people with house chickens

i 100% agree with everything u said iluvcks!! there's nothing more i can add to it....u said it all and i will keep all that in mind if i ever find myself in your situation. where i live, it is illegal to have chickens in THIS part of the town, but not OTHER parts of the town! i have a privacy fence and have asked 3 of my closest neighbors if they would mind if i had a few hens...they said they're fine with it. so i currently have 4 LF girls that are a month old who are already outside 24/7. and i have one 5 day old silkie chick who is my house chicken. if he turns out to be a roo, i'm keeping him anyway. it makes me nervous though about who i should let know about my house chicken....i run a home daycare and all the parents know about my chick and they kids absolutely love her/him!!! it's all nice and cute now, but will a parent get a wild hair when Sweet Pea it full grown and call me in? maybe i should hide my house pet away from them all??!! isn't it ridiculus that we even have to be afraid of this???? i mean it's a CHICKEN for cryin' out loud!!! not a lion!!!

Iluvcks I am really sorry you are going through all that! It's absolutely insane! Like the poster before me said.."It's a chicken for goodness sakes! Not a lion!" I can't believe people would get so bent out of shape over even roosters that crow. I LOVE the sound of crowing roosters. And hens? What in the world do they do besides lay eggs and be pretty? Nothing! I really hope you are able to keep all your chickens. I can't imagine having someone tell me having my 2 was not allowed. I mean, I had a GOOSE living in an apartment smack dab in the middle of the city at one point. The landlords gave me the ok before I got him. If I can do that I don't understand why you can't have your chickens. UGH! Put up a good fight!!!

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My sugesstion it to get copies of the ordinaces in your surrounding areas. Then you write up an amendment to your zone that follows the others guidelines. Petetion your zoning board to hear your petition for change. Present your Twp supervisor and everyone on the zoning board with a copy of a letter explaining your case, the benifits of keeping chickens and cases where people in your st won the right to have chickens. Explain the increase in backyard flocks in the last decade and the growing acceptance. Explain the green aspect of chickens. The importance of healthy food. Also present them with a copy of the amendment. Take plenty of regerstered voters to the town meeting. Present your petition with as many signatures as possible. If that doesnt work write letters to your mayor, your st rep, your congressman, and the governor.

Roosters can get very mean. A child is within range for a silkie to jump/fly into thier face. Their beaks are very dangerous. Trust me a child may get pinched by that beak. (I just gave away my silkie roosters, but one of them would bite me so hard I could pick my finger up two to three feet off the ground with him still attached.)Once that happens you had better have your ducks in a row. If you dont, when that parent calls animal control and they call zoning, you will lose not only that rooster but any chicken on your property. Then you will be on their radar. You will never feel comfortable having another chicken. Every sound they make will send you running to the window to see if anyone heard. You will live in fear of being found out.

Get the law changed. Hope that Sweet Pea is a pullet. And if its not stash it when the day care is open.

I hope I was some help.

I really appreciate all of the support. It is much needed. I am feeling kind of confident. I think my Twp expects me to be some silly, emotional, chicken lovin hippie. In reality I am a silly, emotional, ticked off, motivated, organized, vegetarian, green housewife, with friends. I am the 21st centurys answer to June Cleaver/chicken lovin hippie chicks. They will know me.

iluvcks, i completely agree with your mission and i hope you get far. I have one little house chicken who lay me an egg in four more months, i couldn't be more excited. but i live in military housing and did not check the rules before bringing her home. well, i started with two, and one turned into a roo, he's is now happily on a farm on the other side of the island. but i took my chickie out for some fresh air today, and was informed that "chickens carry diseases" and i am now so reluctant to take chickpea outside for fear that this one particular neighbor may call the housing authority on me and i'd have to get rid of her. i don't think i could handle this after the heart break i just faced with taking william to the farm. but for crying out loud my husband is in the military and i am trying to feed him a whole lot healthier than what they feed him when he's out to sea. i know what chickpea is eating because i am feeding her! she gets free range of the house, upstairs and down, unless of course i have company. but i am so upset about the rules and so afraid i may now get caught with my "diseased chicken" i don't have a whole flock, but why can't i just have one!! she's so much quieter than the dog next door!

wow ok so i have an indoor turkey. she is a hoot she lives in a dog kennel at night next to he american bulldog and plays outside during the day. she will roam round the house and loves to follow us around sweet thing that she is. she is happy this way and not lonely but our family thinks i am nuts, my husband just indulges my craziness but secretly he is crazy bout her too.

I know and I so agree. Its like preaching to the choir sister. You should ck the rules. I am sure it will tell you that domestic animals are aloud. A certain number of cats and or dogs. maybe a hamster, and probably limit you on the size of fish tank you can have. In my twp things that would never think are illegal cotraband. Soldans is the local pet store. They sell snakes, lizards, frogs, guinea pigs, parrots, ect. As soon as those animals come into Twp limits they are illegal contraband. If anyone finds out (and complains) you own one of these animals (there is many more) or if you have a farm animal or if you have more than three cats and or dogs, They will make you get rid of your pets.

Again try to keep her out of sight, tell as few people as you can, pray that she stays quiet(they sing a pretty loud egg song) and try to change the rules.

Doesnt this suck. Your husband is serving in the military to protect our freedoms yet the government took and continues to take our civil liberties. my heart goes out to you. Truelly, good luck. Remember even if they take away your chicken you have to keep fighting to get the rule changed.

I would bring the grass inside for her. Give her a kittylitter pan full of good black dirt. Put a few worms in it . Sprinkle a little feed. and watch her become the happiest little chicken ever.

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i'd 'inform' the neighbor that even they (humans) can carry diseases and pass them onto other people and their own pets! you are less likely to get diseases from your chickens than from your own dog or cat. since you are keeping one chicken and you are housing it in your own home and keeping it clean i don't see it getting any diseases any time soon! just keep it away from other people's chickens (and maybe away from that neighbor) and i don't see it getting sick from any 'bugs'.

as for the whole situation with iluvcks, i wouldn't let the city people into your home. they have no right to enter your home at any time without your permission. if they have a warrant the only thing they can take if they entered is the item they have written on the warrant. if they see anything that they think is also illegal while in your home they would have to get a warrant for that too! i don't think of chickens as illegal for any one to own, just that they are against zoning ordinances in some places. so to me they should not be searching the inside of your home for them.

i know in our area that they changed a law that now you have to provide 'adequate' housing for any animal you are keeping on your property. i think of adequate and i believe that keeping them safe in your own home is fine! (of course, that would mean you would limit the numbers to something reasonable and keeping it all clean at the same time )

Do your house chickens lay eggs right there inside, for you?

I'd love to have my favorite hen in the house during the winter.......hubby put his foot down on chickens in the house.

Yes they lay eggs in the house. All sorts of places. My Gabby used to lay hers in the dog bowl. Tilly laid hers on the couch. Even if I am made to get rid of all of my girls, I will NEVER give up Gabby. They would have to put me in jail and come take her while I'm locked up.

The government does not want us growing or producing our own food, because of the big business would lose money that line the governments pockets, If people figure out how bad the food in the store is for us they would all want to grow their own food, I want to get a farm so I can grow all our own food and the feed for my animals and raise my own animals for all our food needs I want to live like my grand parents lived when my mom was a kid. just because of all the research I have done none of the food sold in stores is like what is raised on family farms everything is processed or hybrid given growth hormones and antibiotics and stuff, I want to go all natural with my family and animal feed I know it won't be easy but I think its worth it in the long run. Fight the good fight get the zoning changed I can't believe with 2/3 acre you should be able to have chickens/ducks or what ever you wanted. remember we are all here for you if you need any help or advice or just some one to vent to remember your friends on byc we are here for you.