Hillsborough Municipal Code Ch. 6.24 Bees, Wasps, and Fowl

A. Except as may occur naturally and without human aid or encouragement, no person shall keep, or allow to be kept, on any property within the town, any gathering of wasps. The same rule shall apply to bees unless the following conditions are met:

1. The bee hive or like place is situated more than fifty feet from any street, dwelling, or place of public assemblage, or the bees are in or on the dwelling of the owner of the swarm when reasonably necessary to allow the bees to commence working, to protect them from robber or killer bees, or for wintering.

2. The total number of hives or swarms kept within the town by the owner of the bees does not exceed three, and no more than three hives or swarms are kept on any one residential property within the town ("residential property" meaning the legal parcel or contiguous legal parcels which together are used as the location for one residence).

(Ord. No. 793, § 5, 2-12-2024)

Unless permission is obtained as set forth in Section 6.24.030, no person shall keep, or allow to be kept, on any property within the town any domestic fowl, including, but not necessarily limited to, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese, or any wild fowl, including, but not necessarily limited to, squabs, pigeons, partridges, or peacocks; provided, however, that in no event shall any rooster of three months of age or more be kept within the town.

(Ord. No. 793, § 5, 2-12-2024)

Any person wishing to keep any domestic or wild fowl (other than roosters of three months of age or more) on any property within the town shall first obtain a letter of permission to do so from the city manager or the city manager's designee. Such permission shall be granted on the condition that such fowl not be or become an annoyance to surrounding residents or property owners and that the applicable provisions of this chapter be complied with. If at any time such fowl is or becomes an annoyance to surrounding residents or property owners or the keeping of such fowl is not in compliance with the provisions of this chapter or other applicable law, the city manager or the city manager's designee may revoke the permission to keep the fowl.

(Ord. No. 793, § 5, 2-12-2024)

A. All fowl permitted to be kept within the town shall be kept and confined within a yard, pen, corral, chicken or bird house, or other enclosure (all hereinafter referred to as "enclosure" or "enclosures") so constructed as to make escape impossible. No part of any enclosure shall be within one hundred twenty-five feet of any dwelling that is not owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the resident of the property on which the enclosure is located.

B. All enclosures shall at all times be kept and maintained in a clean, sanitary and sightly condition; any enclosure found to be in an unclean, unsanitary or unsightly condition is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and subject to summary abatement as authorized by law.

(Ord. No. 793, § 5, 2-12-2024)