I've only got a micro farm, 6 birds. I've had a go around with the city and have had to move 'em a couple of times. I'm only getting a couple eggs a week. stress probably. I have a friend with a big farm, alpaca to peacocks! Her 30ish chix are giving her only 3 to 6 eggs a day. I asked her about the drop in production. She told me that she has tried lights to extend the day, more calories, more protein, different feed all together and anything else you can think off. doesn't seem to matter what she does or had done over the last 20 years-she has decreased egg production this time every year (we are in south east MI). one thing that she has found that had her confused one season with NO Eggs at all. turned out to be an egg eating chicken! they were actually laying but by the time she got there to pick up the eggs they had been eaten, shells and all!
MI right to farm act should give me the right to keep a few chickens. I have met the GAAMP. I have 6 hens and I sell eggs, the sign is up @ my mom's house and I sell the eggs from there. The city I'm in says that I need a business license to sell eggs at my house. To get a business license I need to be in a commercial zone. I am currently zoned residential. The city says that the MI right to farm act isn't applicable because I'm not a farm. I contend that I am. I have a corner lot, 80' x 140' including easements. I live in a city that is 1.4 sq miles in size. The population is 4500 people. I am not in a flood zone, I am not on a main waterway, I am not near a community well or water treatment plant. We have city water and sewer, not well water and septic. I am .7 miles from a property that keeps horses, in the next town. My friend suggested that I get a DBA (doing business as) such as "cluck country farm" or "whispering feathers farm" or something like and take my chickens supplies off on my taxes. If the IRS considered me a farm the city must? I went before the city council of 7 members to amend the current ordinance which disallows fowl or livestock in the city, to allow for chickens. I brought them 130 signatures, from the homes nearest mine, in a petition to allow: up to 6 hens, no roosters., coops must be 20' from any home other than the owners, the coop must be kept clean and in good repair., food must be stored in a rodent resistant container, the chickens can not leave the property of the owner. Of 7 council members, 3 voted to hold it over for the planning commission, 4 refused to change the current ordinance. Leaving me back where I started. I went to a second city council meeting. Here I brought up the MI right to farm act in a letter given to each council member, the city clerk and the the city manager, before the meeting started. I suggested that perhaps they/we didn't want want everyone in the city to know about the MI right to farm act or we may have people petitioning for a pet goat, pig or ????. That perhaps it maybe a better to reclassify chickens as poultry for the purpose of this ordinance. fowl are after all game birds. chickens are domesticated fowl but and they are now raised for meat and eggs and are now strictly poultry, there is no hunting season for chickens as there is for ducks, geese, pheasant and turkeys. This is where they said the MI right to farm act is not applicable to me as they claim that I am not a farm. they didn't even visit the poultry angle.
Is there an attorney reader who could or would write a letter stating that I AM A FARM. I gave the city manager a copy of the MI right to farm act and he reads it as a document that prevents existing farms from being cited for noise, dust or other disturbances caused by the farm equipment ect. He says that I am not a farm, have never been a farm and can not be a farm as I am not zone for that. I sure could use some help here. I can't afford to hire an attorney, I need a letter from an attorney. opinions from farm owners, sorry to say, doesn't
hold a lot of weight.
Thank you, "Whispering Feathers Farm (?)"
