Yesterday I stopped by Mrs. Hillbilly’s house to drop off some chard for her chickens. She started with 7 birds this spring and now she’s down to 5. One of the birds turned out to be a Roo. Luckily she was able to give him away to the guy she bought her chicken coop from.
And the other, well, she was eaten by a racoon early on.
These days Mrs. HB is averaging about 4 eggs a day. Which is a fair amount for a family of four. But when I asked her if she was planning on getting anymore chicks in the spring, she hesitated a bit. Yes, Mrs. HB would like a few more hens, he just doesn’t want to go through the whole process of raising baby chicks again.
And then a light bulb went off.
Since I miss keeping chickens so badly, what about if I raised a couple of chicks next spring {in our garage} for her until they were ready to be integrated into her flock?
After the chicks were big enough to go to Mrs. HB’s, I could simply stop by once a week and drop off my extra garden produce in exchange for lets say, a dozen eggs. Since I can’t {technically} keep chickens in my neighborhood, Mrs. HB could have the benefit of a few more eggs each week, plus she could have the larger hens she has been wanting to bulk up her flock.
It kinda sounds like a win-win deal to me.
And anyway… raising baby chicks in your garage is TOTALLY different then having a full grown flock of chickens and a chicken coop in your backyard, right?
I can’t imagine there’d be anything for the HOA to complain about because there wouldn’t be anything for the nosey Nellies to see as they walked by, right?
What do you think? Am I delusional? Can I do this?
~Mavis
Teresa says
Hi Mavis,
Seems to me if your HOA has to go snooping in your garage to keep themselves occupied they need to find something better to do with their time! It’s your garage, your space, your house. I get it if you had a tenement on wheels parked out front or wanted to paint your house day-glow green. The garage=totally your domain. my 2 cents.
Deborah says
I agree with Teresa! 🙂
Also with Cptacek’s comment, below. 😉
Cptacek says
It probably would have worked if you hadn’t written about it in your blog.
Maria says
hahah..I was going to say the same!
BeckyM says
I set up my brooder for 45 chicks in our garage this past summer. I was glad when they got old enough to go outside because 45 chicks make a lot of mess! I was cleaning out the brooder twice a day and they were still stinky (and dusty!!). Then I added a group of 15 babies a few months later…. again brooding them in the garage. 15 chicks are MUCH less messy/stinky then 45. 😉 I only cleaned them out once a day.
Katie says
I wondered about that too. It’s been a long time since I had chickens, but I remember the mess. I’m not sure I’d want that in an enclosed garage.
Tracie says
My HOA don’t allow farm animals either:-(. That’s why this spring we got 8( down to 7) awesome pets that just happen to give us eggs. I raised mine in the bath tub. So far no complaints. I’m ready for the battle.
Tracie says
My HOA don’t all farm animals either. That’s why this spring we got 8 pets that just happen to give us eggs. I raised mine in the bath tub.
Deborah from FL says
You’re not delusional, Mavis. You’re creative and dedicated. 😉
OneFamily says
I say go for it 🙂
Veronica Vatter says
I would just keep them in Lucy’s room til they were ready. That’s only about three weeks. If you keep them in your garage they WILL find out. They will be able to hear them. So while not as convenient, keep them in the house in the second floor.
JC says
Let’s hope they just happen to miss this post and go for it.
Gwenn says
Oooooor you could get chicks now, raise them in the garage & they would be laying come spring 🙂
Tiffany F says
Absolutely! I think it’s a great compromise. In the garage… just baby chicks… no big deal. We kept our 12 in a box in the basement this year and had no problems.
Betty D says
If there as snoopy as I hear some are…they probably already knew before it got on your blog..grin…(darn those mind readers) Like some id say go for it since your not keeping them. Im impressed with how some are doing it ….like in the bath tub.
Lori says
Sure, you can raise them in the garage. We hatch chicks and turkey poults with our kids that go to the farm after they get feathers. The kids love hatching them in the incubator and then seeing them when we visit the farm. We live in Northern VA and are not “allowed” to have poultry either. We keep them in the basement until they are ready to go.
Kat says
It really doesn’t matter what your HOA rules are if the city and/or county you reside in doesn’t have laws against residents having chickens. I wondered about that when you posted that your privacy fence could only be 4 ft tall. You could have challenged them based on city or county ordinances, which I have been known to do.
I’m not going to miss our HOA when we move at the end of the month.
Mavis says
I’m so jealous you get to escape your HOA. Here’s to so much freedom!!
Libby says
Do it Mavis! Rules were made to be broken. Deny till you die!!!
Mavis says
Deny till you die?! That’s awesome.
Julia says
I say go for it. I was thinking about doing the very same thing this spring. We live in the city and can’t have chicken. Several of our friends live further out and have chickens. So I thought it would be fun for our son to raise the chicks and then turn them over to our county friends.
Sara says
I disagree that because your city or country ordinances allow it, your HOA cannot prohibit it. Nonetheless, RAISE ON! I feel as though this has all the makings of a great future post (or ten).
Also…maybe I missed this in an earlier post, but why o why did you move into a home with CCandRs??
kelliinkc says
I think if they are inside the garage/basement/upstairs room you should be fine as far as the HOA. Your city and county regulations, however, will need to be looked into. Lots of cities do not allow farm animals inside the city limits and that would include inside your house.