Land Use:

Jobless man’s solution: Raise chickens

His idea was simple, it was county approval that was complicated

Leila Navidi

Balinski, 58, endured a measure of snickering and the questions of several members of county government in his quest to keep 50 chickens on his 1.1-acre spread on Gilespie Street in the southern part of the Las Vegas Valley. Balinski’s always raised poultry, but the sagging economy has given him even more motivation to do so.

By Joe Schoenmann (contact)

Saturday, May 9, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Leila Navidi

Rodney Balinski, a construction manager who is out of work, shows some of a day's bounty. He figures the eggs and meat from his chicken flock save his family about $1,000 a year.

Laws on keeping poultry vary, but prepare to seek neighbors’ consent

Sun business and economy coverage

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Bill advances to increase jobless benefits (4-1-2009)
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Manpower opens new branch, program (3-20-2009)
State jobless rate jumps; numbers worse in Las Vegas (3-13-2009)
Laid-off workers get break on COBRA; employers to foot bill (3-13-2009)
State's jobless rate jumps to 9.4 percent (3-6-2009)
Businesses cutting costs with more than just layoffs (2-6-2009)
Forecast: 1 in 10 Nevadans jobless (1-2-2009)

Clark County Commission

Unemployed construction manager Rodney Balinski’s partial solution to his personal economic crisis seemed simple and logical enough to him: more chickens.

But what’s common sense in the country doesn’t always work in the city, and winning permanent resident status for the 50 cluckers in Balinski’s back yard at the far southern end of the Las Vegas Valley wound up taking seven months.

He was confronted with a lot of snickering along the way.

The Senate majority leader’s receptionist was one of the many people who found his problem funny. “I called Harry Reid’s office,” said Balinski, 58. “When they asked me why I was calling, I said ‘chickens.’ The girl started laughing. I knew they’d be no help.”

He’s also tired of being stereotyped. Sure, his is a 1.1-acre spread with a 5,279-square-foot house. And, yes, he bought it in 2006 for $1.2 million, and his mortgage is just $200,000 because he used equity from a previous home sale to buy this one.

But when he bought his dream home, he had a job in a booming industry. Then the big recession rolled in. The company for which he had worked for 17 years filed for bankruptcy protection — and shortly thereafter laid him off. Supporting his preteen daughter and fiancee, a homemaker, he is dipping into his savings to make payments on his mortgage and the second loan he took on his home.

“Lots of people in real estate are bankrupt right now,” he said. “I was making six figures, but I haven’t had that income for two years.”

Not long after he joined the growing ranks of the unemployed his shoulder was badly injured when his pickup truck was hit by an uninsured driver. That limited the amount of freelance construction work he could round up.

“Last year, I made money in only three months of the year,” he said.

He figures the eggs and meat from the chickens save his family about $1,000 a year. Last week at a Smith’s near Balinski’s house, a dozen eggs cost $2.89 and a pound of boneless breast meat was $1.89. Chicken feed, on the other hand, costs, well, chicken feed.

Economics aside, Balinski just enjoys raising poultry. You see it in his huge grin when he walks into the coop and the birds cluck nervously to each other as they eyeball him.

He’s done this for as long as he can remember. It started on his dad’s farm in Ohio and continued when he was a Woodstock-attending hippie in the 1960s. He’s now a card-carrying Republican, but his chicken-raising has continued throughout the 40 years he has lived in rural homes across the Las Vegas Valley.

So Balinski was way out in front of a trend that is growing across the country — city dwellers starting their own small-fry chicken operations.

“The bad economy is bringing out the do-it-yourselfers,” said Bud Wood, president of Murray McMurray, the hatchery in Webster City, Iowa, that sells Balinski his chicks.

“And people want to get back in touch with their food, they want to know who the farmer was that grew this,” Wood added.

A Web site, backyardchickens.com, lists barbecue chicken recipes alongside tips on how to raise and keep the main ingredient.

Wood’s company sells about 100,000 chicks a month now and expects that total will keep growing.

“Two years ago, we ran at 100 percent for our peak season, March, April and May,” Wood said. “This year and last, we’re running our first hatch in February and going through June.”

The growing number of urban chickens is forcing many municipalities to relax restrictions on fowl — or create codes to deal with them.

These regulations are meant largely to keep neighbors happy with one another. In Balinski’s case, the neighbors weren’t a problem until last year — and even then they weren’t complaining about his four roosters crowing at the crack of dawn.

The size of his lot and the distance from his yard to neighboring homes are probably reasons they never complained about the noise. The 10-foot wall around the property and his sturdy chicken coop serve as additional sound barriers.

But someone did lodge a complaint with the county last fall — that Balinski was raising all manner of birds other than chickens.

When county inspectors first came knocking, they found that contrary to the complaint, Balinski wasn’t raising the hundreds of quail and doves that flocked to his back yard. But the inspectors noted that Balinski was raising too many chickens. County ordinances limit him to 20. He had about 50.

Balinski’s back gate suddenly became a revolving door for county employees — comprehensive planners, animal control, public response and others. They inspected and questioned him about his coop, his chickens, his lifestyle. He shakes his head at the cost to taxpayers for all that legwork.

Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose district includes the coop, said county staff gave him this explanation for their chicken inspections: “Animal Control was worried and there was a fear that there could have been cockfighting involved. Then Public Response got involved because of the complaints. Then Comprehensive Planning because of the question of how many chickens you can have. The rule is 20 but his property is so big, they doubled the chicken allocation to 40, ‘Let’s give him 40 chickens.’ Then the town board added 10 chickens. The Health District got involved because he was butchering the chickens.

“He’s right, it was a lot of county resources. But there’s no other way.”

Balinski jumped through the final hoop last week, receiving permission for poultry from the Clark County Planning Commission.

It was the seventh time he had made the 26-mile trek to and from the county government center in downtown Las Vegas on behalf of his chickens.

“I need these chickens. I’ve been hit hard by this economy,” he said.

But he also had other reasons for his determination to decriminalize his Green Acre.

From his house, the engine of the state’s economy, the Las Vegas Strip, is so far away the hotels and casinos that create the jobs and churn out the taxes appear as small as Monopoly hotels. On a street near his house, a woman walks a horse as a few cars idle by.

The temperature is in the mid-90s on the Strip, but it feels cooler in Balinski’s 8,000-square-foot back yard shaded by 80-foot cottonwoods.

Wind chimes tinkle, and a couple of hundred doves swoop in. His chickens cluck, his six dogs bark and three horses clop lazily.

“I was born 100 years too late,” Balinski said, looking at the tepee he keeps set up alongside all the animals.

Discussion: 22 comments so far…

By employee01

5/9/09 at 7:21 a.m.

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You should be required to get the consent of your neighbors to keep a dog. Hell, I've never been attacked by a hen, and dog crap in my front yard never made anything grow.
By Patrick_R_Gibbons

5/9/09 at 7:36 a.m.

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Government making it hard on people - not surprising.
By neiman1

5/9/09 at 8:32 a.m.

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I wish someone would calculate the cost of the county government involvement in figuring out how many chickens this guy can have. Only in America. Freedom is a thing of the past.
By employee01

5/9/09 at 9:22 a.m.

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I'd like to get a couple of hens, but I'd have to get the consent of a meth dealer who's son assaulted me and my 4yr old daughters with a gun and other neighbors who are their friends.
By lloydmon

5/9/09 at 9:27 a.m.

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Freedom? Don't you see the cameras on top of every traffic light? It's for our safety" I can be seen from the time I leave my house till the time I return, everyday, everywhere I go in the city. Have a good one:)
By payrolldept

5/9/09 at 10:16 a.m.

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Good for you Rod...
By KillerB

5/9/09 at 11:01 a.m.

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"Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, whose district includes the coop, said county staff gave him this explanation for their chicken inspections: "Animal Control was worried and there was a fear that there could have been cockfighting involved. Then Public Response got involved because of the complaints. Then Comprehensive Planning because of the question of how many chickens you can have. The rule is 20 but his property is so big, they doubled the chicken allocation to 40, 'Let's give him 40 chickens.' Then the town board added 10 chickens. The Health District got involved because he was butchering the chickens.

"He's right, it was a lot of county resources. But there's no other way."

Oh, but there IS another way -- leave him alone! Private property rights and the fundamental protections that come with them are still there. It's just now government doesn't bother to jump through those hoops -- like getting a warrant to conduct that search of his property. Instead it hired a lot of people to make and enforce a lot of unconstitutional rules and regulations so guys like this have to jump through their hoops!

If someone like a neighbor had a problem with the guy trying to survive with a few chickens they can file a nuisance abatement at the court then let it run its course. End of bloated bureaucracy.

What this article really shows is the bloat of county bureaucracy and some good indications of what needs to be cut out of the budget. How about that as an alternative to the frantic search for revenue and new taxes?
By term25600

5/9/09 at 1:05 p.m.

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I find it terribly intrusive that in clark county (and I heard it from their mouths in a commission meeting) you can't do ANY business UNTIL and UNLESS the county approves it. What ever happened to personal freedom here in the USA?

This is backwards. If anything, it should be that you can do ANY business UNLESS the county specifically disapproves of it. And I don't even like that, but its crazy to require pre-approval.

Soon you can go to the bathroom only AFTER you get a permit.
By Bodytalk555

5/9/09 at 3:14 p.m.

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Regulation is killing the people's spirit.
By annienonymouse

5/10/09 at 6:51 a.m.

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...."Supporting his preteen daughter and fiancee, a homemaker, he is dipping into his savings to make payments on his mortgage and the second loan he took on his home."

Hm, maybe, just maybe, the fiancee should find some sort of job to help in the support of this family.

Everyone has become a NIMBY. Just leave the guy alone.
By NVCitizen

5/10/09 at 6:59 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By usrights

5/10/09 at 10:40 a.m.

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Great article. It's nice to see that someone actually took the time to show government for what it is. That when you get caught up in the system, you either have to give up or fight for what you know is right. Where are the values and freedoms that this country was founded on? Here is a guy and his family just trying to make do in an economy in a crisis and he gets exploited for it. His numerous encounters with the government and the expenses this guy had to go through is just not right. This country was founded on what is right. I applaud him for going the distance.

I have read the feedback from other comments posted. I would agree with the majority of opinions that we have too much government.

Last two posts I found amusing. Seems to me his fiancee has a full time job just taking care of a place like that. What does his hair have to do with the article? I think it's nice to see someone express their confidence and individuality...hooray for the guy who was born 100 years to late!! We need more of these type of people in todays society.
By annienonymouse

5/10/09 at 2:53 p.m.

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usrights sez: "Last two posts I found amusing. Seems to me his fiancee has a full time job just taking care of a place like that."

I'm glad you found my comment "amusing." I understand that the entire burden has been placed on Rodney Balinski's shoulders to pay for everything. I was commenting on her non-monetary contribution. Oh, wait, maybe just maybe you're the one 50 yrs behind the times to have a chauvinistic comment such as yours.
By newstartinLV

5/10/09 at 4:06 p.m.

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I would like to say that it is good, instead of hearing about all the whining people are doing about being unemployed and having to pay the bills they went out on a limb (for whatever reason) to rack up, someone is actually being responsible and doing their share to pay up!! And by the way, I find nothing wrong with a man who wants to try to work and support his family and pay his way in life, instead of the other way around. And being a homemaker is not all peaches and creme. I'm sure his fiancee works just as hard at keeping up a home as he does working so that he can pay for it. Those of you who object to what I say, please tell me why?
By annienonymouse

5/10/09 at 7:49 p.m.

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"I'm sure his fiancee works just as hard at keeping up a home as he does working so that he can pay for it."

I image she does work hard taking care of all 3 of them since they have the capability to live off of his savings. He's not working. I don't object to his fiancee staying home, I'm just wondering out loud why deplete a savings when there's an able bodied fiancee to bring in a wages.

Whatever.
By yelrav38

5/10/09 at 8:57 p.m.

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I personally know Rodney and his fiancee and can tell you that she contributes just as much to their home and responsibilities as he does. They have a partnership and relationship people can only hope to have. Rodney your hair is gorgous!
By yelrav38

5/10/09 at 9 p.m.

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By the way,HIS savings? It amuses me, (not really, annoys would be more appropriate)when people comment or judge on matters they know absolutely nothing about. Why don't we keep it on chicken talk?
By musicman15

5/10/09 at 11 p.m.

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Look at all the involvement by the county for chickens. Regardless of the subject matter this guy tried to go to Harry Reid's office and gets laughed at and naturally nothing was done. Now we are looking at the true Harry Reid. Here is a guy and his family raising chickens. He wasn't asking for government assistance, which would've probably been easier to get than the process he was put through to obtain a few extra chickens. This country needs to wake up and find their common sense and get back to values.
By newstartinLV

5/11/09 at 7:15 a.m.

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annienonymouse, "He's not working"? What? Do you know what a nasty job it is raising chickens? It's alot more work than cooking them! In fact, he is holding his own and that is more than what you can ask of most people! I commend anyone who has a job, even if all they are doing is cleaning toilets for a living! You might want to thank about that the next time you are shopping and see an able bodied woman pushing a huge cartload of groceries, can't speak English and uses foodstamps to pay for them!
I just hope that Clark county sees the light and just gives this guy some slack!
By yelrav38

5/11/09 at 12:43 p.m.

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Self sufficient, effective, downright brilliant! I even bet his chickens are healthy and taste delicious!
By annienonymouse

5/11/09 at 7:01 p.m.

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Hit a sore spot, he? oooh, I'm quaking in my boots. BTW I know about raising chickens.
By MTlion86

5/12/09 at 12:05 p.m.

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Here in Henderson you need written consent from your neighbor. I tried, wrote them a nice letter, I was always friendly to them, and my neighbor came over and torn into me. She couldn't have been meaner, the other ones didn't even bother to respond. No surprise since they don't even care about protecting the neighborhood. I'm the one that goes out there and cleans up the graffiti and picks up the trash and has the city come out to fix the road. I paid 206k for this house and i have to have approval from my nasty neighbors for something that doesn't even concern them. They don't come ask my approval for they're barking dogs and noisy parrots, I try to get they're rabbit out of my yard and to keep it from eating my veggies and they b**** me out. They don't want to see chickens in my yard but I have to see they're scrap metal yard all day.
It is completely unconstitutional. They allow one thing but not the other, and get this Animal Control can come barging into your yard when they want. It's like I'm paying rent.
I pay the property taxes so that they can tell me what I can and can't do.
Sorry needed vent.