BYC members in Massachusetts?

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KnightsMist said:
Hello! I'm in Wilmington, I see there are several others in town and surrounding. Can anyone help me with finding local laws/regs? How many chickens can I have on 5+ acres, and can I have any roosters? TIA!
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Aloha! (I'm from Maynard but in Hawaii at the moment. )
Find out who your town's animal inspector is, and call them. They may want to inspect your coop annually.
You may be able to find your town bylaws online by googling. Some towns don't allow Roos, like Maynard, but sometimes if no one complains they don't enforce that rule.
I found my first 2 ducks on petfinder from the MSPCA. There's lots of homeless chickens who would love living in Wilmington!
Oh yeah and :welcome
 
For those in/near Wilmington who process any of their birds, where do you have it done? I know there's a big poultry farm down the road in N. Reading- do they take outside birds for processing? Just curious-
 
KnightsMist said:
Hello! I'm in Wilmington, I see there are several others in town and surrounding. Can anyone help me with finding local laws/regs? How many chickens can I have on 5+ acres, and can I have any roosters? TIA!
Click to expand...

Welcome to BYC! I've just found this thread. Since the weather is so lovely today I thought I would reach out. I'm in Lunenburg and it's quite a mess outside. Hope all of you are doing well this fine New England morning. Definitely get in touch with your local animal control officer. Is Wilmington a "Right to Farm Community?" I would think you are OK with having roosters on 5 acres. I have 6/10 of an acre and I have a cockerel. My neighbor has 1/4 acre and she has 2 roos. They're not really all that noisy. A lot of the people in this neighborhood have chickens and it's really pretty quiet.
 
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Wee Farmer Sarah said:
Welcome to BYC! I've just found this thread. Since the weather is so lovely today I thought I would reach out. I'm in Lunenburg and it's quite a mess outside. Hope all of you are doing well this fine New England morning. Definitely get in touch with your local animal control officer. Is Wilmington a "Right to Farm Community?" I would think you are OK with having roosters on 5 acres. I have 6/10 of an acre and I have a cockerel. My neighbor has 1/4 acre and she has 2 roos. They're not really all that noisy. A lot of the people in this neighborhood have chickens and it's really pretty quiet.
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Small world, my husband is from Townsend and teaches in Lunenburg- so we are very familair with that area! Wilmington is far more developed and not a right to farm community. We happened to luck into our 5 acre plot but all of the surrounding houses are 1/4-1/2 acre lots. I checked in with our town ACO and he told me no roosters. I may try to challenge the rule, given how much land we have and where I'm planning to put them it is unlikely that anyone will be bothered by them, but as the rule stands, no roos.

I wish we lived in a more rural area but at the time that we bought I was working in and commuting to Boston, so this is where we ended up.
 
KnightsMist said:
Small world, my husband is from Townsend and teaches in Lunenburg- so we are very familair with that area! Wilmington is far more developed and not a right to farm community. We happened to luck into our 5 acre plot but all of the surrounding houses are 1/4-1/2 acre lots. I checked in with our town ACO and he told me no roosters. I may try to challenge the rule, given how much land we have and where I'm planning to put them it is unlikely that anyone will be bothered by them, but as the rule stands, no roos.

I wish we lived in a more rural area but at the time that we bought I was working in and commuting to Boston, so this is where we ended up.
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That's too funny. I go to the Farmers Exchange in Townsend for barn yard stuff. I moved here in March to what I wanted as my retirement home. I was still working and had a 3 hour round trip commute everyday. I understand a shorter commute is better, but I knew it was only temporary. I started with getting chickens before I had anything built. Not the best way to go. Do your research and planning now. And for starters get the breed of chickens that you want. I prefer the sturdier breeds due to our lovely weather. Right now it's -2, but it's around 10 - 15 degrees in the coop and run. The chickens are fine and I'm swapping their water every hour so they can drink. I've collected 2 eggs already and they were still warm. About the roosters: You can try to get a waiver, however, you don't need a rooster to get eggs. Good luck. And, how about them Pats!
 
Lenka said:
Welcome to MA! Im in Lunenburg, right next door! What kind of goats do you have?
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I have nigerians-a buck and three does. I'm very excited to have placed a deposit on a Roshasharn buckling as well, so sometime in the next few weeks we will have two bucks and three does and waiting on babies at the end of March. Double excited because I miss milking and of course the milk!
 

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