Some of my former colleagues who have retired have bought farm lands in the suburbs. Their purpose is to have a vegetable garden, some of them want an orchard. We have a backyard garden so I know the feeling of eating your own harvest. However, I cannot imagine them traveling for hours to reach their farm and go back home in the late afternoon. To me, it is a waste of time and money. My idea of a farm is a garden with a small house where I can stay overnight or even for a number of days. Maybe when I retire it can be our home and our present house near the Metro area will just be a halfway house.
Our planning board is drawing up recommendations to allow residents in our town to keep chickens, ducks, geese and some barnyard animals, depending on lot size. If that goes through and is passed by the town council, we'll be getting a few chickens.
I had heard before that the City of Huntsville does not allow residents inside the city limits to have any kind of farm animals, including chickens. Apparently, a few rabbits are okay, since some people do get rabbits as pets. If chickens were allowed here, I would also very likely get 3-4 of them , just for the eggs, and also they would fertilize the grass out in the back yard. Today, when we were at the fitness center, I was talking with one of the other ladies there, and she said that they live inside of the city limits, and they have several chickens. However, she is an outlying part of town, and in an area where people are likely to live on an acre or so. Still, she is inside the city limits; so it seems to me that if they allow chickens on one part of town, they should have to allow them anywhere, within whatever rules there are regarding chickens. Many places allow hens, and no roosters. I am perfectly fine with that rule myself, and do not care to be awakened at 3am by the rooster crowing, whether it is our or a neighbor's rooster. I really like the small chickens called Japanese Silkies. The are cute and fluffy, and look more like a Schmoo (remember Little Abner ?) than they do like a chicken. I would never want to eat a Silkie; but I see no problems with having eggs from one, and Silkies do not fly; so I would not have to worry about them escaping.
I've never seen them before either. When I first saw your picture of these birds I didn't know what they were.
@Yvonne Smith , 3 or 4 hens would not take up much space. A hen house about the size of a large dog house, and up about 3' from the ground is all you would need. Since I've decided to stay in my home, I'm going to collect on a favor from my brother, and get him to put one up for me. My old hen house was for up to 60 hens, so I sold it. Of course I'll want access to the nests from outside the coop. They are fun to watch, and they can be friendly if you try. I do miss seeing them squabble over any goods I'm might take them. The eggs taste so much better than store bought, and have you seen the cost lately.
There's not much there yet, but I have started a blog to help lobby the town to allow us to have chickens here in Millinocket. It's one that I plan to keep up, adding to it, even after they approve it, that is assuming they do.
We've had chickens until we retired and wanted to be able to travel. I would not want chickens kept in a coop though. Ours were always free range. Of course they were put up at night to protect them. One problem with chickens is the scratching. They will ruin flower beds if not kept away from them. Where we had them before they were in the pasture with the cows and never came in the yard.
@Sheldon Scott , my new coop will have an opening with a walkway to the ground so the hens come and go as pleased, except at night when the hatch will be locked to keep out predator. The coop is in a fence off area of 80'X30', which is where the hens will roam freely each day. I have had free range chickens for over 40 years, and way before they were called free range. I grew up on a farm, and good farmers always try to give their animals some quality of life.
Yeah, I wouldn't keep them in a coop all the time. I'm thinking a coop with a wired-in runway, where the whole thing can be moved to different parts of the yard, giving the grass time to recuperate. Chickens are good for gardens if they are left in there only a short period of time because they will eat a lot of the insect pests. You're right though, given time, they will start in on the plants.
Haha @Corie Henson can you explain what a 'halfway house' is in the Philippines? I think it probably has a different meaning. Here, a halfway house is a place where paroled convicts (criminals) stay as they transition back into the community. I love the idea of having a few chickens, a goat or two, maybe a few rabbits. Perhaps someday it will happen. I think I could have them here, but I haven't looked into it, since I don't own the house/land. I know some neighbors even have cows and horses, but they have much larger parcels of land. @Ina I. Wonder I'm glad you've decided to stay in your house, you didn't really seem as if you wanted to leave, and you seem comfortable there.
@Diane Lane , your right I am comfortable here, and the more I thought about a new place the less I could see myself in a modern place. I decided to give it a couple more years, and see how it goes. I'm also hoping to come across someone (lady) that will share it with me for about $500. a month. That will help with the taxes and insurance, and it would give me someone to talk to. My home is too large for just me so I'm going to close off parts of it to save on utilities until I find a roommate. Maybe I'll find someone through the VA.
Huh, really? Over here, a halfway house means you have a temporary abode like if you live far from your workplace and you only go home every weekend. Well, that's an idiom that may have been invented in the Philippines. Would you believe that we also gave a new meaning to the word SALVAGE? It means to rescue or to save but here it means a rubout or summary killing. Salvage is normally used for criminals who don't deserve to go to jail (hence they are killed on the spot).
Wow, that's definitely an interesting use of the word Salvage @Corie Henson. Is that actually governmentally sanctioned? There are quite a few here that I think are unsalvageable, but I wouldn't trust the government to make that determination, because I know it would go in a political direction, which would put a lot of citizens in danger. So re: halfway houses, are they places you own, or you would simply board with someone along the route to save time/travel? It sounds sort of like a weekend property and then an apartment in town close to work type of situation. Here's one definition of halfway house: "Towards the end of their sentences, inmates and parolees can be sent to halfway houses. These are also called community corrections centers or residential reentry centers. Halfway houses are supposed to help prisoners reenter society by providing supervision and transitional services." from www.eudaimoniahomes.com Apparently they are also used by those in recovery (drug and alcohol addition) in some cases, but hopefully not the same actual halfway houses as the inmates and parolees are sent to.
Well, I was raised on a hog farm and, even as a teen, was not all that fun and some pretty hard work. Even though I never returned to that lifestyle, I did buy a Quarter horse back in the early 90's to use for rodeo/roping. I kept it at a stables, where they fed him and there was an automatic water system, But, I still had to go over and exercise him. Nowadays I'm pretty much just a "computer junkie" and any kind of farming sure wouldn't be my idea of fun. Only time I get my hands dirty is changing the air filter in our vehicles or doing a little work on our boat.