During one of my recent introspection, everyone knows that I can not stop thinking, I started to think about the possibility for "urban farmers" to avoid ... or by pass the anti-hen laws.
Ok, What I'm going to say may sound ridiculous, but think about it. It is allowed to have all parrots, doves and a multitude of fairly large bird in a house or an apartment, that being said, a fancy bantam hen is often the same size or smaller than some of those birds.
Contrary to what you read on the internet, bantam hens produce eggs depending on the size, the age and the race of the bird. There's a time when my Sultan, known not to produce eggs in quantity, was laying a beautiful egg size medium a day or every other days. It is almost the performance of a Leghorn !
So, think about it, a hen without a rooster, is no more noisy than a parrot and some breeds of bantams are even cuter. If the cage is well maintained, odor level is neither worse nor better than a cat litter. Some bantams live well in cages no bigger than a rabbit cage.
The food is about the same price as a parrot... and the purchase price ... less. One Mille Fleur can be bought somewhere in between 20 and 35$ adults. For young ones think in the $ 5-6. Of course it is a dozen eggs at the grocery store, but your eggs will be fresh!
Just a thought ...
I knew someone who kept a Mille Fleur in a cage for a year. My only concern would be the hen's happiness, for they could not dig and scratch as they were meant to. However, we kept pigeons on an apartment balconey at one point!
ReplyDeleteMy Mille Fleurs stay in their cage all year long. In summer I bring them out. But I try to let them "free" once or twice ... they panicked so badly that I realized that they love their lil love nest. Some chickens feel better in small world I've been told.
Delete:-O OMG Really?
ReplyDeleteI am ... I mean ... I am honored. Thanks a million you've just made my day.