I must admit I get really annoyed when shelters and rescues are not flexible at all and just have a standard reply to any given situation.
No shelter will let you adopt a cat if it is going outside. I take better care of my barn cats than many people do of their indoor cats. Yes there is always the risk of something happening, but what about the people who don't take the animal to the vet when they are sick? They should look at every situation and applicant individually. If they did that they may be able to home more animals than they do.
How ridiculous is it to deny you of adopting a dog because you don't have a fence and have chickens!!!! Have they considered that you may walk the dog and activate it extensively. Spend time with it and not just stick it out in the back yard and never let it see anything else than the inside of your fence??? Seriously this really gets me going. If they had lots and lots of takers and not a lot of animals they could do this, but they are turning down really good people with their stupid rules. Look into the individual! Argh. Rant over.
Good luck.