Chickenstock fiesta yardsale August 21

[shay20]

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Not avilible, but on sunday i am raffleing off all teh eggs in my pens that are layed the day before and that day. which will be showgirl eggs in them

 

[spotsplus]

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Does she have to be riden? Or can she be just a great companion pet? oh how long do they live?

"Apple" would be just fine as a pet and hanging out. Ponies are fairly long lived and can reach thier 30s easily. Send me a PM or email and I could send some pix
Tammie

 

[snowhorse]

Shay you need a pony!!!!

 

[aclee]

I'm SO upset. The building inspector just knocked on my door and said I have to get rid of my chickens. It's a zoning issue. I told him I want to appeal, but I'm not sure what else to do right now. He said he will send me a letter that will have the information to appeal the ruling...this is crazy...they are my pets...same as my dogs. I guess if the someone in the neighborhood wants to play it that way, I'll just let the dogs be outside all day and encourage them to bark as much as possible...they are legal

I have a feeling that the "report" happened because the owners of the duplex next door came over the weekend to do some yard clean up. Their kids loved the chickens, but they were (and always have been) total jerks (since we're on a public forum)...they charge an insane amount of rent for their two little tiny apartments, and being the house next door, I think they blame us for not renting out the apartments quickly when they are available (which is all the time, because they charge way too much)...we are the oldest, smallest house in the neighborhood and the outside is a little run down, but we have done some big ticket stuff already, just can only do so much.

The only other thing I can think of is that the fire inspector came here yesterday by mistake because he had the wrong house, but I don't see how he would have seen the chickens or even noticed them really, and they are still quiet!

I just hate that it would be a neighbor...it makes me suspect everyone...and it makes me wonder why they wouldn't come to me to talk to me about it. The building guy said they complained about the smell, which is SO not true...I'm totally obsessive about cleaning up after the dogs and the chickens so they don't get into each others' poop...it's a lot of work...

Any ideas what I can do?

 

[shay20]

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oh man, i feel what you are feeling now, been there, it sucks, most likely it came from a nieghbor.
get on top of your zoneog rules and regulations, and your towns bylaws, see if tehy are in anything to do with all for agriculter, to see if you can come up with a anthing about chickens being all agriculture use in your town.

also you can have the noise tested for sound control, incase neighbors are saying about the noise. taht way you have that on your side when teh hearing comes.
mention too that chickens are being shown and hatched to kids in shcool all around everywhere becouse it teaches the kids about 1 agriculture 2 food sourse (eggs) 3 organic.

good luck, remember look up your towns bylaws.

 

[shay20]

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heheh i know right.

 

[gypsy2621]

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first of all it isnt the building inspectors job to notify you of this, its actually animal controls job or the police dpt in absence of animal control.

it shouldnt matter that your house needs minor repair, that doesnt factor in.
chances are it is the neighbors being mean.
check with your town clerk have her show you where it is written that you can not have chickens in your neighborhood.
sometimes its an issue with residential areas. not so if it isnt written into zoning laws.
If your zoned strictly residential then you may have no choice,
check to see if it is zoned residential/agricultural. if it is then there is no problem.
Everyone needs to have in writing what the laws are for their town so this an be avoided in the future.

 

[aclee]

Does anyone know anything about Article 97? It's in the Commonwealth constituition (I think?) It basically states that no one should be prevented from using land that is currently being used for agriculture to continue to be used for agriculture...I've heard that pretty much any town that has been challeneged on the chicken issue has lost...it's how far you want to push it and how big a PIA your town wants to be. I heard that recently even in Cambridge the laws were challenged and chickens are now allowed. The key is that you have to be caring for the animals bny industry standards (which to me, ain't saying much) but it does mean that I couldn't care for 40 horse on my .25 of an acre, but some chickens? I think that would still be to industry standards...

I feel like so much of this mentality is connected to people feeling like having chickens (and even growing your own food to some extent) is what poor people do. That is just not true anymore.

The current town zoning I am in is residential (potentially industrial, I'm right on a border) and the laws state that I can not have chickens if I have less than 5 acres of land.

 

[darbella]

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Hey, if Bob Kratft got permission to keep his in Wellesly, Mass. then why not you too.? I would also call the NECN channel and speak with Vicky, she does the show The secrtet lif of Animals and would be more than happy to help you ause she was just doing several shows regarding such a matter. A lot of times it is people ignorance and those same people have a friend or relative on a commitee where the village idiots meet at the topwn hall and they have no other important things to discuss, so why not ban chickens!

 

[muffi]

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When I first got chickens, all I did was check the zoning bylaws. Since they state agriculture and raising of domestic animals for personal use are allowed in all residential zones, I figured I was good to go.

I have since found out that the Board of Health has been stepping in and requiring permits ($25 a year) to raise chickens. There is no mention of the need of any such permit in the zoning laws. They went after one resident who had chickens and it seems like they singled him out because his property is an "eye sore". He eventually gave up the fight and got rid of his chickens rather than go through all the hoops the town was going to make him jump through with zoning, board of health and wetland protection.

Now I am just holding my breath until they come after me. It doesn't seem like zoning will be enough to protect me. I am on a pond so they can probably find some wetland issue as the basis for disallowing my chickens, even though my coop is not a permanent structure and is not in the wetland boundaries.

That Article 97 and the precendents for allowing chickens are encouraging. Best of luck aclee!