Well, the good news is I finally got the incubator to settle and hatched out a half dozen chicks last fall.
The bad news is - three of the six mixed breed chicks were roos, and since I'm a sound sleeper, my neighbors found out I had roos before I confirmed the fact.
If neighbor had come to me first the roos would have gone immediately.
My take on the matter was if they lay they stay, if they crow they go...
but since I live in a Resident 1 zone and not Resident 2 , all poultry and my breeding stock of young bunnies had to go within 30 days or I was facing a $75. per day fine.
The zoning inspector didn't see the four baby bunnies, but in the spirit of full disclosure I told him they were there, and since the town has an anti bunny ordinance, they had to go too.
There is a little history here... a rabbit breeder had 3000 rabbits in a residential lot, and made no attempt to cooperate with neighbors, thus the bunny ban.
I waited until the final day of my 30 day window and rehomed bunnies, six hens and my surviving Muscovy duck.
The three roos went to freezer camp as nobody wanted or needed crossbred roos.
So until such time as my town extends the right to raise small animals to all residents, I'm out of the animal husbandry business.
Our town did pass the right to farm act here in Massachusetts, - which I thought trumped the restrictive zoning - but not so.
Our new head of the board of Selectmen is very pro-farming so he will be in our corner to get this done sometime in the future. .
In the meantime, I'm keeping my coop and duck pens right where they are, and hopefully some time in the near future, I'll be able to restock with the 15 animals the Resident 2 zoning law allows.
It's either that or move and that's not an option at this time.
My hens ended up at the nearby "children's barnyard" run by - you guessed it - the town...
and they were more than glad to accept six free laying hens.
So if I'm willing to pay $1.00 for parking on a weekend, I can go visit my girls - just cannot feed them as this is strictly prohibited.
And yes, I was given the choice of fighting the action at a hearing - but the cost was prohibitive so it's now wait and hope.
The bad news is - three of the six mixed breed chicks were roos, and since I'm a sound sleeper, my neighbors found out I had roos before I confirmed the fact.
If neighbor had come to me first the roos would have gone immediately.
My take on the matter was if they lay they stay, if they crow they go...
but since I live in a Resident 1 zone and not Resident 2 , all poultry and my breeding stock of young bunnies had to go within 30 days or I was facing a $75. per day fine.
The zoning inspector didn't see the four baby bunnies, but in the spirit of full disclosure I told him they were there, and since the town has an anti bunny ordinance, they had to go too.
There is a little history here... a rabbit breeder had 3000 rabbits in a residential lot, and made no attempt to cooperate with neighbors, thus the bunny ban.
I waited until the final day of my 30 day window and rehomed bunnies, six hens and my surviving Muscovy duck.
The three roos went to freezer camp as nobody wanted or needed crossbred roos.
So until such time as my town extends the right to raise small animals to all residents, I'm out of the animal husbandry business.
Our town did pass the right to farm act here in Massachusetts, - which I thought trumped the restrictive zoning - but not so.
Our new head of the board of Selectmen is very pro-farming so he will be in our corner to get this done sometime in the future. .
In the meantime, I'm keeping my coop and duck pens right where they are, and hopefully some time in the near future, I'll be able to restock with the 15 animals the Resident 2 zoning law allows.
It's either that or move and that's not an option at this time.
My hens ended up at the nearby "children's barnyard" run by - you guessed it - the town...
and they were more than glad to accept six free laying hens.
So if I'm willing to pay $1.00 for parking on a weekend, I can go visit my girls - just cannot feed them as this is strictly prohibited.
And yes, I was given the choice of fighting the action at a hearing - but the cost was prohibitive so it's now wait and hope.
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