Shhh...illegal aliens in my backyard.

[Theda's Mom]

Love you lifein1840!!!! And yours is the million dollar question: where do we start?! I've never organized anything like this - heck, I've never been involved in anything like this - but I'm sure somewhere in this wonderful BYC community there is someone (probably many someones) who know how to get a campaign off the ground.

With that rather big caveat on my part, I'll still be bold, and suggest that the first thing we should do is start putting together educational information. I'd love to see, for instance, the kinds of information used by some of the BYCers in successful zoning campaigns: what worked, what didn't, how was the successful material presented?

Then, I suppose, we'd want to decide who our major target audience would be and start creating informational/educational material pitched toward them.

People just don't know chickens. My daughter - a wonderful young lady who grew up with horses - was hilarious when I first introduced my chickens to her. She was reluctant to even TOUCH my beloved white cochin. DD actually thought that chicken feathers would be oily!!! Here's a grown-up animal lover, organic-eating, vegetarian - precisely the kind of person sympathetic to our cause - who shied away from the sweetest hen on the planet because she simply didn't KNOW. I'll bet there are lots of potentially pro-chicken people out there who just don't KNOW.

Let's change that!!

 

[barred-rocks-rock]

Bribe with eggs!

 

[barred-rocks-rock]

dogs are louder than chickens.and i cant tell the difference between my hens and normal birds. you dont see neighbors that are calling the police because the cardinals or doves are chirping.

 

[quail newbie]

A while back I was renting a place and ended up adopting a dog, the landlord said he wanted to change it to a no pets building so I went to my doctor and got her to write me a note saying she was a "therapy dog to help with anxiety" I've had a few friends since then that used similar excuses to keep their various types of animals. It really does work if it comes to that. Good luck and have fun with your new chickies

 

[Ghostchick]

Quote:
LOL, true, you can say there are pekinese!

 

[chuckzoo]

I am not allowed to keep chickens either, but I have two barred Rocks now 15 weeks old. I did my best to blend my coop and run with the surroundings.
You can see it here;

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=28681

Good luck!

 

[EweSheep]

Great going folks!!!

No roosters! If you decide to keep them, you are guaranteed you will be turned in for noise nuisance.

You can have a large shed with a few chickens in it with a small dog run out back all surrounded with privacy fence and a real shingled roof. OR convert a gazebo type shade lawn that you see in home improvment stores that someone wants to get rid of for a run.

Use lots of vines and tall plants to hide but still have some ventilation so your coop and girls have some breeze going on.

Most of all, enjoy!

Lifein1840, that guy is a jerk, salmonella can be found anywhere else but how OFTEN do we get salmonella FROM our eggs? Rare, so, so rare!

 

[chuckzoo]

Quote:
Great idea on the used gazebo! I found one that someone threw out and was able to use the decorative side pieces for my beans to climb on - looks quite classy. Unfortunately they had mangled to top to badly for any better use, i.e. a run.

 

[a1nun]

Nothing seems to have been posted on this thread in a long time ... I'm contemplating having two chickens (after I learn all I need to learn) and probably not till next year.

 

[joan1708]

I also have illegal aliens! My city says chickens have to be 150 ft away from a neighbors residence (that eliminates 90-95% of us) and my HOA forbids chickens. I asked all my neighbors before I got them and they said OK. That was a year ago. Now I have them. I built the coop on my side yard as far away from my neighbors as I can get it. It is up on a retaining wall and behind a 6 foot stockade fence. The coop under 2 large holly bushes/small trees, so it's totally hidden. The run is hidden from the street but partially visible from 2nd story roofs. I also have an little run extension so the girls can get some sun if they want to.

Thankfully, I live in a fairly noisy area. There are trains, planes and a highway about 1/2 mile away. I'm on a small hill and it's also a little windy up here whack helps some. I'm on a corner lot and there is a side walk about 20-25 ft away below the retaining wall. My silkies have been pretty quiet. I haven't heard them from the side-walk yet. That is my most vulnerable spot but, I think I'll be OK.


Below is the view over the fence (My vulnerable spot).