Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

Aren't you "allowed" by your township to have chickens though? My understanding of this is that as long as your township/city/municipality ALLOWS you to have birds, you should be fine. (for example, Traverse City allows 6 hens within city limits, and the new gaamps doesn't effect that.) This is only an issue if your township/city/municipality says NO CHICKENS and you don't meet the new GAAMPS.....you wouldn't have RTF protection in THAT case. Unless you're doing this as an exercise in your understanding of the new law.......

 

[ladyrsanti]

Yeah, right now I'm okay and we are farm friendly out here but I don't trust townships (have had bad experiences with them in the past). They're kind of like the wild west. They make their own rules to suit their own needs, whenever they see fit. They tend to be run by prominent citizens with special interests and with that CAFO nearby, I'm especially wary. Of particular concern is their inclination to do whatever a complaining neighbor wants. That's what got me at our last house. The neighbor hated us for whatever reason (never did find out why) and the township acted on every complaint she had on us, not because they thought or noticed we were doing anything wrong but because whatever she didn't like, they could fit into some ordinance or another and act on it. So we were under constant bombardment from the township because of her a$$holery. This new decision is giving neighbors too much power in my opinion. It could happen all over again. I take nothing for granted.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

I'll take 5 ounces of Golden Lace Cochin and 2 grams of Cornish X please.

That sounds more like a take out order. lol

 

[lbrykowski2011]

To get my chicken and ducks in, I just shake the big green bag of mealworms. They will come running from anywhere. My chickens will also if I open the can with the scratch in it. Don't seem to take them long to figure out what treats are.

 

[gladahmae]

OK. I have a meat chick question. I HAD 61 of them. They've been outside in one of my smaller coops for about a week now, 2 heat lamps, food and water all the time, etc. This morning I went out to fill everything up and I have 12 dead chicks. (They're almost 3 weeks old.) The coop has nest boxes along both sides at floor height, and all of them (the dead ones) were piled up in one of the boxes. Do you think they just smothered themselves? They were AWAY from the heat lamps by being in the nest box so I'm rather confused. This spring is not really cooperating like I want it to for these things, but they were WAY too stinky to be in the house. No signs of bloody poop. Anyone have any ideas???

 

[RTFchickens]

I made this map of my property (in red) and the new criteria that I do not meet, trying to make sense of it. Not sure if it's correct but this is the way I interpreted it. Let me know if I've got something wrong. I still don't understand what constitutes a "facility" exactly. Does pasture count? A farmed field? I measured the 1/8th mile based on my barn and the 250ft. based on the chicken coop (blue line). But friends/family are asking me how it all works and I'm much better at a visual description. The two big fields (upper right and lower left) are owned by the CAFO down the road.

Lady, it looks to like you qualify. According to the commissioner (what he explained to me anyways) its 250 feet from coop to a not ag house, and less then 13 non ag houses within 660 feet diameter of coop. This does not include run and grazing area... But this law is so confusing, please don't take my word for it, this is just my understanding of it...

 

[Trefoil]

OK. I have a meat chick question. I HAD 61 of them. They've been outside in one of my smaller coops for about a week now, 2 heat lamps, food and water all the time, etc. This morning I went out to fill everything up and I have 12 dead chicks. (They're almost 3 weeks old.) The coop has nest boxes along both sides at floor height, and all of them (the dead ones) were piled up in one of the boxes. Do you think they just smothered themselves? They were AWAY from the heat lamps by being in the nest box so I'm rather confused. This spring is not really cooperating like I want it to for these things, but they were WAY too stinky to be in the house. No signs of bloody poop. Anyone have any ideas???

It sounds like they got away from the heat and piled up to keep warm & like you said smothered themselves,or got too cold. I would be giving them medicated food if you aren't, check the remainder out to make sure they are okay, and cover the nest boxes so they can't access them.

 

[RaZ]

Aren't you "allowed" by your township to have chickens though? My understanding of this is that as long as your township/city/municipality ALLOWS you to have birds, you should be fine. (for example, Traverse City allows 6 hens within city limits, and the new gaamps doesn't effect that.) This is only an issue if your township/city/municipality says NO CHICKENS and you don't meet the new GAAMPS.....you wouldn't have RTF protection in THAT case. Unless you're doing this as an exercise in your understanding of the new law.......

That map shows a case of Category 4 as it was amended on Monday.
So even if your community allows for you to have chickens or other livestock, you are not allowed the RTF protection in case a neighbor decides to complain and/or file a suit.

Lady, it looks to like you qualify. According to the commissioner (what he explained to me anyways) its 250 feet from coop to a not ag house, and less then 13 non ag houses within 660 feet diameter of coop. This does not include run and grazing area...
But this law is so confusing, please don't take my word for it, this is just my understanding of it...

Jim Johnson kept making contradictory statements as the commissioner tried to understand what a "facility" was defined as. He said structure, then manure pile and even the open pasture. No definition was provided
What commissioner did you speak with? What you describe them saying was completely different there on Monday.

Keep in mind that the focus was on the paragraph dealing with Category 4 and that there are other requirements buried with the rest of the GAAMP, such as a 1500 foot setback from the property line for structures.

Keep in mind that the MFB, MML and MTA were the driving forces behind this change, science and logic were never part of the equation. And that CAFOs are now self-certifying for compliance.

 

[gladahmae]

It sounds like they got away from the heat and piled up to keep warm & like you said smothered themselves,or got too cold. I would be giving them medicated food if you aren't, check the remainder out to make sure they are okay, and cover the nest boxes so they can't access them.

They aren't on the ground/dirt at this point (just cooped up) so I'm 99.9% sure it's not coccidia. Thinking back on how they were smooshed up in there I really think they just puppy-piled. Stupid chickens! The thing I don't get is that last night wasn't even the coldest night we've had in the past week! I added another entire bag of shavings for them to snuggle in to, and I'm going to completely top off their feed before bed tonight. Super frustrating! Good thing I was planning on growing out cockerels from the incubator to butcher in the fall I guess.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

...

Keep in mind that the MFB, MML and MTA were the driving forces behind this change, science and logic were never part of the equation. And that CAFOs are now self-certifying for compliance.

:/