Rhode Island or in the area?

[6chickens in St. Charles]

What's it like to have backyard chickens in Rhode Island? There's a possibility we may consider moving there.

 

[forstadt]

Well, since hens were made legal in Providence recently, things are great here!

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Horray, we have one rooster.
He will be hard to part with....

How is Mass?

 

[mandalitten]

Here is an article in the projo about the new ordinance. Sorry, no roosters.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/PROVIDENCE_CHICKENS_ORDINANCE_09-30-10_5TJUEH_v52.4116802.html

 

[GardenerGal]

When I was getting ready to head to URI for my freshman year, I wrote ahead and asked if I could bring my two bantams, a rooster and a hen, with me, along with their portable coop. There was a cow barn behind the dorm where I would be living, and figured they might let me put the coop there. The dean's office wrote back and told me, "Sure!"

So the answer is: Move to Kingston, and you can keep your rooster.

In Massachusetts, rural areas (as long as they are not "artificially" rural, meaning they are the hoy-poloi affluent towns that maintain a "rural atmosphere" but hate farm animals) should be fine for keeping chickens. Some cities do allow them, usually with a "no roosters" stipulation, and some cities allow you to have anything you want as long as you keep them quiet and clean, and the neighbors don't complain.

I live in Salem, Mass. and there are no poultry or livestock ordinances. So, you can keep anything from chickens to llamas and as long as no one complains, it's fine. I keep my roosters in a barn at night and don't let them go outside until the neighborhood is awake. As soon as I hear lawnmowers, screeching kids and barking dogs, the chickens, ducks and geese go out. No one notices them.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
Oooh Thanks!

Where we live now, there's a few roosters around and they sometimes crow to each other. Nobody's complaining and there's nothing in the ordinance about having roosters or not, only "...animals strictly prohibited...except for birds and fish". Its not a farm-ish place by any means, no barns anywhere, really a city/suburban setting. I'm just lucky. I hope we can find a place like this again!

 

[GardenerGal]

If you look at rural areas in RI (Hope Valley, Kenyon, Glocester, rural parts of South Kingstown, Charlestown, Matunic, etc.) you will find rooster-friendly real estate. If you go to Warwick, East G., and those more urban places you might not have as easy a search. Massachusetts towns near the RI or CT border are a good bet: Uxbridge, Blackstone, Whitinsville, Mendon. Find something on Rte. 44 and you can get to Providence easily while enjoying the peaceful (and rooster-habitable) countryside.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
OMG you ROCK! That's exactly the information I need. Now I can googleearth, and check routes to the hospitals where I can work. I understand road traffic is very congested around there but if I'm lucky, Good People Like You can steer me in the right direction!

Thank You!

 

[GardenerGal]

I hope it helps as a start, but you should check the ordinances of any town or city you seriously consider for a home. Some communities have a website with the ordinances there, but the best way is to Google the municipal phone directory and call their dog/animal control officer. That's the person who usually knows the regs on poultry and livestock. Also when you get a realtor, ask that person to help you look at local animal ordinances. Sometimes, there are no actual restrictions about keeping poultry, but there may be a very strict noise ordinance and you'd need to be aware of that.

Good luck.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Thank you, very very much.

We have a strange rooster situation. Good, but different. Our big daddy rooster doesn't make much noise. He crows very rarely, and its more Jose Carrerras or Michael Bolton than SpongeBobSquarePants, soft and rich. We have a roobaby who doesn't have a voice. I have watched that one carefully, not a peep out of him. Does all the rooster stuff, but no crowing. Sure, we have a few roobabies who are starting to crow, its so cute! Another roobaby is a gorgeous blue boy with turquoise ears, and his crow is quieter than his dad's. But I bet the ones we keep are the quiet ones.

Like we taught the kids, "Everybody's different, nobody's perfect." The quiet roobaby is all black, and his irridescence is purple, not green/blue. His comb is coming in walnut shaped and mulberry, like his dad, but smooth feathers, not Silkie. He'll make a good pet, pretty and friendly, but quiet. I think there is a God, and that God has blessed me.