Just a little warning for you from my experience.... A year of planning means WAAYYY more chickens than you ever thought you'd have. LOL! Im excited for you!
Meyer Hatchery Chicken pics anyone??
- Thread starter farmguy2007
- Start date
Just a little warning for you from my experience.... A year of planning means WAAYYY more chickens than you ever thought you'd have. LOL! Im excited for you!
Well, I can't start planning for them just yet. We have to get a house first in an appropriate area. There is a chance I won't be able to have chickens because of the new Right to Farm Act amendments made in Michigan. We've expanded our search area though, in hopes that we find a place that we can keep chickens and have a nice big garden and a few fruit trees.
So, positive thoughts! This is gonna happen!!
- Jun 2, 2011
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I read about that, and was horrified! How could they do away with that??? What is the new parameters that one can own chickens? How much land does one need to have? If they did that in New York, I'd have go insane! Yes, search all you can to find the right area so as you can have chickens. EVERY sustainable homestead needs chickens! Good Luck!
MB
The new law states that you cannot keep farm livestock if:
-There is a residence within 250ft of your home.
-13 homes within a 1/8th mile radius of your home.
Basically, what happened is this. The law was originally put in place so that city folk moving to the country couldn't sue farmers over nuisances. Because this law protected anyone who had livestock from nuisance suits, that meant anyone was protected. So, a lot of people in suburbia-land (cookie cutter houses that are 10ft from each other) decided to get 50+ chickens, 6 goats, 3 pigs and a cow and raise them all in the middle of a private drive on 0.15 of an acre. It caused a TON of problems. There were also a lot of "hobby wives" getting bored, and ordering and entire farm into their backyard without any knowledge or proper fencing (this is broadcast on a lot of stupid reality shows) and they were chasing animals all through a tightly residential neighborhood. I can't imagine having farm animals in a neighborhood where your grass is required to be trimmed to a certain length and have underground sprinkling.
Although I'm a big proponent of "it's my land, I'll do what I want", I also understand that buying a family home, in a homeowners association comes with the idea that it won't be a farm circus. I also don't like that people's home values dropped significantly, or were unsaleable, because hobby wife next door decided to import a 10 acre farm into her 20' x 20' backyard.
There are both sides to the fence, but I don't think cookie-cutter suburbia is the place for farm animals. (please no one make death threats against me)
No death threats, but I am known in these parts as the Urban Chicken Keeper. Thankfully Louisville have some very progressive chicken keeping ordinances. I live 5 miles from downtown Louisville in a very nice subdivision. I live close to my neighbors. I am LEGALLY allowed to keep 6 chickens: 5 hens and 1 rooster on any plot of land 1/2 acre or less as long as they are fenced & have an appropriate coop. Fenced does not necessarily mean you can't "free range" - they mean they cannot leave the confines of your legal domain.
Now, I will admit that I am a couple of hens over my limit, but my neighbor claims "custody" of 3 of my hens for ordinance purposes & when they start producing eggs I will keep him stocked in eggs. I have 9 hens currently. I let them free range to a limited capacity in my garden under close supervision. But they have a very nice and spacious run that they have free reign of from sun up to sun down. I did rehome 2 chickens that turned out to be roosters (silkies). Yes, I legally could have kept 1 of them but I didn't want the noise or turmoil they were causing in the coop.
I understand what you are saying about keeping farm animals in suburbia, but I do not consider chickens (especially hens for eggs) as farm animals. They can live quite easily and wonderfully in inner city situations. I would not try to raise meat birds or other types of poultry in an inner city setting though.
- Nov 1, 2012
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Hi Everyone! Gosh, there's been a lot of posts lately, so hard to keep up. We went to the coast for a few days and have been completely remodeling our kitchen so I've been very short on time. I love the newly hatched chick pics and all the pictures of the Meyer's girls and the non-Meyer's girls too. I had mentioned posting pics of the chicken fountain. It is all set up now and I am hoping in full use, especially since I took the other waterer away.
Here is our BO, Big Mama, proving that she is the smartest in the flock since she used it first.
Sally the SF was the next one to use it.
I was worried about Buffy the BLP, but I did see her drinking from it today. I was afraid she'd have trouble because of all those head feathers. That's Olivia, my older EE drinking on the right. I installed it right under their patio area. There is a roof above the patio too so they can go right out of the coop and get water even in bad weather. There's plenty of drinking spots on the mega waterer, 10 places in fact.
I also discovered that I needed to extend the patio a little to cover the arms of the fountain. The chickens decided to jump onto the fountain arms to get up on the patio, which probably would damage it eventually if I let that continue. So since we are remodeling the kitchen I had plenty of boards to add a little extension over both arms.
So as long as we leave the hose on and no one shuts it off, their set for water. I can't believe I don't have to refill their waterer any more, plus not more nasty water!!! Yay!!!!!
See? So gross!
and to end this post on a nice and pretty note. Here is Lacie the GLW and Big Mama the BO with Buffy the BLP's rear in between them. All my girls are Meyer's girls for those asking about their chickens in earlier posts.
Here is our BO, Big Mama, proving that she is the smartest in the flock since she used it first.
Sally the SF was the next one to use it.
I was worried about Buffy the BLP, but I did see her drinking from it today. I was afraid she'd have trouble because of all those head feathers. That's Olivia, my older EE drinking on the right. I installed it right under their patio area. There is a roof above the patio too so they can go right out of the coop and get water even in bad weather. There's plenty of drinking spots on the mega waterer, 10 places in fact.
I also discovered that I needed to extend the patio a little to cover the arms of the fountain. The chickens decided to jump onto the fountain arms to get up on the patio, which probably would damage it eventually if I let that continue. So since we are remodeling the kitchen I had plenty of boards to add a little extension over both arms.
So as long as we leave the hose on and no one shuts it off, their set for water. I can't believe I don't have to refill their waterer any more, plus not more nasty water!!! Yay!!!!!
See? So gross!
and to end this post on a nice and pretty note. Here is Lacie the GLW and Big Mama the BO with Buffy the BLP's rear in between them. All my girls are Meyer's girls for those asking about their chickens in earlier posts.
YEAH!!! You should definitely post a pic of your setup on the Chicken Fountain's FB page!!!
You are being very responsible about it all though. There were a lot of people here abusing it to an extreme degree. I think chickens would make a fine addition to any suburbia, I really don't think they should be included in the Right to Farm Act's "livestock" category. I mean, if people can keep pet pigs in their apartments, I don't see why I can't have 3-5 chickens in a coop and run.
It was mostly people being extremely irresponsible about the whole thing and getting media coverage because of it. All the hipsters ruined it for us.
No disagreement there! And there is a huge difference between 6-9 chickens in a backyard and a flock of 20-40 in the same small backyard as well! Adding sheep, pigs, llamas, and donkeys - yeah that's absurd. That's also why there are laws. I'm just thankful that for once, Louisville KY has a sane ordinance on the books! From what I understand it took quite a few years to get it worked out & reasonable, but I'm thankful it is!
I thought Michigan was doing pretty well, then as soon as we started looking for a house, the news about the Right to Farm Act dropped and now we've had to change our plans. Still getting a house, just looking in different areas.
You would think, Michigan being so wooded and outdoors-y, that a couple chickens wouldn't bother people. But the amount of tourist homes in this state is ridiculous and they bring all their hare-brained ideas with them.
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