Community Garden..seed swaps...Chickens? (Colorado Springs, Fountain: for sale, HOA, coop)

[RelaxRevive]

My Family and I will be Moving to Cos this fall. I love to Garden and we grow as much of our own produce as possible but I am not the most experienced gardener and was wondering if COS has an active gardening community of any sort? To include community gardens seed swaps or even volunteer opportunities?

And on a completely different subject does anyone know if you are allowed to keep chickens in a residential area? I have never kept livestock of any sort before. Would keeping a couple laying hens be incredibly loud or inconsiderate or even illegal or are they relatively easy animals to care for? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[beezle1]

I think there is a community garden near Bear Creek Park. There may be a few more out there in other places too.

One thing to consider when gardening here is that we have a short season and growing at high altitude can be challenging. We also get hail which can wipe out an entire garden all at once. I have a small garden and I have built 'hail screens' to protect the young plants, which I usually don't remove until about mid-July.

As far as chickens being kept within city limits, someone else can probably answer that. Where I live in a more rural area (Black Forest). Plenty of people here have chickens and there are usually always some people who sell their eggs too, so if you end up living where you cannot have your own, you can probably find somewhere to get fresh eggs.

[beezle1]

Oh, just found this regarding chickens in Colorado Springs city limits:

Colorado Springs, CO. A property may have a maximum of 10 fowl (chickens, ducks, etc.) requiring at least four square feet of coop area and adequate outdoor space. No roosters permitted within the city limits

[lalahartma]

Some good info:

PPUG - Home

El Paso County Extension Horticulture (http://elpasoco.colostate.edu/horticulture/index.html - broken link)

Colorado Springs Community Gardens - Associated Content

Old Farm Community Gardens Colorado Springs

Bear Creek Community Garden - Community Gardens - Colorado Springs, CO (http://www.communitywalk.com/location/bear_creek_community_garden/community_gardens/2076441 - broken link)

[froggin4colorado]

A lady down the street has chickens and sells the eggs in the neighborhood. I would expect a nasty yard due to her chickens and surprisingly it is very manicured and looks better than mine. Also, Fountain has a community garden by Fire Station 2. Eat Well is the organization that helps organize it.

[RelaxRevive]

wow! thanks for all the wonderful info PPUG looks great and its good to know I would be allowed to keep a few laying hens. I wouldn't dare keep a rooster in a residential neighborhood as for the Hail I plan to keep my husband very busy building up some enclosures for my beds.

What areas of town would you all suggest for a small aspiring urban farmer? It looked like fountain was where most of the ppug activities were going on. Although I had mainly been looking into falcon as I have soon to be school aged children.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by RelaxRevive

And on a completely different subject does anyone know if you are allowed to keep chickens in a residential area? I have never kept livestock of any sort before. Would keeping a couple laying hens be incredibly loud or inconsiderate or even illegal or are they relatively easy animals to care for? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Most of the city and unincorporated residential areas will allow it, with some restrictions. But if you'll be in a planned development, you local HOA or covenant rules will likely forbid it. You will need to inquire about this for each possible neighborhood while house shopping.

[RelaxRevive]

Thanks treedonkey I had been sifting through ppar listings without HOA dues but I will be sure its on my master list of questions for house hunting! But I am really happy to hear it isn't Illegal!

[froggin4colorado]

I so shouldn't do this- but heck, why not?!
La Mesa Fontana is the neighborhood that I referred to. The chicken house is right next to Mesa Elementary on Camino Del Rey. You can see her back yard from Mesa's playground. In fact, I know a house for sale (5 bedrooms 2 baths) on that same street. It has had a garden that did wonderfully (in fact you should have seen the size of the pumpkins and zucchini!) in the past 5 years. And it is just down the street (walking distance) from Fire Station 2 where the community garden is (Live Well Eat Well). The house has a curb cut for camper/boat parking too. There are no HOA in La Mesa Fontana. You can find it on ppar.com mls 468689. Across the street is the Heritage neighborhood, newer homes but it will have a HOA. I would highly discourage you to look for homes on the west side of Southmoor Dr...stinky!!! Downtown Fountain in the Jensen subdivision is okay, but much older homes.
Another area to look for homes would be Little Ranches. This neighborhood is also in Fountain and each home has a bit more land on it. In fact a couple homes have horses on it and quite a few of the homes have that mountain view. The neighborhood has a variety of homes- new and old.
Good luck on your search!

[RelaxRevive]

Wow Thank you froggin! The home you linked is lovely and actually just after I had read the responses on here last night I saw a home in the little ranches subdivision sitting on a half an acre although it wasn't nearly as well kept it seems as the one you mentioned