I was able to find the City of Santa Rosa's zoning codes here: http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/departments/communitydev/zoning/Pages/ZoningCode.aspx You want section 4, page 17. It basically states that you can have up to 25 chickens on a certain sized lot, and does not specifically exclude roosters--but that online code is dated 2004-2005, so it may have changed--call the City's zoning department and check for sure. Usually chickens/roosters are a noise nuisance and that's what they fall under for most cities' zoning codes. As has been said, FENCE AND COOP your birds very securely. Loose dogs WILL kill your birds rather sooner than later. Do not EVER use chicken wire/poultry netting, it's way too flimsy. I use welded wire hardware cloth and have never lost a bird or had to repair the wire in the 13 years here. With roosters, the big issue is not daytime noise, but that 4:30AM crowing that is the deal killer for the neighbors. If you do keep a roo, make sure he is securely cooped at night in an enclosed area that deadens the sound, you and your neighbors will be happier. Hens are quiet at night, but do cackle when laying an egg. You MUST keep your birds in a secure coop at night, one that has a floor. The tractor is great for daytime, but predators can and will dig under wire at night. There's nothing more heartbreaking than coming out to a massacre in the morning and knowing you could have prevented it--we've read numerous stories to that effect here. You'll become very attached to your birds. :) Especially Silkies! Silkies are small, docile, calm and sweet. I currently have two Silkies hens in my flock. But be aware that your terriers may not be able to overcome instinct (you know your dogs better than anyone) and Silkies tend to not see too well because of their crests, and can be easy prey. I'd keep chickens and dogs separated to eliminate any possible problems. We have possums here, and they are nasty nighttime predators. They killed one of my hens one night when we got home a bit late and hadn't closed the coop door before dusk. :( Our birds free range in the backyard during the day, and are cooped at night. Our yard is surrounded by a cinderblock fence. You're going to love keeping chickens. :) It's a blast, very entertaining. Plus nothing beats spending time petting a chicken, it's an instant stress reducer. Chickens have loads of personality and make great pets, which comes as a big surprise to most people who tend to think of them as dumb animals. I have a chicken info site here that might help: http://jackshenhouse.com/ I'm in the suburban Los Angeles area and also rent, the neighbor kids call our house a 'farm' just because we have chickens! Velvet ~:>

"We passed on an otherwise perfect house because it abutted a highly used nature trail. Sure, 99.9% of the people going by are fine, but what about the .01%?" That is why I mentioned checking the predator list. We looked at a nice house on 5 acres that was in a great area. The elderly resident was moving into a nursing home. While we were walking the property, we happened to run into the neighbor next door and had a chat with him. He seemed very nice. When I got home I did an offender search for that vicinity and was startled to learn that this 'nice' neighbors son was on the list for child offenses, domestic battery and burglary! He had lived elsewhere for awhile but was back living with his parents. It made me wonder if the children of the elderly woman had moved 'mom' out because of this. Needless to say we passed on the house. A little later I was curious to see who bought the house and learned that a couple with 2 young children had moved in. I didn't want to take the chance that they didn't know about the guy who lived next door, so I sent them an anonymous note with a print out of the offender and the stats (address). I didn't want to scare them but I would have felt terrible if I had neglected to share what I knew. It takes a village to keep kids safe in this day and age. I'm very happy to do my part to help any/every child enjoy a safe, happy childhood.

No grass will thrive in shade. However, by the looks of your photo, like you have grass that has been established there ... It's just been abused and it's also not quite the spring growth period yet. You could look at options to reduce the shade, eg raising the tree canopy a little bit to increase the sunlight (and air flow.). But I'm willing to bet your real enemy is soil compaction + turf stress both caused by the lacrosse abuse. Rye grass loves sun. It won't thrive in shade but that's ok. Your challenge is getting something to grow there that will prevent it from going completely barren; nothing will thrive with constant abuse. If you cover the area up, you risk "damaging" the soil by blocking sunlight and water. Plus, I would imagine it would be more likely that someone could trip or slip on whatever it is that you are putting down. Another option is to just let it be. In the fall, reseed the area with Turf Type Tall Fescue. That does better in shade than Rye Grass and Bluegrass. Another option is to buy some sod and roll it out after lacrosse is over. You wouldn't want to put sod down while they are practicing because it needs time to settle and dig in to the soil. You also would need to keep off it for a period of time and keep it well watered (and fed) to encourage this. Another option is to just give up on grass there and go a different route, eg groundcover, mulch or gravel. But where's the fun in that? Personally, I would go with my original idea. Regularly throw down Perenniel rye grass during lacrosse practice while separately growing some more desirable turf (eg bluegrass or turf type tall fescue) in some pots to plug in later.

lacey - it does seem that we're all in one of those 'blocking' weather patterns again where the same weather conditions just sit there week after week! :-( On the whole - as long as it doesn't last for too long - I prefer the dry to constant rain. The wet is likely to do more damage to plants and property than dry will in the short term. Today is supposed to be more hot and humid than yesterday here, with another bad day for tomorrow and then back to more seasonally normal temperatures - but still no rain in the forecast other than the 40% chance of showers on Friday. It used to be that hot, humid days ended with a thunderstorm bringing a good rain. That doesn't seem to happen much anymore. We haven't had a thunderstorm here yet this year.