Update:
The Lehigh Acres man ordered to get rid of his backyard chickens says an “outpouring” of offers of legal placement means he will not have to destroy the hens.
Charles Edwards, the Lehigh man, whose backyard brood chickens brought an order from code enforcement officers to get rid of them or else, says the egg-laying hens will be spared.
After publicity about the man’s dilemma, Edwards said a series farmers and others who could keep the chickens legally volunteered to take them, some directly and some by contacting Lehigh Acres Gazette.
A Lee County code enforcement officer sent Edwards a violation notice after spotting his backyard chickens. The county does not allow chickens to be kept in residential neighborhoods. He told The News-Press that he was going to have to “cut their heads off” after he couldn’t find a farmer to take them.
———————————-
In his single-family home on an acre lot in a remote northern part of Lehigh Acres, Charles Edwards has been leading his own personal farm to table movement.
But the one-man sustainability movement suffered a blow in mid-April when a certified letter arrived from a county code enforcement officer, informing him to either get rid of his flock of seven chickens, or face fines of $250 per day. Breakfast is orange juice from his grove and spinach omelet from the output of his backyard garden and his chicken coop.
“What I’m asking you for is change the zoning, not to allow roosters that make noise, just for some hens in the back yard,” Edwards told Lee County commissioners during public comment period Tuesday.
“I’m not asking for free range for chickens, all I’m asking is some common sense,” he said. “These chickens make no noise, you can’t hear my chickens, they don’t smell, they don’t get in the neighbor’s yard.”
Lee County prohibits the keeping of domestic chickens. Bonita Springs initiated an experimental backyard chicken pilot program in 2012 and made it permanent last year. Fort Myers adopted its own two-year chicken experiment last year.
Board Chair Frank Mann, who represents Lehigh Acres on the commission, said the region’s community council considered the issue of backyard chickens but decided not to propose an ordinance change to the commissioners.
“Get back with the community council there and see if you can neutralize them or better yet, hear some kind of a positive expression as to what they would support in terms of chicken ordinances under certain circumstances,” Mann said. “The problem in the past came because the chickens were close to their houses, there may be some way to craft this.”
But offered no immediate answers to making his brood legal, and facing $250 per day in fines, Edwards left the commission chambers with a grim task ahead at his home on McArthur Avenue.
“These chickens have become more like pets to me,” Edwards said. “Now I have to go kill my chickens because I can’t find anyone that will take them.”
If Bonita Springs and Ft. Myers already adopted the program why doesn’t Lehigh do it as well. I thought about having chickens myself. There are many other animals that are being kept in the area that are not allowed but nothing is being done about it. How about we focus on some more important issues and leave people alone that wish to save money by having chickens for the eggs.
Lehigh Acres is NOT a city its rules are governed by the Lee County Commissioners
I for one don’t want chickens near my home..I have had that experience with my next neighbor. the owner allowed his teenage son to raise chickens. Both of our properties were only a 1/4 acre and after a month of chicken feed & droppings we were overrun by rats..they had chewed a hole in my lanai screen. Well, the neighbor finally got rid of them when he baited his property & in one night found 12 dead rats the next..chickens & rats gone!
I will take his chickens if someone will give me a contact number or email address for him.
A friend is going to care for them till I get this settled…. But rest assured this issue is not going away
As a Lehigh resident ,I think they need to let people have the chickens in coops! I do NOT hear these chickens or smell them, I do receive fresh brown eggs from them. I think Frank Mann needs to start cleaning up the right-a-ways of the roads around here instead of complaining of chickens. If you drive around out in this area ,you’ll see where people have dumped their trash, then the mowers come by and drive around it or mow it over ,which makes more of a mess. That would drawl more rats then a clean coop!
If other areas are on a pilot program, then why can’t Lehigh? About the rats, if you keep the feed in tight containers n keep the coop clean, you won’t have rats. The chickens are making a noise, so why such a big deal? The chickens eat the bugs off the ground. Fresh eggs are so much better than the store bought.
My aunt would like to adopt the chickens….please contact me. She is in Ft. Meyers.
Thanks!
This all boils down to property rights. Who owns your property? You or the government? The reality is the government owns your property and dictates what you can and can’t do on their property. Hence the need for permits and telling you what’s acceptable and not. Attempt to life off the grid or by alternative means? That means no revenue for the government so they come down with a heavy hand in “fines” to get you to comply. We are all serfs.