It walked right up to my window. I think it wanted to eat my phone.

For a long time we talked about getting chickens but never followed through. Its almost spring again and time to start planning, building and hatching soon if it is going to happen.

I was reading through the City of Buffalo laws about chickens and the brave fight of some Rhode Island St residents to keep chickens legal They won in the end and this is the law now.

§ 341-11.1. Exceptions for chicken hens.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
It shall be lawful for any person to keep, permit or allow any domesticated chicken hens in any residential district under the following terms and conditions and after having received a license to keep said chicken hens from the City Clerk as prescribed herein under the following terms and conditions:

A. No more than five chicken hens shall be allowed for each single-family dwelling or multifamily dwelling.

B. No chicken hens shall be allowed in multifamily complexes, including duplexes, without the expressed written consent of the owner of the building and all tenants residing in the building other than the applicant.

C. No chicken hens shall be allowed without the express written consent of all residents residing on property adjacent to that of the applicant.

D. No roosters shall be allowed.

E. Chicken hens are to be restricted to the rear or backyard of any lot in a residential zoning district or the rear or backyard of a residential use in all other zoning districts.

F. Chicken hens shall be kept as pets and for personal use only; no person shall sell eggs or meat or engage in chicken breeding or fertilizer production for commercial purposes.

G. Persons wishing to keep chicken hens within the City of Buffalo must obtain a license from the Office of the City Clerk after payment of an annual fee of $25, and after inspection and approval of the coop and cage that chicken hens are to be kept in by an Animal Control Officer, pursuant to § 341-11.4 hereof.

§ 341-11.2. Chicken license application contents.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]
The application for such license shall include the following information:

A. The name, phone number and property address of the applicant;

B. The location of the subject property;

C. The size of the subject property;

D. The number of chicken hens the applicant seeks to keep on the property;

E. A description of any coops or cages that will house the chicken hens, together with a description of any fencing, barriers or enclosures surrounding the curtilage of the property;

F. A scaled drawing showing the precise location of cages, coops, enclosures, fences and barriers in relation to property lines and to structures on adjacent properties;

G. A description of the manner by which feces and other waste materials will be removed from the property or will be treated so as not to result in unsanitary conditions or in the attraction of rodents and insects;

H. A signed statement from the property owner, if the applicant is not the property owner, granting the applicant permission to engage in the keeping of chicken hens as described in the license application;

I. A signed statement from any and all tenants of the building that they consent to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

J. A signed statement from any resident residing on a property adjacent to the applicant's property consenting to the applicant's keeping of chicken hens on the premises;

K. The addresses of all properties within a fifty-foot radius of the subject property.
§ 341-11.3. Chicken coop setbacks and limitations.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Setbacks.

(1) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens must be situated at least 20 feet from any door or window of a dwelling, school, church or other occupied structure other than the applicant's dwelling.

(2) The coops or cages housing such chicken hens may not be located in front or side street yard areas and shall not be located within five feet of a side yard lot line nor within 18 inches of a rear yard lot line, except where the rear lot line forms the side lot or front lot line of an abutting property, in which case the setback from such rear lot line shall be five feet. No chicken hens shall be kept in front yard or side street yard areas.

B. Enclosures/coops and cages.

(1) The chicken hens shall be kept within both a coop and a fenced outdoor enclosure.

(2) The chicken hens must be kept in the coop and fenced outdoor enclosure at all times and shall not be allowed to run free in the fenced outdoor enclosure unless a responsible individual, over 18 years of age, is directly monitoring said activity and is able to immediately respond should said chickens need to be returned to their individual cages.

(3) The chicken coop shall be a covered, predator resistant, well ventilated structure providing a minimum of two square feet per chicken hen.

(4) The outdoor enclosure shall be adequately fenced to contain the chicken hens and to protect the chicken hens from predators.

(5) The coop must be kept in a clean, dry and sanitary condition at all times.

(6) The outdoor enclosure shall be cleaned on a regular basis to prevent the accumulation of animal waste.

(7) The total area of all coops or cages on a lot shall not be greater than 32 square feet for up to five chicken hens. Coops and cages, singly or in combination, shall not exceed seven feet in height.

(8) The chicken feed or other food used to feed the chicken hens shall be stored in a rat-proof, fastened container stored within a structure, which shall only be unfastened for the retrieval of food and immediately re-fastened thereafter.

(9) The chicken hens shall be fed only from an approved trough. Scattering of food on the ground is prohibited.

C. Sanitation and nuisances.

(1) Chicken hens shall be kept only in conditions that limit odors and noise and the attraction of insects and rodents so as not to cause a nuisance to occupants of nearby buildings or properties and to comply with applicable provisions of both the New York State and Erie County sanitary codes.

(2) Chicken hens shall not be kept in a manner that is injurious or unhealthful to any animals being kept on the property.

D. Slaughtering. There shall be no outdoor slaughtering of chicken hens.
§ 341-11.4. Review, expiration and renewal of chicken license.

[Added 7-28-2009, effective 8-7-2009]

A. Initial review.

(1) Upon receipt of a chicken license application and the requisite license fee, the City Clerk shall immediately notify the Office of Animal Control of said application, including the number of chicken hens sought to be licensed and the location of the proposed chicken coop or cages.

(2) The City Clerk shall immediately notify those property owners who own the properties within 50 feet of the applicant's property and provide them with an opportunity to provide written comments as to their support or opposition to the proposed chicken coop.

(3) The Common Council of the City of Buffalo and the Office of the Mayor shall also immediately be notified of the chicken license application.

(4) If the City Clerk receives no written comments evidencing opposition to or concern regarding the proposed chicken coop within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall issue a license for up to five chicken hens to the applicant that shall be nontransferable and valid for one year from the date of a satisfactory inspection of an Animal Control Officer, which shall be subject to the renewal provisions set forth below.

(5) If the City Clerk receives written comments evidencing opposition to the proposed chicken coop and cage within 20 days of receipt of the application, he or she shall file with the Common Council the complete chicken license application and all comments received regarding the application for its consideration thereof.

(6) The Common Council shall determine, in its discretion, and taking into account the entire record before it, whether or not a chicken license shall be issued to the applicant. The Common Council shall be empowered to impose further conditions on the license that it deems to be necessary to preserve the public health, safety and/or welfare.

(7) Upon the approval of a majority of the Common Council, the Mayor shall take action on the license application in accordance with City Charter § 3-19.

(8) The Office of Animal Control shall cause an inspection of the proposed chicken coop to be conducted to verify conformance with the provisions of §§ 341-11 through 341-11.4 hereof within 45 days of the applicant being issued a license.

(9) After completion of the inspection by an Animal Control Officer and confirmation that the coop conforms to the specifications provided in the application approved by the City Clerk, the licensee shall be allowed to keep the number of chicken hens specified in the license on the premises.

(10) A license issued to an applicant shall include the licensee's proper name, the property address for which the license is valid, the number of chicken hens allowed at the property address, a unique license number, the date the license was issued, an expiration date exactly one year from the date of issuance and any conditions imposed by the Common Council.

(11) Only one chicken license shall be issued per applicant and per property. No licensee shall be eligible to obtain a chicken license for multiple properties, nor shall more than one license be issued to one property address.

B. Renewal.

(1) On the first day of May of every year, the City Clerk shall file with and notify the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor and the Department of Permits and Inspection Services of all chicken hen licenses issued in the prior year, including the names of the licensees, their property addresses, the number of chicken hens licensed at said property and the issuance and expiration dates of said licenses.

(2) On or before June 1 of every year, the Common Council, the Office of the Mayor or any other interested party shall file complaints received regarding licensed chicken hens.

(3) Any complaints received regarding any particular chicken license issued shall be considered at a meeting of the Committee on Legislation, at which the licensee and any other interested party shall have the right to be heard concerning said license.

(4) The Common Council may, in its discretion, not renew any chicken license for any reason after the licensee and any other interested party has been given an opportunity to be heard.

(5) On June 1 of every year, the Common Council shall proceed to consider renewal of all chicken licenses issued, as prescribed in Subsection B(1) through (4), and may revoke any license issued pursuant thereto.

(6) If, at any time, the Common Council is made aware of any complaints regarding a properly licensed chicken coop, it may proceed to hear the complaints of any interested party and the defense of the licensee at a meeting of its Legislation Committee and may revoke the license issued for any reason pursuant to § 341-11.4A(7) hereof.

(7) If a license is renewed pursuant to the provisions hereof, the applicant may continue to keep chicken hens pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth herein and imposed in the initial license, provided that he or she pays the annual fee of $25 on or before the expiration date of the license.

(8) Except in the case of a chicken coop that is not permanently affixed to the ground and is therefore mobile, any licensee shall first obtain a building permit in accordance with Chapter 103 hereof prior to constructing or erecting a chicken coop not inconsistent herewith.

While I was reading through the ordinances I came across the rules for keeping cows within the city of Buffalo. I wonder, is there any example of a milk cow living in the city?

§ 78-2. Required acreage and permit for keeping cows.

A. No person, persons or association shall maintain upon their premises within the City limits more than one milch cow unless said premises are in proportion of one acre of land to each and every cow above the number of one.

B. No cow or cows shall be maintained without first obtaining a permit for such purposes from the Department of Health, but no such permit shall be issued except in conformity with the City Code and with the rules and regulations adopted by the Department of Health in the interest of public health relative to the keeping of cows.

...Belong to me and I am allergic to most of them.

This morning we heard a lot of noise in one of the servant bedrooms on the third floor. At first I just thought it was the tortoise in his room on the 2nd floor but as we listened you could hear the pitter patter of a squirrel.

When I got up there I expected him to be in the attic above there but he was in one of the rooms. I seriously have no idea how he got in but he tore stuff up so he must have been there a while.

We chased him around and around with blankets till we finally caught him but not before ran up (e:terry) 3 times. I just wrapped the blankets up real tight and brought him outside. My worst fear was he would somehow get set free as I was carryong him out.

They eat grass like deer and have the fur patterns of deer and they are way less furry than squirrels but other than that they act like squirrels.

Looks crunchier than usual.

I found this weird little animal on the net. Not sure what it is and there was no additional info with the pic. It looks like a baby bat.

There is a deer stuck in the rock breakwall on squaw island. It a bit bloody and can't seem to get up. (e:libertad) called the spca. If anyone else knows who can deal with this. Here is the location.

Well after boycotting it since the mid 90s I decided to give it another chance. A lot of stuff seemed to change for the better. I really liked the new exhibit with mixed animals in a more natural habitat.

The tiger pretty much attacked our window.





I think you can find this same thing on craigslist.

I found what I think is the face of a squirrel or rabbit in that fateful parking lot behind HSBC where all the little city animals go to die - remember (e:paul,45553). It makes me wonder what kind of giant super predator lives there that can rip ship apart like that. There was nothing left of this thing but the middle of its face, in the middle of the parking lot.