fox623
Chirping
We live in a provincial Massachusetts town that boasts a cadre of arduous regulations to gatekeep hobby farming. To get a permit, households must submit GIS plans (from the town’s website, of course), along with a plan of keeping and maintenance. Once those are approved (by the Board of Health, Department of Conservation, and Zoning Board), a plan with the location must be submitted and approved. Once the permit was granted (after a MONTH), I assumed we were fine. Yesterday, the town sent an inspector from the Board of Health to ensure that we put it where we said we would and to see that we are storing the food where we said we would (garage) and disposing of manure where we said we would (compost). The Board of Health inspector saw our quarantining hens in the garage and informed us that we violated the following bylaws: a) "No poultry shall be allowed to forage, stray, or roam unrestricted at the premises or elsewhere; hens must at all times be confined to the coop/henhouse and run"; and b) "Manure shall be stored not less than 50’ from abutting front, side, and rear property lines." My boyfriend is a doctor and explained to the inspector (who has never worked in healthcare) that quarantine doesn't work if the animals are living in the same place and that our new girls will be in the permitted coop as soon as possible. She told us that it was not acceptable because keeping them in our garage violated the rule that "No domestic animal as herein defined shall be housed within any part of a residential dwelling." We also had no idea that we would need to move our compost pile (which is approximately 10 feet from our neighbor's yard and has been since before I met my boyfriend) JUST because it now has chicken manure. It's a $50/day fine per offense.
TLDR: How hard is it to invoke the "Right to Farm" in Massachusetts? Is it OK if our quarantine is curtailed? They've been kept separate since 9/18 (nine days as of today) and all have been vaccinated for Marek's.
TLDR: How hard is it to invoke the "Right to Farm" in Massachusetts? Is it OK if our quarantine is curtailed? They've been kept separate since 9/18 (nine days as of today) and all have been vaccinated for Marek's.