention. And if you’re curious on the costs it takes to run a small farm, check out my post here.