Well, we wanted poultry and we live inside the city limits.
Laws on the books state "no rabbits, ducks, chickens, ... but this does not proclude the operation of a farm." Okay, then tried to figure what we needed to become a farm. Not even the SBA could help us.
Now you might think we would start with permits and such. We thought so too but actually you have to have a farm first. To make a long story short we had a lawyer friend look at the City Codes and recommend what we should do.
Here's what we ended up getting. Coturnix Quail. We ordered lots of eggs from two different NPIP breeders and started hatching.
Why? Well, It is the least "regulated" poultry out there and was not explicitly prohibited in the City Code.
Once we had an established flock (December bought eggs by May we had over 200 laying hens) we got all are permits and then some because Maryland Dept of Agriculture got confused about the selling quail eggs for food. They treated us just like we were selling chickens and chicken eggs.
After all the permits, we got our occupational permit from the city.
Now that we did all that we are officially a farm. Hooray!
Now we have Guinea Fowl. We currently have 15 (8 females 7 males) and lots of babies hatching every week.
So to those that think you can't have farm fresh eggs in the city... Think again and start your own farm. Just make sure you are willing to do all the paperwork.
Disclosure: I shovel a lot of bird manure every week and smile doing it.
Laws on the books state "no rabbits, ducks, chickens, ... but this does not proclude the operation of a farm." Okay, then tried to figure what we needed to become a farm. Not even the SBA could help us.
Now you might think we would start with permits and such. We thought so too but actually you have to have a farm first. To make a long story short we had a lawyer friend look at the City Codes and recommend what we should do.
Here's what we ended up getting. Coturnix Quail. We ordered lots of eggs from two different NPIP breeders and started hatching.
Why? Well, It is the least "regulated" poultry out there and was not explicitly prohibited in the City Code.
Once we had an established flock (December bought eggs by May we had over 200 laying hens) we got all are permits and then some because Maryland Dept of Agriculture got confused about the selling quail eggs for food. They treated us just like we were selling chickens and chicken eggs.
After all the permits, we got our occupational permit from the city.
Now that we did all that we are officially a farm. Hooray!
Now we have Guinea Fowl. We currently have 15 (8 females 7 males) and lots of babies hatching every week.
So to those that think you can't have farm fresh eggs in the city... Think again and start your own farm. Just make sure you are willing to do all the paperwork.
Disclosure: I shovel a lot of bird manure every week and smile doing it.
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