But those are often trumped by county or municipal laws.
e.g. Most urban/suburban parts of California either restrict or require permits to raise backyard chickens (also, predators are a huge problem):
(Palo Alto: Up to six hens. Mountain View: Up to four hens. Los Altos: One hen per 1000 sq feet, no permit required. Sunnyvale: Zoning laws apply. Santa Clara: zoning restrictions apply. San Jose: Up to six without a permit, up to 20 with a permit. San Mateo: Up to 10 birds, depending on plot size, with a minimum plot requirement of 2500 sq feet (excludes most people). No permit required. San Francisco: Up to four, roosters allowed, no permit required. Oakland: No number restrictions, no permit required. Berkeley: No number restrictions, no permit required, roosters allowed. Anarchy!)
What we need roundabout now is a webcam campaign/tutorial on legal backyard chicken raising...
> San Francisco: Up to four, roosters allowed, no permit required
Holy shit: SF is really dense in some areas, but people still have backyards, e.g., Mission District. Can you imagine being surrounded by neighbors with roosters crowing when the sun rises? It would be hell.
No idea about how viable this in each of those cities, but maybe 2025 is the time for us to go read https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/ (similar to bleach, hand-sanitizer and toilet paper in 2020.) Yes the noise around dawn is why roosters are sometimes restricted (or make your neighbors way more likely to complain). My neighbor in San Jose had a rooster that crowed 25% of mornings.
I should have said above the $$$ reason predators are a huge problem in urban/suburban areas is you can't legally shoot them/ use BB guns, and it's near-impossible to use poison (if you have pets or small kids, or your neighbors' pets pass through). So if you regularly have to spend $500++ on a professional exterminator for a single fox or raccoon, there goes your entire $ viability. It's not at all like a farm in a rural county. HN business idea: is there any multiple infrared camera security setup that can behaviorally distinguish between predators vs your own pet, in the middle of the night? without needing to AirTag your pets?
https://www.omlet.us/guide/chickens/laws_about_keeping_chick...
https://www.quora.com/Are-backyard-chickens-legal-in-Califor...
(Palo Alto: Up to six hens. Mountain View: Up to four hens. Los Altos: One hen per 1000 sq feet, no permit required. Sunnyvale: Zoning laws apply. Santa Clara: zoning restrictions apply. San Jose: Up to six without a permit, up to 20 with a permit. San Mateo: Up to 10 birds, depending on plot size, with a minimum plot requirement of 2500 sq feet (excludes most people). No permit required. San Francisco: Up to four, roosters allowed, no permit required. Oakland: No number restrictions, no permit required. Berkeley: No number restrictions, no permit required, roosters allowed. Anarchy!)
What we need roundabout now is a webcam campaign/tutorial on legal backyard chicken raising...