Denise, do you have any good resources you could pass along? Much thanks!
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YES! The best kinds of eggs i’ve had was from my neighbors yard, not from the supermarket!
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I have many different sources. Joel Salatin, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Mindy Pelz, Elaine Ingraham but i think the food forest with wild edibles was my idea. I don’t like to till the soil and disturb the soil food web so i decided to plant easy. Now i am relocating flowers and replacing them with beautiful edibles. Our lawn has always been the prettiest in the neighborhood even thru drought and excessive rain. The fact is edibles are just as pretty and easier to care for. A typical guild looks like: a fruit/nut tree, berries, a perennial vegetable, chives & strawberries for ground cover to hold in moisture and prevent weeds.
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I completely agree. Laws/codes/regulations should be concerned with safety, not aesthetics. Grass lawns are a waste of space, and not great for the environment. To add on to your idea, I think it would be a great idea to incorporate edible and medicinal plants into city landscaping instead of the same type of trees/bushes along miles of sidewalks.
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By producing our own food it could also help food deserts and a strong sense of community with bartering or food drives for less fortunate.
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Regulations are too heavy handed and need to be cut back. Sq. footage per bird, vaccine + tagging requirements, non-refundable cost to apply for license, building permits for coops - it’s all absurd. Chickens require very little space.
Think the government should stay out of it as much as possible. In every way raising backyard birds is a far better life than industry reared poultry.
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Americans should have a right to self-sufficiency through utilization of their own land without interference of HOA or local government restrictions.
In our state, HOA’s have been stripped of their power over the right to raise your own flock. However, local governments still may restrict. For example, 5 acres is required to own any chickens in a neighboring city.
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Yes! Gone are the days of the perfectly tended, manicured (and useless) green front yard lawns (as status symbols)…create a food forest in the front yard as well as the backyard!
On another note, I love gardening and have enjoyed it this past summer, but cloud seeding and chemtrails affected my crop, and this weather manipulation MUST STOP.
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while I have voted for this I would suggest we need a bit of agreements when it comes to owning chickens. I think a license to own more than 5 chickens can help and assure the knowledge of caring for such an animal is unanimous. just like a license to drive is an across the board agreement to follow road rules we need some guidance around how to care for chickens and their eggs. I don’t see the need for any licensing around growing a garden or having edible food in your yards.
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Why would coop chickens need a rooster to protect them? That’s what the coop is for. If you live in a HOA you certainly won’t have free range chickens.
Some roosters are louder than others. Cochins are the quietest. Also, it is possible to put your rooster in a cage in the garage for the night. I would allow mine to go to the coop with the rest of the flock and then get him some time before sun-up. There is a collar that some people recommend that prevents them from crowing but I killed one of my rooster that way. I personally don’t recommend the collar.
Another benefit: They reduce the bug population because they roam the yard looking for bugs to eat.
This backyard chicken idea may require a new mindset, specifically, that we all need to become mini producers and not just consumers. Backyard chickens produce eggs, meat, broth, bug management, and soil amendment (manure). It may seem like we’re going backwards in societal evolution but if we change our mindset, we realize we’re being more progressive than ever.
Yes! And it would be great if instead of subsidiaries going to factory farms, they paid people to grow their own food. It would cut down on transport and be good for the environment on so many levels. Also, to help community farms, since not everyone has the time or space to grow their own.