Hello from Wisconsin (kind of overdue)

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GothChick

GothChick

Songster
13 Years
Sep 5, 2010
483
45
241
Wisconsin
Hello everyone!

I have a few posts on here already but I figured I should do a proper introduction.

I have wanted chickens since I was a child but never had the option. My husband and I started house shopping in April and we tried so hard to find something in the country but unfortunately anything outside of town either came with a large price tag or was completely falling apart and with a baby in the house we needed something safe and move in ready. We ended up finding a lovely colonial in town with a huge fully fenced in backyard.

We assumed that since we lived in town our chicken dreams were over but after talking to the workers at our local country store I found out we can have chickens in the city! I was sooo excited! We starting looking for chicks in July and I really wanted Black Copper Marans and Easter Eggers but everything you had to order needed a minimum of 25 chicks and that was way to many for us. Or some sites allowed small numbers but the shipping prices were outrageous.

I managed to find a lady that sold numerous breeds of chickens in our area but because it was the end of the season she only had Buff Orpington chicks available. We did some research and decided orpingtons would work for us and some chicks were better then none. So we ended up with four 2 week old buff orpington chicks. They are absolutely amazing! I find myself constantly playing with them and holding them. The only problem is that the lady didn't know what gender they were, so she said if any are male she will switch them for hens. She said I have to wait till they are 6 months before I can sex them. Is that true?

This also may sound a bit odd but we are planning on converting our basement into a giant coop for our chickens. We have a pretty scary basement, it's all cement and bricks so they can't ruin anything and we plan to lay bedding over the whole floor and just cleaned the top layer every morning and put new bedding down. Part of the reason is because we aren't sure yet what the exact ordinances are for our area and we live in a snotty area of town and our neighbors have been bothering us since we moved in so we would rather keep the chickens inside and save ourselves the problems from the neighbors.We also found chicken diapers we are going to get for our hens so they can spend time upstairs. Also I'm not sure how many chickens we can have in town. To be honest I will probably end up getting more anyway. We currently have 2 dogs, 6 cats, 3 rabbits, a chinchilla, a snake, and a rat. We haven't had any problems with the city because all of our animals are maintained and don't cause problems. Hopefully it will be the same with our chickens!

If anyone has ever tried having chickens inside please let me know how it went or any tips.
 
Howdy neighbor!
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I would love to have them outdoors but I live in Manitowoc Wi and I'm not sure what the actual ordinances or limits are and our neighbors are so crabby they complain about everything.
 
I thought I'd come back and comment again...

You can tell the sex of a chick way earlier than 6 months, by 6 months the pullets will be close to laying eggs. By the 20 week mark you should be able to tell.

To find the ordinances for Manitowoc you can try finding them online (or search for another BYC member from Manitowoc) or try calling the zoning office. Don't tell them you already have chickens, just say you were thinking about getting some. Whatever they tell you (if they can tell you anything at all) make sure that you get it in writing. Where I live *I think* the general rule is that I can have up to 7 livestock animals or something like that.

As long as you don't keep roosters your neighbors will probably be less likely to complain about the chickens.
 
Thanks for the advice. I have tried looking online and even called city hall but I just keep getting the same information. Basically I have found out that hens are allowed in town and they must be kept in your yard. I can't find an exact number or the specific coop rules. I'm not too worried about the city giving me problems like I said before we have quite a few animals over the 3 pet limit right now so the chickens would be the last of our worries. LOL!

The main thing we are worried about is our snippy neighbors. We are a young couple that just bought our first house and its in a really rich cranky area and we stand out like sore thumbs. The neighbors have never actually called the police on us but the have slipped nasty letters into our mail slot a few times already for stupid things like we got a letter complaining that they can hear our one year old daughter cry sometimes when she has tantrums and I need to do a better job or keeping her quite. Then they complained about a puppy we had that barked a little bit when our dogs were outside playing, so we had to get rid of her. They also complained that our dog looks over our fence sometimes and they think he is going to get out. So yea they are really snippy but yet they never actually confront us. I almost wish they would just call the cops because I have family in the department and at the local shelter so if anything would happen they could tell me who has the problem but wont say it to my face.

I just don't want to have the neighbors complain before we know the exact ordinances.

Also ChickenToes what part of NE WI are you from? We live in Manitowoc Wi about 25 mins from Green Bay.
 
Well, if city hall says you can have a few hens, I figure that would mean anywhere from 3 to 5 hens. I would keep trying to get the exact info though.

To keep the neighbors from complaining, keep everything super clean and smelling fresh. When your hens start to lay, give your neighbors some free eggs, maybe that will soften them up a little.

I'm in Forest County, about 2 1/2 hours slightly northwest of Green Bay.
 

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