New here!

[jonniebleu]

Hi! I'm "jonniebleu", actually that's my dog, Johnny, the blue heeler's nickname! Anyway, I live in the city limits of Fort Wayne, In and would really like to have a couple of laying hens. I'm hesitant to call animal control or anyone for fear of being checked up on. We call Neighborhood Code the "Code Nazi's" for their harassment! We have a spare bedroom that we have turned into a bird aviary of sorts. We have parakeets, finches, diamond doves, and a rescue pigeon that we rehabilitated and set free, but he keeps coming back! I want to put the hens in that room. There is a window for fresh air, plenty of food and scraps to be had. I was just wondering if anyone has thoughts on this. Is it cruel to raise them inside? I would love to let them run outside for awhile every day, but have 1 busybody neighbor that would call on me! Any comments would be appreciated! P.S. I lived on a farm until I got married 22 years ago, so I'm not "new" to chickens!

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, jonniebleu, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Is there an ordinance against having chickens in Fort Wayne? As to having them inside...I think chickens are far messier than the other fowl you mentioned, but if you could stand it, so could the hens. You would have to provide some dietary things to them that they would normally get outside...like grit. As to it being cruel....that's a tougher call. The chickens in grocery stores never see the light of day and are cage raised. Many folks raise their own birds because they object to birds being raised in this manner. Sounds as if your inside birds would be better treated those the commercially raised birds. Good luck to you whatever you decide!

 

[liz9910]

check out these 2 forums: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/37/local-chicken-laws-ordinances-and-how-to-change-them and https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread to find out if it's legal to have chickens good luck!

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

Welcome to BYC!!!

Glad you joined us!!