Chicken trouble oh my

[airdrop]

The Legislature of the Granite State is considering a bill that would make trespassing fowl a violation, not for the chicken, but for its owners. (iStock)

Why did the chicken cross the road? And did it have permission?

The New Hampshire Legislature is considering a bill that would make trespassing fowl a violation, not for the chicken, but for its owners. Under the proposal, anyone who knowingly, recklessly or negligently allows their domestic fowl to enter someone else's property without permission can be convicted of a violation if the birds damage crops or property.

The law already makes such trespassing illegal when it comes to sheep, goats, cows, horses or pigs, and the bill's sponsor says fowl shouldn't be exempt.

Can they pay in eggs ??????

[0utlaw]

Heck I had two of my neighbors chickens start roosting in my coop with my birds. He said "You might as well keep them. I'll never get them to stay home now."

[Boston_Joe]

I'm going to guess that the bill's sponsor was a recent transplant from the People's Republic of Massakstan.

[W.Lynn]

The biggest difference between having your steer get into my garden, and having your chicken get into my garden, is in the amount of work in making the incident to have not happened. A small bag of feathers and bones isn't much to get rid of, while a chicken becomes dinner. And I probably have plenty of grocery store receipts showing that I buy all the chicken I could want.

It's just not that easy with bigger animals.

[kickstand]

In a way though, I can see the reasoning behind the law (bill). You know darn good and well that at some point in time, a southern redneck moved up north, (hey, it could happen) and is currently living in a New Hampshire suburb. While there, he started raising a large flock of cluckers, which he allows to roam the neighborhood at will. Should a neighbor, or a neighbor's dog, happen to dispatch the occasional stray, ole BillyJoeBob will probably sue for the loss of his property. Since there's no law saying that his chickens can't go where ever they want, he might win.

[W.Lynn]

I've always controlled my dogs very well. The dog isn't going to be the one eating a chicken.

[0utlaw]

My Guinea fowl have trained all my dogs that you don't mess with the yardbirds, the dogs won't even make eye contact with the birds.

[W.Lynn]

Guinea fowl are good eating too! Do their breeding numbers keep up with your use?

I've heard they're also great alarms, as they adapt well, and spread into local woods and cover.

[Boston_Joe]

My Guinea fowl have trained all my dogs that you don't mess with the yardbirds, the dogs won't even make eye contact with the birds.

I gotta get me some of those. My dogs are all about chasing my fowl when they get loose.

[olfart]

Plan on losing some sleep. They're such good alarms they'll sound off LOUDLY at anything that moves, day or night. That's why we got rid of ours years ago.

[0utlaw]

Guinea fowl are good eating too! Do their breeding numbers keep up with your use?

I've heard they're also great alarms, as they adapt well, and spread into local woods and cover.

I have eaten guinea, they taste a lot like pheasant but we don't use ours for meat. They are loud and by loud I mean LOUD but they are typical birds so they "alarm" on stuff like a buzzard flying over, a piece of paper blowing through the yard or, Heaven forbid, their reflection in the truck bumper. They do raise a fuss when people show up but to rely on them as your alarm you would live at condition red.
They did adapt well, they were "city birds" raised on a small farm inside the city limits we brought them to the middle of the woods we kept them in the coop for a couple of weeks then let them range some, the first couple of nights they came back to the coop, then for a week or so they roosted ON the coop then they picked out a nice tree in the goat pen and have roosted there ever since, about 4 years now. We got them because they were supposed to be voracious tick eaters and we had tons of ticks around here, had being the operative word between them and a little clearing we don't get many ticks now.
They range all over the property and into the NF that borders us I'd say probably about a square mile or two. Early on my neighbor said they were spending all day at his deer feeder eating corn but after he quit feeding at the end of the season they never went back.
We bought 7 originally and only lost one to coyotes very early on. Every spring they make a big production of making a nest laying a clutch of eggs and brooding for a few weeks but then either the snakes or coons eat the eggs (maybe hawks) and they're done for the year, so we are yet to have a single guinea biddy. If we decide to expand the flock I'll borrow some eggs from their "hidden" nest and incubate them.

[W.Lynn]

With the rising costs of groceries, you may want to start doing that anyway.

[0utlaw]

The chickens are just so much easier to incubate and the birds are meatier faster hence cheaper per pound to raise. Did I mention we raise 40-60 meat birds a year as well as from our laying hens? Anyway we do, and they're a lot easier to raise and and butcher them on a tri annual schedule than to wait for guineas to start laying( they only lay once or twice a year for about a week or two) Besides I like chicken better, the guineas are like an all dark meat chicken.

[W.Lynn]

... the guineas are like an all dark meat chicken.

Damn, now I want some.