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Very cool thread. I’m in Boston, and its my understanding that chickens are still illegal here, although they are fine across the river in Cambridge. My sister’s coworker lives in Cambridge and has a small flock, and they really enjoy it. There is a push to legalize chickens in Boston too. It’s inevitable that there are still chickens here though, but I’m not willing to be the owner of one of these renegade flocks. If it ever becomes legal, I would be very interested. I have a moderately sized back yard and a garage that is about 18 feet by 12 feet. I would probably give them a corner and cut a hole in one of the walls so they have access to the outdoors. How dangerous are birds of prey in cities? Are there still hawks and falcons patrolling the skies that are a danger? I personally have not seen any, but there have been occasional reports of them making nests around parks or in high rises and eating pigeons. Not sure how much of a risk, or how common they are. Also, how hard is it to balance out chickens with a lawn to the point where they eat the grass to where it doesn’t need to be mowed but not to the point where they destroy the lawn?
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Jun 15, 2011 17:20
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Dr Scoofles posted:Why are chickens illegal? If you don't have a rooster they are not that noisy (unless you really piss them off) - apart from noise trouble I can't think of any real reason to ban em. quote:All residential zones in Boston forbid "auxilliary keeping of animals", which includes poultry and other livestock. http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html I don’t know how strictly it is enforced
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Jun 15, 2011 18:34
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WrathofKhan posted:Zeta Taskforce: The main problem that I've run into with my chickens is that while they like grass, it isn't really their most favorite thing ever, so they tend to try to trash everything else and then move onto the grass. I haven't tried it myself, but the best way to use chickens for lawn control is to get a movable pen, whats usually called a 'chicken tractor'. When you say everything else, you mean the clover, dandelions, weeds, and all the stuff in a lawn besides grass? One of those portable things would be so cool though. Say that I had planted a cover crop in part of my garden like field peas, sounds like they would be able to plow through that and fertilize it at the same time. Nature does such cool things when different species are able to interact.
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Jun 15, 2011 19:15
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Looks like the issue of chickens is coming up in Boston. http://legalizechickensinboston.org/ quote:Urban chickens: City board lays an egg on try at sustainability http://www.metro.us/boston/local/article/915867--urban-chickens-city-board-lays-an-egg-on-try-at-sustainability
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Jul 13, 2011 21:52
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How did you all acquire your chickens? Do you go down to the hardware store and if so, how many breeds were available? I was looking online and there are sources like https://www.mypetchicken.com and https://www.purelypoultry.com It looks like both have a huge selection of breeds, but shipping is expensive and I wonder how traumatic it is for the birds to be shipped long distances, and the shipping itself is not cheap. But it would be cool to have a flock of a bunch of breeds and have an assortment of blue, white, and brown of various shades.
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Jul 25, 2011 15:44
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Lyz posted:Yeah, they said if they took the guy to court over this they look at the value of the bird over its life span rather than just how much I paid for it initially. I dunno if I'll get anything for the damage to my coop though. Do you know who the dogs belong to? Did you happen to get pictures? Yeah, I would sue the owners and file a complaint with animal control and demand proof that their rabies shots are up to date. Make their life hell. I would do it even if they awarded me $5 in damages.
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Aug 1, 2011 15:50
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The more I think about it, the more I want to have chickens. Like I mentioned earlier, they are illegal in Boston, but none of my neighbors would have a problem with them, but you can see my backyard from a train platform, so visible might be bad. I have a free standing garage/shed with a cement floor that is 20 by 25 feet. I've done enough reading about how commercial eggs are produced, and its barbaric. But that means the only eggs I trust cost $4 a dozen at the farmers market. I imagine I can do it a lot cheaper than that, plus so many pretty colors! Are there any special considerations to keeping them entirely indoors? Like if I blocked off a 12 by 12 corner, that should be enough room for 5 or 6 chickens? I have a bunch more rambling questions, want to bounce ideas that have been floating in my head. If I weeded my garden, would they be able to safely eat the weeds if I tossed them in while they were still fresh? How do dried leaves work as bedding? I'm buried in them every fall and composting them is easier said than done. What ends up happening is I make piles in the fall, they heat up, start cooking, but then winter happens and the piles freeze solid. In the spring they become a sopping mass of smelly, slimy, packed together half decayed leaves that is an uphill battle to turn over. I'm thinking that it will be easier to compost leaves that have chicken poo poo embedded in them. It would be even cooler if the composting piles attracted worms that I could feed back to them. Do they eat watermelon rinds? Also, it looks like some feed is formulated for layers. Does this already have calcium added or do they still require another source like crushed shells? I'm browsing craigslist just to get an idea of what supplies cost, and I came across a weird ad. Looks like someone is breeding at random all kinds of breeds. I'm NOT going to buy anything there, but I have to admit, if you crossed a Americana with a French Black Copper Marans, would the eggs be puke green? http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/grd/2528312811.html
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Aug 5, 2011 05:22
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Alterian posted:You don't want to keep chickens indoors. They're dusty, loud, and smelly. You'd have to be constantly cleaning their area to make sure your house doesn't smell. Even with their wings clipped, they can still get over about 3 feet What would be the point in building a coop when I already have a much more solid shed? To clarify, it is a standalone structure that is in no way connected to the house. Right now I store my bike, lawn mower, some plastic storage crates, empty garbage cans. It does have windows. If I took out the glass and put mesh on them, I would get plenty of air movement. I would build nesting boxes. I own the property and wouldn’t care if it gets dusty. There would be about 25 square feet per bird. Would this work, or still bad idea?
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Aug 5, 2011 14:46
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Alterian posted:Bad idea. The leaves could have parasites or other bad things on them so you wouldn't want to use them as bedding. If you have a pile of leaves somewhere that the chickens have access to, they will scratch through it themselves and probably spread it out of being a pile. I was poking around the forums on backyard chickens and it seems like people do use them with good effect. Someone else on there mentioned parasites, but they were in Louisana. I wonder if stuff came from wild birds via leaves? People up north didn't seem to report any problems though, except that they are not as absorbant as woodshavings or sawdust.
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Aug 5, 2011 22:43
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Lyz posted:I personally wouldn't keep chickens if I couldn't let them outdoors, but I did work for an animal research lab on college that kept chickens indoors all the time (to keep them isolated from outside pathogens) so it is possible. You'll probably have a higher instance of chickens being stressed and pecking at each other, so invest in anti-peck lotion. Ok, I think everyone's convinced me. If I decide to flout Boston laws, I will cut a hole in my shed wall (being a homeowner has its perks) and fence off a small area. If everyone else has a smaller coop and a larger run, I will do it backwards, but whatever. I have a French last name and the French do everything backwards. I'm not too afraid of fines. I think the worst they would do is make you remove them and fine you if you don't. But hopefully that day will never come.
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Aug 6, 2011 15:32
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I had a friend visit me from NYC last night. He lives right the middle of the city, somewhere in Harlem, like 135th st. I was telling him how I wanted to get a few chickens but unlike NYC, Boston doesn't allow them. He said that his next door neighbor had chickens and a rooster living right on their deck, which of course goes off all hours of the night. I'm thinking who in their right mind would have a rooster on their deck in the middle of Harlem?
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Aug 18, 2011 18:14
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Greycious posted:I've been looking up breeds of chickens and I've settled on about 5-6 types I would really like. I was wondering the same exact thing. When (if) I get chickens, I decided I want a rainbow of different colors. I was thinking about a Rhode Island Red, a White Leghorn, a Welsummer, a Plymouth Rock and a couple Easter Eggers. I've been researching this, and the consensus is that it's bad to have a flock of one breed and one that is different because that one might be picked on, but if all of them are different, then the chickens have a broader vision of what it means to be a chicken. Is this what other people observe?
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Aug 21, 2011 23:22
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), Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Red, and White Plymouth Rocks.
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Nettle Soup posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pPN7qy2080 Admittedly I didn't watch the whole thing but I did watch a few minutes here and there. They spend a lot of time digging in the dirt. Did you put down scratch or are they finding worms?
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Oct 16, 2011 15:16
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I know I keep going back and forth on if I should get chickens or not. Chickens are not allowed in Boston, but if you get caught you are not punished if you get rid of them, so I’m at no risk of going to jail or anything. But for obvious reasons I don’t want to get caught. My next door neighbors would have no objections, but I am close to a train station so I don’t want anything too visible. Because of the noise from the trains, low flying planes going into Logan, my neighbors dog, wind blowing through the trees, I am not worried about noise. If you recall, I own a reasonably large stand alone garage (which can not be used as such because there is a 60 foot tall tree in front of it where one would drive in). I had asked if one could keep chickens entirely inside, or if they need an outside run. The consensus was yes, but….. I’m wondering how fair it would be to the chickens if I had a flock of 5 or 6 birds, gave them 200 square feet inside and built a privacy fence like this  around a run of another 150 feet? They would have space, fresh air, but not a heck of a lot of direct sunlight. Assuming their other material needs like food, water, and bedding were met, would they be happy birds?
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Nov 16, 2011 19:15
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Chido posted:Chickens do need some access to sunlight, but I guess as long as some of their run gets some sun, it should be ok. Here's a link to homemade coops that could give you an idea of what to build for your yard that wouldn't be too obvious. You could even make the coop look like a shed! I don’t need to build a coop that looks like a shed. I have a shed.   drat, I need to clean out my gutters. You kind of look at things every day and get use to them, but take a picture? This is embarrassing. But if I got chickens I would block off part of the inside, build appropriate roosts and nesting boxes in there, cut a hole in the wall so they can go outside. I would surround the run with the privacy fence. You see that big building in the background? That is the train station. The chickens would be 5 feet away from MBTA property. Am I brain dead?
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Nov 17, 2011 21:18
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Maximusi posted:Why not just fence in your whole backyard, and let the chickens run amok? Build the coop in the shed and open the doors at dawn. I don't even have a run and I've had no problems with hawks so far (I live in slightly foresty/mountainy area). No one will know. Chickens are pretty quiet. The only thing is chickens poop a hell of a lot, but if you have a vegetable garden that could be a good thing for the soil. Nah, I bought the house, its my own doing. Its extremely convenient. It was a construction site for years, and that was a pain, but the station is finally done. They put a special soundproof pane of glass between the station and the neighborhood so its not that loud. I bought a 2 family house and being next to public transit makes it easier to rent out. I would put the fence around the entire back yard except part of the yard is visible from the platform and with the exception of the area in front of the shed, all of the back yard is visible by MBTA workers. I do have a vegetable garden and have done a lot of landscaping out front too, but my soil isn’t that great, so lots of poop is a huge plus.
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Nov 17, 2011 22:20
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Poor things. You are doing God’s work. I’m not saying animals have rights, I eat meat, but nothing should live like laying hens are forced to. I would like to do this too.
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Dec 30, 2011 00:06
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spookygonk posted:Chickens or the eggs? The hens were weighed when we brought them home: This might be a dumb question, but how do you know who laid what egg? Did you catch them in the act, or is there a way you know based on where you found the egg? Also I hope you share lots of pics of your birds as their health improves and they adjust to their new home. They finally get to live lives that nature intended for them.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:37
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Maximusi posted:What do you guys do with all the chicken poop? I’m probably not the best person to answer this because I don’t have chickens yet, but I’m actually looking forward to the poop. I have a vegetable garden and chicken poop is amazing fertilizer. My understanding is it is considered “hot” in that the nutrients are very concentrated and it could burn the plants if applied straight, but the poop/litter mix added to yard waste should make amazing compost.
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Apr 2, 2012 19:41
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I have a question about mypetchicken.com. I’m somewhere between ready to pull the trigger on this and still daydreaming and living vicariously through all of you. I noticed that the availability of different breeds varies widely, but generally nothing to very little is available from now until about the second week of June, at which point practically all breeds are available. Does this mean that I would need to place an order 3 months in advance, or do they have very little availability in the spring? It might not be the cheapest way to get a flock, but I am strangely fixated on having lots of different egg colors.
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Apr 4, 2012 14:18
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I’m trying to get my roommate/tenant out of the house. He is a borderline hoarder and never pays me on time for anything, and he has a lot of boxes in my shed. The chickens can’t come in until I get him out.  It looks like May 31st will be his last day there.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:45
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Hilda the chicken is beyond cute! I’m really thinking about pulling the trigger on my chicken order. What are people’s thoughts on Marek’s vaccination? How long after I get the chickens before I have to have the coop set up, nesting boxes in place, run built, etc. Also any glaring problems with any of the breeds I selected? I’m looking for hardy birds that will lay different colored eggs and tolerate cold weather. 
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Apr 5, 2012 18:18
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Where is this Chickam chat? I am looking less for “yard candy”. Maybe “refrigerator candy” is a better description. I think it would be really fun to have extra eggs and be able to give a dozen fun, cool looking eggs away of every different shade to the people in my life I care about. As far as the chickens themselves go, all chickens are beautiful and fun to watch. I don’t need fancy looking birds, it’s more important that they be productive layers that use food efficiently and keep going in the winter. Bonus if they are friendly.
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Apr 5, 2012 23:09
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I was reading the Chickam chat thread and Velvet Sparrow reported an egg bound hen. How often does that happen? Google says to put her in a cage that is very warm and moist will relax her enough for her to lay the egg. I can picture myself doing that. But I don’t want to get in the habit of bringing them to the vet and paying hundreds of dollars if that doesn’t work.
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Apr 9, 2012 18:24
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daggerdragon posted:His Craigslist posting is pretty well-done with good keyword placement, but that copy-paste smile of his is genuinely creepy, 14 years old or not :/ The average 14 year old doesn't raise 750 chickens. He is going to own us one day, and he will do it with a (creepy) smile.
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Apr 9, 2012 21:13
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I just pulled the trigger and ordered chickens a few minutes ago. They are coming on June 18th. Ended up going with 4 Acondas, 4 Barred Plymouth Rocks (nod to Massachusetts), 4 Welsummers, 4 Easter Eggers. Hopefully I can sell half of them some time around the end of the summer. Colorful egg basket, here I come!
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Apr 14, 2012 20:02
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How long does chicken feed keep for, assuming it is kept dry? I’m thinking those big plastic storage bins with the lid. Since I’m within the city limits of Boston, I don’t have a nearby feed store. The nearest one is about 20 miles away. I sold my car last fall, and while I do have Zipcar, I would rather not have to use it every 2 weeks, since it would cost $20 each trip. Can I buy 3 months at a time? Sort of a related question, are there places online that you can order from that would be reasonably competitive with a local feed store?
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Apr 30, 2012 16:09
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I'm not sure how long dry chicken feed lasts, but I do have to question this. How are you going to take chickens to the vet without a car? Chickens have a certain ability to make a car smell like a barnyard pretty quickly and I can't imagine Zipcar would be too happy about that. D'you have a friend with a car that'd be willing to take you for that or something? I don’t want to sound mean, but do I need a vet? I will take all prudence necessary with vaccinations, feeding a varied and nutritious diet and fresh bedding. They will enjoy treats. They will not be overcrowded, will have about 20 square feet per bird, and I have selected hardy heritage breeds appropriate for my climate and that will not wear themselves out laying. I am open to every bit of preventative care possible. But if one gets sick and it proves outside of my ability to heal her, I am not spending money on a vet. I am not getting chickens to make money or save money, but because I am very interested in knowing where my food comes from, and the added benefit of the poop for my vegetable garden. They will be working girls and as someone who grew up on a dairy farm, I am not morally conflicted about what will happen to them if and when they stop working.
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Apr 30, 2012 17:12
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WrathofKhan posted:Chicken feed can keep for years, if its kept in an airtight container. You don't mention how many chickens you are feeding, but, for scale, it takes my flock of ten chickens around 3 months to go through a 50lb bag of chicken feed. I keep mine in a metal trash can to keep rodents out, and haven't had a problem. The biggest problems will be bugs and moisture, and a good way to deal with that is to mix in some Diatomaceous earth. Make sure its the food/chemical grade, and not the stuff you use for pool filters. This is very helpful. I think I will be somewhere around the size of your flock, maybe a bit smaller; I’m thinking 8. I’m kind of surprised that it takes you that much time to go through 50 pounds of feed. What percentage of their diet do you think comes from store bought feed vs table scraps vs foraging? I had seen figures that each bird could be expected to eat a quarter pound a day, which would mean you in theory would go through 2.5 pounds per day, and go through 50 pounds every 20 days. My day old chicks should be arriving somewhere around June 20th and I’m hoping that for a couple months this fall before it gets too cold can have them explore the lawn and my garden within the confines of a chicken tractor, but grazing opportunities will be limited this year. Next year I am thinking about dramatically expanding the size of my vegetable garden, on one side plant as normal, the other side plant cover crops like buckwheat, clover and field peas, and every day give my girls access to a few square feet to demolish. The following year I will plant my vegetable on the side that I grew the cover crops on, hopefully enriched by all the manure and cover crops.
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May 1, 2012 15:18
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jenelle posted:I'm sorry if you already posted this, but what are you going to do for a main coop? I have a small garage/shed in the back of my house. I am going to block off a corner of it and build nesting boxes and perches inside. I will cut a hole into the side to allow access into an enclosed run. The run itsself will be small as to not attract attention from commuters from the nearby train station. My neighbors are cool with me getting them. Actually my next door neighbors just got bees so I've made a deal for eggs in return for honey.
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May 1, 2012 19:29
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Bash Ironfist posted:Wanna live next to you and your neighbor, that's awesome. Bee fresh honey for chicken fresh eggs! A goat! We are in Boston and that big building behind me is a train station that serves thousands of riders a day, but that would still be pretty cool if someone could get away with having a goat though. My neighbors on the other side are Vietnamese so who knows? I do want to plant fruit trees, but first I have to save up to remove some big shade trees that are in the way. I’m trying to decide if when I block off the corner of my shed if it is better to have a solid wall between the chickens and everything else, or better instead to block it off with wire, to increase ventilation. The shed is about 15 feet by 20 feet, and I want to give them 10 by 10 feet of it. I will have windows on 2 sides and they will have access to their run either way.
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May 1, 2012 20:59
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Inveigle posted:You might want to build a solid wall. Chickens have a way of flinging poop and everything else from the floor (hay, shavings) all over the place -- not to mention dust/feathers/dirt. Anything else stored in the shed would get pretty filthy. Not sure how cold it is there in the winter, but would a wire wall also make it harder to insulate the coop? Drafts can kill chickens if it gets too cold. That is a good point. I will go with a solid wall, but I’m thinking about making a small hole a few feet up so I can have a fan blow air in during the summer. I will cover it with wire to make sure no one decides to fly into the fan. I’m not sure I will have enough ventilation otherwise, especially on some of those hot, windless summer days. How important is hosing down the floor? It would seem that cleaning things out periodically, scraping everything off the floor, and putting down fresh bedding should be enough?
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May 2, 2012 16:10
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I’m really bummed out today. I had to cancel my order. I served my tenant eviction papers due to him never paying me on time, being a hoarder, and all together insufferable person. (some of) his stuff is where I want to build the coop, and it looks like I need to go to the court to have him physically removed. His last day he can legally be on the property is May 31st, and he hasn’t even begun to start moving. The speed that the wheels of justice move, there is no way I will be ready for my June 18th delivery date.
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May 25, 2012 19:52
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Chido posted:nooo D:. Are you sure you couldn't keep your chicks? You'd still have to keep them in a brooder/inside your house for 8-9 weeks before being moved to a coop, so you'd have until August to move them outside I'd love that. I'm glad he's feeling better and I so wish I could hug him! I'm sure about it though. There is a big push to legalize them in Boston, but until then they are of questionable legality. I'm not going to give someone who I am dragging to court ammo to blackmail me with.
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May 25, 2012 20:06
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Sorry about your loss. It sounds like you did everything you could. I know you had too many roosters, but it is still sad to lose one like that.
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May 29, 2012 17:53
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:"If a vet isn't nearby, you should probably kill it instead of trying to take care of it" doesn't really sound reasonable to me, either, though. Yeah I'm aware of what happens with using antibiotics and stuff too much but it seems like a poor attitude toward a person's pet to say "Oh, well, you aren't a vet and you can't reach a vet, better grab the axe!". Do you have other ideas? When I finally do get my flock going, I’m going to pretty much follow Topoisomerase’s advice. Before I grab the ax I will isolate her, do some research, try some supportive therapies that will not do harm. If that time comes, I hope I have as strong of a stomach as Chido does. But the solution may be an ax.
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May 31, 2012 19:48
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hey santa baby posted:Thanks Chido. Does anyone know anything more substantive? My problem is that I've gotten advice that runs from "your chickens will take care of themselves" to "your chickens will die of horrible organ failure if you give them the wrong feed". Ideally I'd like to know what I'm doing to them with the feed they get. I’m not an expert here, but why wouldn’t you buy grower feed and give them that for now, but keep the layer feed dry and enclosed so mice and other vermin won’t get to it and feed it when they start laying? It won’t go to waste and that day is only a few months away.
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May 31, 2012 22:30
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My tenant that I am trying to evict has begun to (slowly) move out. I probably would have gotten away with my original order date of June 18th, but I could only deal with so many projects at a time. I reordered the same exact breeds (Aconda, Welsummer, Barred Plymouth Rock, Easter Egger) and they are scheduled to come on August 6th. I’m in New England, but being next to the coast our falls tend to be mild. Typical September temps are 75 during the day, 55 at night and it through mid October it rarely drops below 50. We generally don’t have killing frosts until mid November. Will I be OK? If not I guess I could buy other people’s extras but I do want lots of different colored eggs, not just light brown. Next year I will track down an Olive Egger.
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Jun 7, 2012 15:55
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Actually Chico read my mind exactly.  I sort of figured that they might not start laying with any regularity through winter. Maybe if they already were they would keep going but I doubt they will start.I just don't want them to freeze to death.
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Jun 8, 2012 03:16
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My plan is to build an inner coop within the shed that they can retreat to if it gets really cold, but I’m reluctant to use lots of heat lamps to get them through the winter if I can help it. I was reading on BYC forums that the danger is they won’t properly acclimate and if there ever is a power outage they could all die. If the power went out in the middle of the night I wouldn’t even know. Boston is an old city so they are constantly doing planned outages to maintain the grid. If there is a freak early season cold snap I have a ceramic space heater, but that would be the exception. Good idea about the protein. I compost all my leaves and have been caught “stealing” my neighbors leaves in the fall so I do have a lot of worms. The compost tends to pack down, so I was thinking about regularly taking a few wheelbarrow loads at a time into the run for them to play with and pick through, and then scoop it back out after they have fluffed it up and “added their contribution” to it’s fertility.
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Jun 8, 2012 14:54
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