MARYLAND THREAD!

[DMoody]

I live in Charles County and can have chickens but my HOA is not so understanding. I have 3 acres and my coop is behind my house so no one can see it. I told one neighbor who was wondering why I was going out 2 times a day down "back" but he is from the country and likes the free fresh eggs. My girls have not stopped or slowed production through the winter and I have done nothing special as far as lighting. These are my girls from this morning, I got them from an Amish farmer 1 year ago this month.

 

[SunnySkies]

Thanks everyone. This all makes me very nervous. I'm a backyard homesteader at heart and if I can't get a couple acres and as many animals as I want this move is not going to work out. I guess that will have to be a contingency of relocating.

Be ready to spend serious bucks for a couple acres with a halfway decent home. I have some friends who moved up here from Georgia, where they had 5 acres, and they can't afford anythng remotely similar here. You do not want to know what we paid for our 7 acres, and it was a foreclosure, and we even got the bank to come down on their price. My WA friends almost passed out when I told them how much it was; they said it was more than twice what they paid out there.

Thanks for the heads up on the ducks, Funky Feathers, but shipped eggs will not hatch for me. I've tried multiple times, and they die at lockdown. But I hatch local eggs all the time super successfully. So frustrating. I'd love to order eggs to get unique colors and bloodlines, but not if they are not going to make it.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
We aren't certain we need more than 2 acres or so; I want at least 16-20 chickens, and a few goats, and a garden. It's doable. We don't need a huge house but we do have 3 children and would need at least a 3 bedroom with extra space for an office. I don't care much about square footage on the inside since we're total outside folks Guessing our budget would be somewhere between 500-700K. Guessing of course. We'd have to see what's available.

 

[SunnySkies]

We aren't certain we need more than 2 acres or so; I want at least 16-20 chickens, and a few goats, and a garden. It's doable. We don't need a huge house but we do have 3 children and would need at least a 3 bedroom with extra space for an office. I don't care much about square footage on the inside since we're total outside folks   Guessing our budget would be somewhere between 500-700K. Guessing of course. We'd have to see what's available.

You might find something for that kind of money. Stay away from HOAs and out of towns as much as you can. Many towns and counties have restrictions. We are out in the country and in a county with no restrictions, so nobody much cares what I do. But where we lived before for almost 17 years, chickens were not allowed by the HOA, although legal in the county and town. What a pest. I am pretty sure one of my neighbors there had a hen or two, but I wasn't going to complain about it. I love where we are now, even though it takes my husband 1.5 hours to go 37 miles to work.

We have four kids and find 2500-3000 sq feet to be completely adequate. I finally have a sewing room, and we have a playroom for the kids. It can be brutally hot and very humid here during the summer, with many code red days where the air outside is not exactly safe, as well as very cold in the winter (we are expecting 12 inches of snow later this week) so having enough space to be inside on those nasty days is very nice. My friends in WA spend a lot of time outside because they tell me the weather is temperate year around, but sometimes it's not feasible here.

Traffic is awful here. Awful. I'm obsessed with the traffic reports before going anywhere and always have backup routes in my head. People can't drive here either and seem to act like rules of the road don't apply to them. I was stuck in traffic last weekend because of a four car accident on northbound rt 4 coming out of Upper Marlboro, and people were backing up the on ramps, driving across the median, driving the wrong way on the shoulders, all kinds of things.

 

[chateau poulet]

Hi! Here's the info on Montgomery County. Generally, you need to have enough space to have the coop 25 feet from the property line, and 100 feet from a house. Then you're good. If you live in a residential area, this set-back usually won't be possible, but if you're planning to get land, it might not be a problem.

With the new code, hens will be allowed in residential areas, like dogs and cats. We will be limited to 8 hens, but we only need a 5 foot setback for the coop, which is key to allowing more people to have pet chickens. In Ag and Rural zones, the old set-back rules apply, and you can have roosters, and lots of hens.

 

[Shewholovesducks]

Hi everyone,

I live on a 1/4 acre in PG County in MD with my partner, a dog, 2 cats, a hedgehog, and 2 beehives. We were planning on getting half a dozen hens for the backyard (and ordered them!) but found out about PG's blanket ban on backyard chickens on residentially zoned properties.

We're ****** to say the least. We have neighbors that would totally be in favor, and I might be tempted to risk it, but my partner just won't risk getting in trouble.

I know about the PGhens.org campaign, but does anyone else have any suggestions? Any experiences? Has anyone applied for a special exception to the zoning and been successful?

Thanks!

WHAT?!?! I live in PG county just outside of charles county!!! Oh no we can't keep any?! That sucks!! All around us is farm land and people keep goats and all kinds of animals! We just lucked out and got a house with only 1/4 an acre but all around us on other streets they have 2+ acres and all sorts of animals. Does that apply to ducks too? We've been looking at some properties around and they aren't all that expensive in la plata, waldorf, and even upper marblrow but I wonder what the conditions of the houses are? I suggest you check the farm site listings quite a few farms were forced to close after that drought last year all over MD, and from what I saw they really aren't super expensive around 150-500k and the 500k one was in upper marlbrow with about 6-8 acre's. Theres also a horse farm forsale and I'm sure in those area's which are all farm zoned the regulations only apply if you are trying to sell eggs or poultry.

 

[SunnySkies]

WHAT?!?! I live in PG county just outside of charles county!!! Oh no we can't keep any?! That sucks!! All around us is farm land and people keep goats and all kinds of animals! We just lucked out and got a house with only 1/4 an acre but all around us on other streets they have 2+ acres and all sorts of animals. Does that apply to ducks too? We've been looking at some properties around and they aren't all that expensive in la plata, waldorf, and even upper marblrow but I wonder what the conditions of the houses are? I suggest you check the farm site listings  quite a few farms were forced to close after that drought last year all over MD, and from what I saw they really aren't super expensive around 150-500k and the 500k one was in upper marlbrow with about 6-8 acre's. Theres also a horse farm forsale and I'm sure in those area's which are all farm zoned the regulations only apply if you are trying to sell eggs or poultry.

It depends on your zoning. Residential areas...no. You may be zoned rural, which is how people can have animals on their property.

PG county schools are, quite honestly, bad. We just moved from southern AA county, and I work in Upper Marlboro, and everyone we know in the area (which, after being there so many years, is quite a few folks) with any means sends their kids to private school or homeschools like us because the system there can't be trusted. My BFF is a product and won't send her kids there. I could not recommend PG county to anyone with kids.

It is about 1.5 hours to Columbia from where Maxcine99 is, though, not counting traffic. Probably not a great option for the folks asking about moving here. In rush, that would be a 2 hour commute. And yes, we know people who do that long of a commute regularly -- my husband has a coworker who lives in PA and commutes to Adelphi (he leaves his house at 4:30 am) -- it makes it hard to keep the place up in summer with the mowing.

We looked at al lot of those places in Waldorf and La Plata. Too much work for the amount of money they were asking. Many were in serious distress because the owners had no money to keep them up. In one place, the property was great, so great I went back three times, but they had ripped up the floor, obviously to replace it, and started some other renovations, and then ran out of money and walked out. It was so not move in ready. Most of the reasonably priced places were that way. It was discouraging, and while we aren't afraid of hard work, we had to be reasonable too -- 4 small kids, jobs, having to move the whole family, two and four legged (we actually fenced what we bought ourselves and built the barn and coops) meant we couldn't take on a huge project before we could even move -- and a lot of them were not feasible as a result. Our lender also said flat out no to a couple of them that I liked as there would have been too much work, unless we had gotten a 203k loan (which is a pest because of the structure to prevent excessive spending).

Look at taxes too. I was OK with our taxes until someone told me what she pays in another state, and I pay way too much.

 

[Anna Lee]

Since you have kids you may want to focus on Howard county or Montgomery county. Year after year they are rated as having the best schools in the state. Property taxes are higher but you get what you pay for.The price range you mention sounds feasible since you aren't expecting a huge, brand new house.

Y
ou might find something for that kind of money. Stay away from HOAs and out of towns as much as you can. Many towns and counties have restrictions. We are out in the country and in a county with no restrictions, so nobody much cares what I do. But where we lived before for almost 17 years, chickens were not allowed by the HOA, although legal in the county and town. What a pest. I am pretty sure one of my neighbors there had a hen or two, but I wasn't going to complain about it. I love where we are now, even though it takes my husband 1.5 hours to go 37 miles to work.

We have four kids and find 2500-3000 sq feet to be completely adequate. I finally have a sewing room, and we have a playroom for the kids. It can be brutally hot and very humid here during the summer, with many code red days where the air outside is not exactly safe, as well as very cold in the winter (we are expecting 12 inches of snow later this week) so having enough space to be inside on those nasty days is very nice. My friends in WA spend a lot of time outside because they tell me the weather is temperate year around, but sometimes it's not feasible here.

Traffic is awful here. Awful. I'm obsessed with the traffic reports before going anywhere and always have backup routes in my head. People can't drive here either and seem to act like rules of the road don't apply to them. I was stuck in traffic last weekend because of a four car accident on northbound rt 4 coming out of Upper Marlboro, and people were backing up the on ramps, driving across the median, driving the wrong way on the shoulders, all kinds of things.

 

[Shewholovesducks]

It depends on your zoning. Residential areas...no. You may be zoned rural, which is how people can have animals on their property.

PG county schools are, quite honestly, bad. We just moved from southern AA county, and I work in Upper Marlboro, and everyone we know in the area (which, after being there so many years, is quite a few folks) with any means sends their kids to private school or homeschools like us because the system there can't be trusted. My BFF is a product and won't send her kids there. I could not recommend PG county to anyone with kids.

It is about 1.5 hours to Columbia from where Maxcine99 is, though, not counting traffic. Probably not a great option for the folks asking about moving here. In rush, that would be a 2 hour commute. And yes, we know people who do that long of a commute regularly -- my husband has a coworker who lives in PA and commutes to Adelphi (he leaves his house at 4:30 am) -- it makes it hard to keep the place up in summer with the mowing.

We looked at al lot of those places in Waldorf and La Plata. Too much work for the amount of money they were asking. Many were in serious distress because the owners had no money to keep them up. In one place, the property was great, so great I went back three times, but they had ripped up the floor, obviously to replace it, and started some other renovations, and then ran out of money and walked out. It was so not move in ready. Most of the reasonably priced places were that way. It was discouraging, and while we aren't afraid of hard work, we had to be reasonable too -- 4 small kids, jobs, having to move the whole family, two and four leggeh d (we actually fenced what we bought ourselves and built the barn and coops) meant we couldn't take on a huge project before we could even move -- and a lot of them were not feasible as a result. Our lender also said flat out no to a couple of them that I liked as there would have been too much work, unless we had gotten a 203k loan (which is a pest because of the structure to prevent excessive spending).

Look at taxes too. I was OK with our taxes until someone told me what she pays in another state, and I pay way too much.

I have no idea where Columbia MD is but if its near/past Shady grove then thats a 3 hour commute in traffic (which that area ALL WAYS seems to be in), mg county has insane traffic but nice houses depending on where you go (there are some bad areas there like everywhere). If you check the farm listing site there are lots of places there too for sale at reasonable prices but I don't know the condition of the homes but they're citys I've never heard of so I'm not sure how close they are to Columbia sorry you can search by county. http://www.landandfarm.com/search/Maryland-land-for-sale/ Oh trust me I know about the schools! I went to private school for a while then PGC school and hated them so since my mom worked near DC I transferred to a DC high school and loved it I Would not recommend pgc schools if you have kids, Montgomery county is probably your best bet but the taxes are extreme, I personally think DC charter schools are better but you have to pay for some and the best ones cost quite a bit! We're thinking of either private schooling or homeschooling. Darn I was hoping some of them would at least be decent I'm not shocked though because a lot of houses were pretty messed up by that hurricane earthquake combo we had. If you can get the land at a good price maybe build a house?

 

[Anna Lee]

Sykesville and Carroll county might be worth looking at too. It is cheaper there than Howard or Montgomery counties yet within a reasonable commuting distance to Columbia.