Proposed NJ Ord NOW VIRAL! See Post #1 (Update) & #36 newsclip

[jjthink]

ASBURY PARK PRESS
http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/2011/03/18/hopewell-township-lays-an-egg/
Hopewell Township lays an egg
Posted on March 18, 2011 by Bob Ingle

They have a gang problem in Hopewell Township. But not the kind you think. It’s roosters. Those cocky little chickens are strutting around like they own the place and the crowing about their sexual conquests is driving some people nuts. So the politicians there are doing what politicians always do — make fools of themselves. They’ve suggested limiting roosters to just 10 days a year with the hens. Really, I’m not making this up. No conjugal visit could be more than five consecutive nights. And if a rooster does any bragging, er crowing, he will be banned from the hen house for two years. “Only in Hopewell Township would we waste the time and money on chicken legislation. Other towns are laughing at us,” said John Hart, a beef farmer, who hosts an annual Chick Chat. And he helped draft the ordinance. The mayor says the ordinance is a good balance between the town’s suburban lifestyle and rich farming history. His name is Jim Burd (seriously, I’m not making this up).

About Bob Ingle
Bob Ingle is Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers and co-author of The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption." Hear him Fridays at 5 p.m. on NJ 101.5 FM radio.
View all posts by Bob Ingle →

 

[jjthink]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7878776/new_jersey_town_considering_limit_on.html

New Jersey Town Considering Limit on Chicken Sex
Glenn Church, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 21, 2011
It is a sad time for roosters in the Hopewell Township of New Jersey, because chicken mating may be limited to 10 days a year and no more than five consecutive nights.

The townships' ordinance was drafted because of the noise from roosters crowing. While rooster crowing has been accepted by most people since the dawn of civilization, it is now viewed as a disturbance in this largely rural area. Being that there are fewer farmers getting up at the crack of dawn, people do not like being awakened by randy roosters.Some residents are complaining that Hopewell has become a laughingstock for its ban on rooster crowing.

However, the real laughing should be at the township's council, which spent three years drafting the ordinance. The ordinance can be debated on its own questionable merits, but to spend three years on how to squelch rooster crowing is an effort that lays a big, fat egg.

Up to six chickens can be kept on a property with a minimum of five acres, but the roosters are allowed for only 10 days. If the rooster stays too long, then roosters will be banned for two years.

Hopewell must be a great place to live because they do not have any problems.

Besides having three years to draft a rooster crowing ordinance, either the neighbors or rooster police have the time to keep track how many days a year a rooster is on someone's property.

The ordinance comes to a final vote in April.

For more on foolishness in government and the Fool of the Week, see Foolocracy.com.

 

[chickenbarn-gal]

I think it's silly when people complain about the widdle "hen laying" sound, when their dogs are barking like wild.

 

[jjthink]

United Kingdom
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ken-mating-10-days-year-complaints-noise.html

Other towns are laughing at us’: Anger as council proposes limiting chicken mating to 10 days a year after complaints about noise
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:57 PM on 18th March 2011

A New Jersey town council is trying to rein in roosters’ libidos in a bid to keep the noise down, it has emerged.
Hopewell Township has proposed legislation to limit the number of nights male fowls spend with hens, with the new law also prohibiting too much crowing.
But with plans to try and punish poultry for their instinctive cries, local residents have dismissed the proposals as ridiculous.
Love ban: Roosters in Hopewell, New Jersey, will only be allowed to visit hens on 10 days per year if a new law is passed
‘You can bet if you have one rooster in there with six hens, he’s going to be crowing,’ said beef farmer John Hart.
‘Only in Hopewell Township would we waste the time and money on chicken legislation. Other towns are laughing at us,’ he told NJ.com, despite sitting on the committee that drafted the law.
The council has spent three years working on the draft ordinance, which dictates the amount of time roosters can spend with hens, the amount of noise the birds can make and the age of roosters permitted to mate.
The bizarre rules stem from a seemingly innocent inquiry from a Hopewell father who wanted to teach his children about life and death by keeping children in his backyard.
The council leapt into action and has now declared that a maximum of six hens can be kept at properties of less than five acres.
Making the big decisions: The town council in Hopewell, New Jersey, spent three years on the chicken-based legislation
Male fowls would be allowed entry to henhouses for ten days a years but should the rooster crow for a period deemed too long, he’ll face a possible two-year ban from the property, the council has ruled.
The rule is intended as a compromise between residents who want to raise chickens and those who fear the dawn crow of a rooster would disrupt their sleep.
‘We've been pecking at this for quite some time.’ Mayor Jim Burd told the Wall Street Journal
‘Don't egg us on, please.’
Currently at draft stage, the chicken mating legislation will be subject to a final vote in April and if passed, local roosters will have to limit their mating to just ten days a year and keep quiet in the process.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.
If you think they are laughing at you now...only surpassed by the laughing when they hear that a rooster only crows when he mates. They make their noise all the time. They are roosters!! Chickens don't need a rooster to lay eggs, only to make fertile ones. If people only want them for eating then why even have a rooster!
- Grammy, Iog, CA USA, 19/3/2011 00:31
Cockadoodledoo, Tonights the night.
- Ed, Melbourne, Australia, 18/3/2011 21:16
",,,,a Hopewell father who wanted to teach his children about life and death by keeping children in his backyard." Yea, we're laughing
- Sharon, Dallas, Tx, USA, 18/3/2011 18:57
**The bizarre rules stem from a seemingly innocent inquiry from a Hopewell father who wanted to teach his children about life and death by keeping children in his backyard.** Me thinks Hopewell has bigger issues to deal with besides chickens if residents are keeping "children" in the backyards now to teach "children" about life and death.
- Roy, Oklahoma USA, 18/3/2011 18:08
Do the Americans do Red Nose Day ? This is a great example of Red Nose Day humour . I just checked my calender to make sure that we hadn't reached April 1st and it wasn't an All Fools Day wind-up.
- Idi Spare, Nuneaton,UK, 18/3/2011 17:58
"The bizarre rules stem from a seemingly innocent inquiry from a Hopewell father who wanted to teach his children about life and death by keeping children in his backyard." Say what??? I wonder if the children would be noisier than the roosters? It's nothing to crow about anyway.
- Rose, Ireland, 18/3/2011 17:39


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...days-year-complaints-noise.html#ixzz1HLL8C1D3

 

[Lunachick]

Yea JJ, I read something on that in the Press. I just hope my town doesn't do anything similar. I think it's weird that they specify lot size in order to keep chickens, that's not fair!! All that other stuff is just plain silly.

 

[jjthink]

CBS NEWS
March 18, 2011 8:51 AM
Cockadoodle Don't: Rules for rooster-hen relations could get tougher in N.J. town
Posted by Barry Leibowitz

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey town is considering an ordinance that would regulate when a rooster can doodle doodle do.
Officials in Hopewell Township say they need to do something to keep the henhouse noise down in a suburban town with agrarian roots.
The rules would apply to roosters and hens on properties of less than five acres.
Small properties would be allowed to keep up to a half-dozen hens. But roosters would be allowed only 10 days a year for their conjugal chicken visits. And they'd be barred from crowing (cock-a-doodle don't).
If a rooster is too loud, the property wouldn't be allowed to host any roosters for two years.
Beef farmer John Hart told The Times of Trenton that the chicken restrictions could make the town a laughing stock

and SEE BYC REFERENCE BELOW

TIMESUNION.COM
http://blog.timesunion.com/farmlife/6616/proposed-nj-chicken-ordinance-is-so-stupid-i-cant-stand-it/
Proposed NJ Chicken Ordinance is so stupid I can’t stand it!
March 21, 2011 at 11:00 pm by Teri Conroy
Okay, so a rooster can ‘visit’ a hen to um…have sex. But, he can’t crow. Seriously??? The proposed ordinance is in a RIGHT-TO-FARM area!!!

Roosters and Cockerels. Mature roosters are prohibited; however roosters may visit the property for the purpose of fertilization so long as there are no more than ten (10) days of visitation per parcel in any twelve (12) month period, and no more than five (5) days consecutively. Any cockerel (defined as a young male chicken) that crows must be culled or permanently removed from the property within five (5) days. If there are any crowing roosters or cockerels on a parcel for more than twenty (20) days in any calendar year, all roosters are prohibited from that property for at least a 24-month period.

So….then I think that the person(s) proposing the ordinance change should have their mouths TAPED shut next time they’re wooing (or, ahem, whatever…) their significant other.

Here’s my other issue - chickens can love each other. I have (and have had) roosters who are extremely fond of their hens…it’s so very sweet to see. They hang out together all day, scratch at the dirt and eat bugs together, and roost side-by-side. This proposed ordinance is just going to make chickens look like cheap sluts, pardon me.

Give me a freaking break!
——————————————–
I first read about “NJ town may limit when roosters, hens can visit” at www.timesunion.com.
Then (thank you E.C.) I read the full proposed ordinance at the BackYardChickens forum.
Posted in chickens, opinion, politics | 9 Comments
9 Comments »
1.Talking serious McMansion country in the area where this ordinance is proposed… always gonna be an issue when things line up in conflict with legit agricultural interests.

The scariest thing is that the procreation section of this legislation isn’t the most absurd part of it. Just as one f’rinstance, check out the slaughtering section of the statute. Unenforceable… and just plain dumb.

They must have a surplus of underemployed lawyers down there, just like we have in the Capital District.

Comment by Donald — March 21st, 2011 @ 11:17 pm

2.Ten days straight? I was a hippie back in the 60′s and I thought two days was some kind of a record. Your a better man than I, Gunga Chick.

Comment by Tom Brophy — March 22nd, 2011 @ 2:57 am

3.Just make him wear one of those leather masks w/ a sipper…and keep the zipper zipped….what happens in the coop…..

Comment by Tony Barbaro — March 22nd, 2011 @ 6:09 am

4.I think that slaughtering in public view is frowned upon anyplace, right? Didn’t we have that issue in Albany County with a goat?

I want to make a McMansion ordinance about outside lighting – think I wrote about that once.

Also, as much as I raise a handful of chickens for pets and “see the love”….I’m all for those who can and do raise them for meat. Still – wrong to put a limit on the amount of days a rooster can spend with hens.

Tom and Tony – thanks for the laughs and reminding me why I never write about you-know-what!

Comment by Teri Conroy — March 22nd, 2011 @ 6:34 am

5.Reality is geographically a very long ways away from there….just sayin’

Comment by threecollie — March 22nd, 2011 @ 7:10 am

6.Yes, “public slaughter” is a legit issue, but in a suburban neighborhood it can be awfully difficult to reasonably define “public view”…especially if the neighbors are doing the local version of Hatfields vs. McCoys.
A lighting ordinance? Lots of folks who overspent on those McMansions want to show off their “toys” and don’t take kindly to any limitations on it, but that would be a potentially good law- if you could get it passed.
The Hopewell Township proposed ordinance does contain one interesting piece, though, and that’s a legal definition of “home agriculture”, which forms the basis for the municipality allowing chickens in residential neighborhoods in the first place. That’s an addition to zoning code that Capital District municipalities wrestling with “the chicken question” should maybe explore.
On the other part of the issue, I “can’t keep up with” other commenters, so I’ll take a bye.

Comment by Donald — March 22nd, 2011 @ 7:15 am

7.Teri, I decided to do a teensy weensy edit on the language of the law from above. Please forgive me….

Male Legislators and Freshman Male Legislators: (Roosters and Cockerels). Mature male legislators are prohibited; however mature male legislators may visit the property for the purpose of fertilization so long as there are no more than ten (10) days of visitation per parcel in any twelve (12) month period, and no more than five (5) days consecutively. Any Freshman male legislator (cockerel) (defined as a young male legislator) that crows must be culled or permanently removed from the property within five (5) days. If there are any crowing Male legislators or Freshman male legislators on a parcel for more than twenty (20) days in any calendar year, all male legislators are prohibited from that property for at least a 24-month period.

Our legislators and their broods.

Should we call it “The Farmers Daughters” law?

Comment by mark — March 22nd, 2011 @ 9:05 am

8.Your rooster looks like a P.I.M.P. with his hens.

Comment by Will King — March 22nd, 2011 @ 9:22 am

9.I always sort of liked rooster calls. I don’t even think they’re that loud anyway, unless you’ve living where the houses are right next to each other. And I’m assuming in McMansion-ville, that’s not the case. Do these morons have laws banning woodpeckers and crows and other birds that make louder noise too?

Comment by Cihan — March 22nd, 2011 @ 11:36

 

[goldeneggtees]

Oh my! This is getting interesting jjthinks!

 

[jjthink]

BOSTON HERALD
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/offbeat/view.bg?articleid=1324058&format=comments#CommentsArea
NJ town may limit when roosters, hens can visit

By Associated Press | Thursday, March 17, 2011

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A New Jersey town is considering an ordinance that would regulate when a rooster can doodle doodle do.

Officials in Hopewell Township say they need to do something to keep the henhouse noise down in a suburban town with agrarian roots.

The rules would apply to roosters and hens on properties of less than five acres.

Small properties would be allowed to keep up to a half-dozen hens. But roosters would be allowed only 10 days a year. And they’d be barred from crowing.

If a rooster is too loud, the property wouldn’t be allowed to host any roosters for two years.

Beef farmer John Hart told The Times of Trenton that the chicken restrictions could make the town a laughing stock.

 

[jjthink]

howling, schellie, scbatz, chickenbarn, Luna/Ginny, axion, stevo, mac, SS, abe, wpalm..., thank you for your thoughts!

We'll see where on earth this thing surfaces next!

Would like to provide feedback on this proposed ordinance ...and time is short before it is scheduled for possible adoption so any additional thoughts are very very welcome!!!

JJ

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Ya know, the bad part about this ordinance to limit procreation is that it is only targeting chickens.


I suggest that they amend the legislation to limit the number of "conjugal visits" per year that legislators who vote for this ordinance can engage in.


I mean, do we REALLY want these legislative politikos to breed, if they cannot wrap their little bird brains around the fact that they cannot control the mating or crowing activities of a barnyard rooster?