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Comment by epalmer | Hacker News Reader

I live in typical suburbia in Virginia USA. My youngest has a chinese friend whose family raises chickens in their yard. I'm pretty sure this is against zoning. They share their chicken and some wonderful vegetables from their gardens with the closest neighbors. So far, so good. I expect this will not persist.

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> I'm pretty sure this is against zoning.

Perhaps, but you might be surprised. Years ago I kept chickens and checked the zoning here (suburbs of Phoenix). No problem with a flock of hens. Roosters have restrictions. Many places are similar.

It's almost certainly about being a nuisance to your neighbors. Roosters crow super obnoxiously. Like.. wow. If you've ever tried to sleep with one nearby you know what I'm talking about. Just handle that edge case (e.g. don't keep a rooster around) and NO ONE will care if you have chickens that don't bother anyone :) Especially if you're into sharing the eggs!

So what do you do when roosters are born...kill them?

Commercial chicken hatching operations separate chickens by sex and destroy the males, yes. Backyard operations rarely hatch their own chicks but rather buy them from suppliers (who deliver via USPS, surprisingly enough).

You only need one rooster to ten-fourteen chickens anyway, but they are 50% of the chicks, you do the math.

Anyway most don't hatch their own chickens, because without a machine you will have trouble finding a hen that can do it - but I assume this is a western thing, as it is a fairly recent development (ie 100 years ago it would have been no trouble).

Just keeping roosters away from the hens will prevent that from being a problem. The eggs won't be fertile.

A nitpick: roosters are hatched, not born :)

they are quite tasty.

@sjs7007

Where do you think a lot of the chicken you may eat comes from?

It turns out that it is permitted unless the neighborhood has restrictions. I think she is not in that sort of neighborhood. +1 for freedom to raise chickens.

Sec. 24-11. - Principal uses permitted. https://henrico.us/pdfs/countyattorney/Chpt024Zoning.pdf

I was wrong and am pleasantly surprised.

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