A not so brief introduction.

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome!!

 

[BrendaJ]

Hello from Oregon & welcome to BYC

 

[skyedale]

Thanks to all that replied. It looks like it will be a long time, if ever that I can keep chickens. The town councilmen hasn't said no but he also hasn't said yes. Our town councillor is a great one for saying anything to make you go away. As we head into winter (we don't get much of a fall here), it allows me time to put together a proposal complete with detailed information, health benefits, cost savings, environmental impact, etc .

What will make it difficult is that this township is moving away from being farms to being a bedroom community for the city of Toronto. One of the comments the councillor did make was that laying hens with no rooster would be easier to pass because of the noise by-law that prohibits prolonged and excessive noise prior to 7AM during the work week. In his mind roosters would definitely fall under the category of “prolonged and excessive noise”.

Because I am changing the direction of my intent for raising chicken, any thoughts or suggestions of what kind of exotic chicken does well in the great white north would be appreciated.

For the time being I am thinking of asking the woman that I currently get my free range eggs and roasting chickens from if I can “rent” a portion of her land for a small start up flock in the spring. Given my love of competition at local fairs (I entered 10 classes at our local fair in mid September and won 7 and placed in all the rest) I think it would be interesting to get a small flock of exotic chickens to enter in the fair. That way I am not stopping my cash flow to the woman I currently buy from.

One of the most interesting things that came out of my prize winning vegetable entries was the questions about my growing methods. When I explained that all of my veg entries were heritage seeds, directly sown - no seedlings, grown in organic compost with no sprays or additional fertilizer some thought I was lying and keeping my secrets to myself. People are strange.

Well, enough of my ramblings.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. Good luck with your goals.

 

[lovechickenswis]

I think finding a place to board your flock is an awesome idea! Why not? People board horses. As I said in an earlier post I had to move my flock to a friends property in the country. I have a mix of silkies, frizzles and cochins. I also have a pheasant, quail and I recently added two turkeys to my flock. My husband built me a huge double pen there. Of course I can hardly wait until we can get a place in the country so I can spend more time with them, but it maybe a year or two until that happens.