Chickens!

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

I was walking down the bikepath just on the east side of Willow Ave and noticed the first house along the right side has chicken coops and actual chickens living there!!??!! This may not be new news to people who pass by regularly, but it's been a while since I walked that way, so it was very cool to see them.

Does anybody know whether this is a legal chicken situation, and if so, how the owners got around city laws? I still miss the semi-feral rooster who lived down the street from me a few years ago, and I'd like to see a few more well-cared-for birds around. (Note this means not too loud, not creating smells or hazardous waste, et cetera.)

Comments

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

What city laws? I know I few people in Somerville with chickens and believe there is no law against them here (other than noise ordinances which probably mean no roosters).

[squirrelitude]

I have heard that without a rooster, one or more of the hens will start acting like one -- including crowing. :-P

[kpht.livejournal.com]

ive had chickens for two years and have never heard, or heard of, this.

[squirrelitude]

Ah! I researched this a bit, and I'm wondering if this is a false factoid based on pecking order.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

mine really only make noise when i accidentally do somethign to scare the piss out of them - like once when i dumped a huge drop cloth off my balcony and it fell right beside them, there was some LOUD clucking for a minute or so, and I'm sure the neighbors thought the chickens were being attacked.

our neighbors have been awesome about us having chickens (we are in gloucester, but in a very urban part, we're the only ones with a decent yard). and we just found out someone right up the street has them too!

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

lolol, chickens make me laugh with their peabrains. they can't help it!

to the OP, there are some chickens here in cambridgeport too. it's definitely kind of weird to see given the environment but neat too :D

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

FYI - There is a chicken coup abutting the fence of the Kennedy elementary school playground, I take our daughter there to see the chickens. You enter the playground from Elm Street, and on the right up a little hill there is a chain link fence with chickens on the other side. They are owned by the abutter to the school, not the school.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Oh! I'll check that out -- I rather like birds, and watching them!

[403.livejournal.com]

The only regulation Somerville seems to have regarding chickens is that you can't keep livestock in your front yard.

[ratatosk.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Massachusetts does, however, require you to let the poultry inspectors in at any time to make sure they don't have bird flu or the like.

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Just noticed you have a Kakapo as your icon -- how apropo!

[inahandbasket]

It's legit.
Check out this thread from a few years back:
http://b0st0n.livejournal.com/5769264.html

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

As of spring 2010 the city of Somerville was working on a policy specifically addressing chickens. It sounded like they intended to make some specific guidelines but generally continue allowing chickens. That thread has it about right in that there's no law that says you can't and no need for the law to change in Somerville.

However, what would happen if someone complained about the backyard chickens of a neighbor right now is a little bit unclear. They're not illegal but they're not explicitely allowed either, and if they can point at a policy that says "yup, 3 chickens in a Somerville backyard and no rooster is just fine" then there would be less question about it.

I don't know what happened to the rumored policy after that; I decided that this spring wasn't the year for me to try getting backyard chickens myself, alas.

[jon sanders (from livejournal.com)]

Glad you like our ladies! We got them as wee chicks last spring. We were in touch with City Hall and our neighbors to make sure everything was legit. You can have the county poultry inspector come to test your flock for free, but it's only mandated if your birds leave your property. IANAL, etc.

Our dominant hen did have some rooster-like qualities, including some extra-loud hen noises (not anywhere near a proper crow!) and some pecking problems, but she's moved off to a friend's flock where she'll have some more competition and space to roam.

Chickens are great!

http://www.millstonecoop.org

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

How cool -- I hadn't realized your house was a coop!

I'm lucky enough to have landed a job, but one of the frustrations of it is that I don't get to walk to the T or my workplace, so I don't get to see the Bikepath and its sights.

I love your yard. One thing that concerns me is that you don't have fencing up all around it currently, and the reason is that the semi-feral chicken that used to live on my street was stolen one day a couple of years ago, and never seen again!

I'm thrilled to hear that I might be able to have a chicken or three. I'd have to get my yard fenced securely first, though....

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Many years ago my uncle had a farm where he produced eggs for the local supermarkets. He had 3-5 large chicken coops, that held at least 100+ chickens each. He had no roosters since he wanted unfertilized eggs to sell.

They crowed sometimes. Not all the time, but I did hear them crow sometimes. It wasn't the full throated crow of a rooster in his prime, but it was a reasonable facsimile thereof. If a rooster might crow "Cock a Doodle Dooooo!" the hen might crow "Cock a dooooooo" and fade away as if she forgot what she was doing.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Hens do that even when there is a rooster--it's their distress or anger call, not a territoriality call as it is for roosters.

[joylewis.livejournal.com]

I love that the tags for this include local food and pets. :)

[403.livejournal.com]

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Oh! Perfect!

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks, I thought about it for a bit, but figured no one would notice. :-)

[stefan62.livejournal.com]

A neighbor on our densely packed street in Winter Hill has a few chickens. The wife and I love listening to them cluck away early in the morning.