New Jersey

[Chickerdoodle13]

Hello I planning on buying a few chicks to raise as pets and for their egg laying ability. I am located in Monmouth county and was wondering if anyone knew of a local farm that can guarantee females that is also locate. I'm looking at australorps, Rhode Island reds, or orpingtons. Any help would be appreciated as I just started this journey

Welcome to BYC!

I'm not too familiar with farms in that area but there are a few BYCers in the area that can help you with that I'm sure!

There is an awesome show in north jersey in the spring and fall. It is called the Sussex county poultry fanciers' association show and they usually have a huge sale area. Even if you don't go to buy, it is totally worth it to just go and hang out. There are tons of birds in the show and venders.

 

[Younessian]

I am a transplanted Jersey girl in the wilds of San Diego. I so missed having chickens I have 5 living under my trampoline and we refer to them as "rabbits". My neighbors get bribed with occasional eggs. The "girls" are fun to watch and love to see me work in the garden because I give them treats (worms, grubs, kale and collard green leaves)

 

[NicChicks2013]

I want to go Sussex..Hubby not into it..they have a facebook page. Welcome..Atlantic county here

 

[noraribble]

Thanks for the input everyone! I grew up in Sussex county and went to the fair every year growing up! We just moved back here from San Diego. I'm still getting used to the snow and cold

 

[chickengirl1193]

Hey guys. So I live in vernon nj (if your familiar with mountain creek ski resort or crystal springs golf resort, thats where I live) I just got a notice in the mail yesterday saying im not allowed to keep farm animals (I had thought that I had the right to farm and I have many neighbors with much larger chicken flocks) the notice also said I cant have a structure closer to the road than our house. So now I have to move my four chickens and 2 goats. Hopefully I can just move them behind my house and say they are pets. But the problem is I have a beautiful 6ft fenced area that im not going to be allowed to use so im hoping that I can move my goats and leave the chickens to live in nice area with a "movable" structure. So my 8 chicks in the house have to stay.hidden for a little while. Worse comes to worse my neighbor can adopt my chickens into his flock until we figure it out and my goats can live at my aunts house because she has an extra pasture and housing. So im not going to have to part with my animals. Hopefully.

 

[JerseyHen]

Hey guys. So I live in vernon nj (if your familiar with mountain creek ski resort or crystal springs golf resort, thats where I live) I just got a notice in the mail yesterday saying im not allowed to keep farm animals (I had thought that I had the right to farm and I have many neighbors with much larger chicken flocks) the notice also said I cant have a structure closer to the road than our house. So now I have to move my four chickens and 2 goats. Hopefully I can just move them behind my house and say they are pets. But the problem is I have a beautiful 6ft fenced area that im not going to be allowed to use

so im hoping that I can move my goats and leave the chickens to live in nice area with a "movable" structure. So my 8 chicks in the house have to stay.hidden for a little while. Worse comes to worse my neighbor can adopt my chickens into his flock until we figure it out and my goats can live at my aunts house because she has an extra pasture and housing. So im not going to have to part with my animals. Hopefully.

That stinks. Someone must have complained. Do your neighbors have larger properties? Not having structures in front of the line of your primary residence is a common building ordinance policy. Also, most have rear line rules as well (so many feet from back line, so many feet from front line, coops also will have special ordinances, like 300 feet from another persons residence, etc...). If you have a moveable structure (like a chicken tractor or a coop on skids (that you can actually move) it will often fall outside of the building code requirements since it is not a permanent structure. That does not stop anyone from complaining about it being obtrusive.

Right to farm was established to protect farmers from nuisance complaints and prohibitive ordinances. Each state has its own version of this national act and to be qualified under the act in NJ you need 5 acres and a $2,500 in farm products annually. If under 5 acres you need $50,000 in products annually (not sure how you could bring in that kind of money with less than 5 acres, which is, I imagine, the reason they set it at that amount). http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/sadc/rtfprogram/rtfact/index.html So, you not only need 5 acres, but you have to actually sell farm products and you would also probably qualify for farmland assessment. If you do not qualify for right to farm you will be regulated by your townships ordinances regarding land usage. Here is the Vernon ordinance: http://clerkshq.com/default.ashx?clientsite=Vernon-nj

I have to say though, I looked through the ordinance and I don't see anything prohibiting the keeping of livestock. The animal section deals only with dogs, cats, and bears.

 

[mame1616]

Thanks for the input everyone! I grew up in Sussex county and went to the fair every year growing up! We just moved back here from San Diego. I'm still getting used to the snow and cold

Welcome back! The weather must be quite a shock after San Diego!

The fair is not the same as the poultry show, although there are chickens there, and the club has a table in the barn and helps out for the week. Our show is in May and October every year. This year the show is on May 17th, from 9-3. The birds you'll see there are exhibition fowl - not the same birds you'll see at the county fairs, or the state fair. It's a real treat if you've never been to a real poultry show.


For the folks in South Jersey, the Delmarva Show is just as close to you, in Harrington, DE. Their show is April 5-6, although the 5th is the day to go. With any two-day show, the Sundays are spent waiting for the judges to let us coop-out late in the morning. Always go on the Saturday.

 

[chickengirl1193]

That stinks. Someone must have complained. Do your neighbors have larger properties? Not having structures in front of the line of your primary residence is a common building ordinance policy. Also, most have rear line rules as well (so many feet from back line, so many feet from front line, coops also will have special ordinances, like 300 feet from another persons residence, etc...). If you have a moveable structure (like a chicken tractor or a coop on skids (that you can actually move) it will often fall outside of the building code requirements since it is not a permanent structure. That does not stop anyone from complaining about it being obtrusive.

Right to farm was established to protect farmers from nuisance complaints and prohibitive ordinances. Each state has its own version of this national act and to be qualified under the act in NJ you need 5 acres and a $2,500 in farm products annually. If under 5 acres you need $50,000 in products annually (not sure how you could bring in that kind of money with less than 5 acres, which is, I imagine, the reason they set it at that amount). http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/sadc/rtfprogram/rtfact/index.html So, you not only need 5 acres, but you have to actually sell farm products and you would also probably qualify for farmland assessment. If you do not qualify for right to farm you will be regulated by your townships ordinances regarding land usage. Here is the Vernon ordinance: http://clerkshq.com/default.ashx?clientsite=Vernon-nj

I have to say though, I looked through the ordinance and I don't see anything prohibiting the keeping of livestock. The animal section deals only with dogs, cats, and bears.

okay thank you very much! i think that someone may have complained, and my neighbor across the street just got arrested for some really bad things and he brought a lot of attention into our neighborhood when otherwise nobody would even know we are back here, and there was also recently a lost hiker which brought in search and rescue and state police and what not. So usually people dont even know my street exists but ever since i got my animals crazy things have been happening. And if you look at our property the chicken area is in the woods next to our house and yard, so it was kinda set back and hidden but i guess we still violated something. We are going down there tomorrow and we are going to ask what they want us to do and take it from there. My neighbors behind us have a weird shed in their front lawn that idk what its being used for (i dont think anything legal), and behind them is just an abandoned house, the owners built on another part of the property and didnt take down the old house.... so really everyone around me has all different violations but we are just the house closest to the road :/ Im hoping that they tell us to just move it away from the road and they wont care and then we will turn the paddock into a huge vegetable garden because i think that is allowed.

 

[GAIL328]

Thanks for the input everyone! I grew up in Sussex county and went to the fair every year growing up! We just moved back here from San Diego. I'm still getting used to the snow and cold

Jersey Chickens . I got some Easter eggs from her. Check out her website for whats available.

 

[Sparkway]

I was looking at their site- thanks for the thumbs up!! I will call them and find out when their chicks will hatch.

What breed did you purchase there? Thanks again!

I got a CQ BR EE and Light Brahma. All doing great