people with house chickens

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
It shoudn't. As long as the chicken doesn't have alot of fluff.

My diaper has a plastic bag that I can just pull out and throw away and put a fresh one in it.

Works pretty good.

 

[iluvcks]

Hello Everyone, Welcome any new people to this thread.

This and the Michigan thread are my homes on here. I just visit elsewhere.

Joseanne your chickens are lovely. I am so sorry for your loss. I hope it was not one of your dogs.

I am in a rant so bare with me folks....

I havent been here in a little while. Some of you may want to visit the Mi thread so you can see what is happening. Basically Wednesday afternoon Bangor Twp Zoning Enforcer with backup came to my door to tell me the chickens and ducks have to go. I am in violation of zoning law. They say I have to have 10 acres. I am on 2/3 of an acre. I brought up the MRTFA and GAAMP. They didnt care. They told me to get my lawyer and they have their team of lawyers and decide how much money I would like to spend.

So after sitting in my run and holding all of the chickens and sobbing in their feathers(DH told me to quit, was getting the feathers all wet), now I am just angry.

I am getting rid of the 7 silkie roosters and my two ducks tonight, everything loud. They are going to a huge farm where they will never be killed and spoiled rotten.

I am expecting a certified letter next week, still have not decided if I will sign for it. Hhhmmm:/

In the meantime I am rallying the troops. Children are writing letters, I am writing letters, I am working on a petition to amend the zoning law. I will go door to door to get signatures. I already have people volunteering to collect them too. We have car loads of folks that are planning on attending the next zoning meeting.

I want to keep my chickens but now it is bigger than that for me. This is my thought.

This is America. I am NOT hiding behind the flag. In America we have rights. But the Government continues to strip away those rights. One of those rights that people should have is to be able to produce and provide their family with quality food.

Cancer rates are at an all time high. Why? Because of the crap that we have in our food. I am sure that we all know that factory farmed chickens or even the chickens that some of the folks on here raise (the cornish X) are genitically altered. You know that they are killed in something like 54 days. They have to be. They are so unhealthy and obese that they will die anyway.

I feed my girls all Natural feed. The closest to organic that you can find around here. There are NO hormones, antibiotics or chemicals in anything that my chickens eat. They are free range (within limits) the coop is roomy and they have plenty of fresh air and sunshine. No trimmed beaks, no feather picking, no cannibalism, no prolasped uterus. In other words my conditions are much better than what the GOVERNMENT says is acceptable in factory farms.

Ok I did have 7 silkie roosters, but if the people that complained would have bothered to come visit me I would have explained. I got those silkies at about 9weeks. The breeder was sure they were hens. I got them for my kids and the neighbors girls. They started crowing two weeks ago (the same time the complaints started, WE HAVE BEEN HERE A YEAR ON A VERY BUSY CORNER WITH NO COMPLAINTS) OK so I thought I give it a little time. Wanted to see if there might be any hens before I got rid of the whole bunch. I planned on getting rid of the roosters from the first crow. My ducks are not loud, but they do quack when they are excited.

I have 16 laying hens and 9 nine week old pullets. I will be willing to downsize. But that is all. This anonymous female (my nieghbor Who just happens to be a b***h) told the twp I have goats (do not, wish I did) and indoor chickens. Indoor chickens are against the law too. So my comment to that is "waste the tax payers money, get a court order and search my home for contraband chickens, I will have a news crew waiting. Untill then get the F*** off my property!"

This farm that some of my birds are going to is willing to take all my birds and if I suceed in changing the law I can have them back. My mother tells me they won't remember me after a few weeks. Well I am planning on visiting them often. And they will remember when they are home.

The chickens will not go untill they start slapping me with fines. I will take this fight as far as I can without a lawyer.

Think about this people. If they take away the right to produce and provide healty food (simply for the sake that its $ out of their pockets from big business) whats next? I dont smoke but you have the right to if you want to. Not in Michigan anymore. You are not even aloud to sit in your car at work and smoke. Really? We all know smoking will kill you if you don't care puff away. Just don't smoke near me. I choose not to go to the bar. Beacuse those of you who smoke should have the right to. Gandholm passed this law without even thinking it thru. The bar business is going to be cut. Which means less money for the waitress, which is less school clothes for her kids etc. Or less mone for the bar owners, which means they are buying less big toys, less money for those busiesses, so those people have to cut back. OMG hasent the government heard of the trickle down effect.

You realize the government is benifiting from us getting fat, sick and lazy. Government runs free lunch in schools, they control the prison food, food for the elderly, food that is shipped overseas like to Haiti and such. They get all that food from big business. Tyson etc. Our beef are fed corn. Cattle are NOT supposed to be fed corn. They eat grass. But the government has the pattent on the corn that is raised in the US. As a farmer you will eaither get into bed with them or they will push you out! Cattle should take about 3 years to be slaughter weight. But feed them corn for 180 days and they bulk up fast enough to be shipped off. Of course if they werent killed after 180 days they would stand right there and die anyway because they are so unhealthy. Saturated fat in corn fed beef is something like 300% more than in pasture fed beef. But as Americans most of us have never even had a grass fed cow. And you wonder why your fat. Hhhmmm could be the crap the GOVERNMENT is feeding your food.

I am not an Anarchist, but at the same time I am not a socialist or communist. This is America, its time we start acting like it and took back some of our rights before we lose more. For me its starting with keeping chickens, but its so much more. That zoning guy has no clue what a can of worms he just opened up by ticking me off.

America is a place where your vote should really count, your government is working for you not against you, and a place where you should be free to live how you want to if its not hurting anyone else.

 

[excited2getfirstchickens]

I totally agree with you iluvchicks! I hope you bet those zoning laws and get your goats if you want!

 

[FeatherMommy]

It's nice to meet others that have a chicken/chickens in their home. I have 2 Polish chickens that have full reign of the house during the daytime. At night they go in their Kennel. They were originally brought in because of a snake problem in their coup and have continued to stay indoors. They weird homemade diapers and are the best indoor pets I could ever ask for lol.

 

[pretty_chicken]

iluvcks ; I agree with you 100% Most of the American population just wants to believe that the government is looking out for us and taking care of us, when that is not always the case. I wish you luck in your battle! On a lighter note, my house rooster is the love of my life, probably the smartest animal I own! FeatherMommy: those diapers look great! Could you explain a little bit about how you make them? The Colonel needs one bad, and then maybe the DH won't complain so much!

 

[FeatherMommy]

Here is a diagram of the diaper and a couple pictures of the diaper off the chicken. I put panty liners in the diapers and it holds everything nicely.

Top View

Side View

For these type of diapers that you don't unsnap anywhere it is best to use really stretchy fabric such as t-shirt type material so you can easily slip it onto the chicken. If it isn't stretchy chances are the chicken will either get upset by the pull of it or even hurt by putting it on. If you decide to put a snap or velcro on the top neck part then any type of fabric will work. Also, t-shirt material does not fray so you don't have to worry about hemming it or anything like that. This is a very quick way to make a diaper in about 15 minutes or so. When you get done making the diaper all you have to do is slip the neck part over the bird's neck, pull it down where it is supposed to be, slip the bottom part between the birds legs, make sure the top part is in between the wings, put your thumb and pointer finger through the tail hole and gently pull the tail feathers through and just situate the poop catcher around the tail end and there you go. They obviously can look better than the ones I have. They were a quick fix to having my chickens inside. I will be going to get more fabric tomorrow and will make some cuter ones at that point. With these diapers you can attach small metal loops onto the back fabric and hook leashes too if you want to take your chicken to the pet store with you and such. My chickens are around 8 weeks old and they are perfectly fine with the diaper. When I first put them on they started walking backwards for about 20 minutes and then learned they could fly, roll around, run and all that stuff in them and they haven't shown any issues since. Also as a side note, with stretchy fabric it will be perfect for them getting to their oil glands. I see mine sticking their head underneath the back strip with ease.

 

[schellie69]

iluvcks that sucks, I had the dog pound here because someone called and said that my coop was not 50 feet away from their house so now I have to move my new coop not the pen lol which is where my rooster does most of the time I am here and will help if you need it or just someone to talk to now I want a house chicken and its all your fault lol

 

[jossanne]

iluvcks, so sorry to hear about your troubles. If I was there, I'd fight the zoning laws with you. We should be allowed to have any house pet we want. The government has no business telling us what animals we have in our house - unless they're crocodiles or something that could kill people if it got loose!

Come on, chickens??? What harm does that do to anyone?

Yes, to answer your question... it was our dog that killed Snowball. We got the Jack Russell from the pound in February, and she got Snowball before she got used to chickens. She is almost 100% trustworthy around the birds now - enough that if we're home, we let her out unattended. If we're not home, she's kenneled. The day she got Snowball, I was at work, and my sons let her outside unattended. She'd only been here a week or two by that point, and when I got home I found the boys out cleaning up the feathers. I was heartbroken.

FeatherMommy, that is a good chicken diaper pattern. I tried making one out of stretchy fabric, and Snowball got it off. She got her foot up in the fabric and wriggled her way out of it. I make my diapers out of cotton or cotton blends. I got the pattern from Youtube.

She also sews diapers into cute costumes for her chickens - Cinderella and Prince Charming, a flower and a bumblebee, etc.

 

[FeatherMommy]

I haven't had any problems with them getting their feet in the fabric. Only times the diapers come off is if my daughter is holding them. She isn't to graceful and the bouncy around (If I don't catch her in time to tell her to BE NICE!) causes the chickens to move alot and their tails slip out of the tail hole.

 

[suburbanminifarm]

Iluvcks, I am sitting here with my chicken on my shoulder JUST FUMING MAD for you! I agree with everything you said! And come on, they think they can come and inspect IN YOUR HOUSE!?!?!?!? I will possibly be there in your position someday as we have some pretty stupid laws here too.....fight the good fight sister!............LESS GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!