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They may be unconventional “pets,” but that’s what some consider them.
The popularity of backyard chickens is on the rise, locals say, and two more recent owners of the birds are John Buscher, known as “the chicken man,” and his wife, Dina.
Chicken Coop for the Soul is the name of their spot in Scituate, where they’ve been raising chickens for five years.
It all began with 19 hens, they explained, but now they’ve got an operation of multiple breeds of chickens of various ages, a rooster, and days-old chicks, with more babies on the way in an incubator.
The two proudly recalled their “first egg” moment.
Dina discovered the egg, and the two learned that their hen, “Goldie,” was the chicken that laid it. Right away, John said, they fried the egg up – and split it four ways, between the couple and their two daughters.
“It was the best egg ever,” John said, beaming, though he explained each person got an extremely small bite.
“It’s like you’ve raised your child, and it’s taking its first steps,” he said.
The two still get phone calls from the folks who’ve bought chicks from them, when they discover the first egg laid by a hen in the flock. Chickens can be boastful, the two explained, and come right out of their box to squawk after laying, as if to say, “I did it!”
“Certainly, like any animals, chickens can have personalities,” Lynn-Marie Dubeau of Wrentham, Mass., said.
She’s in charge of the chickens at Franklin Farm in Cumberland, where school-age children come in for field trips and summer camp to learn about how the animals are cared for.
Dubeau said Franklin Farm’s summer program “teaches the kids responsibility” of caring for chickens.
She too has chickens at home, and said while some hens’ traits are breed-driven, the way they’re raised can lead to chickens so friendly they climb into their owner’s lap, “and curl right up like a cat would.”
With a chuckle, John recalled the first time he discovered how friendly the fowl can be. He sat down in their enclosure, and before he knew it, there were chickens perched on his shoulders, another on his head and more along his arms and in his lap.
Chicken keeping, John said, is a passion that’s “very contagious.”
His neighbor knew that, when John built his first coop, telling Dina to be careful – her husband had been struck with “chicken fever.”
Over at Ledge End Farm in Foster, Bob Hohler says of the many years he’s been raising chickens, he’s learned a number of things about the animals.
For one, he explained, they like companionship. Anyone interested in purchasing chicks, he said, should make sure there are at least two so they can spend time together, but he also warned that too many can become too much to handle – mostly because of the amount of eggs they’ll produce.
At one point, he explained, he had 25 chickens roaming around, but finding a place for all the eggs became challenging.
Once they’re of egg-laying age, he explained, the fowl will typically lay one egg a day. That adds up quickly, he said, right after picking up a freshly-laid egg from his chicken coop.
He said there’s nothing like a fresh egg, and pointed out that in the cartons sold in stores, “You can have an egg that’s six months old, and call it fresh.”
That’s not the case with local farmers, Hohler said.
John Buscher said that the reason eggs for sale in stores have so much cholesterol is because they’re so old, and said cholesterol builds in an egg as it sits. He and Dina said today, people want fresh foods, and have taken an interest in knowing exactly where their food comes from.
Chicken Coop for the Soul is National Poultry Improvement Plan certified, John said, meaning the state veterinarian visits their home to perform mouth and blood cultures on all the chickens to make sure they’re healthy and aren’t carrying any diseases.
“They see the benefits, they want to give their kids something fresh,” John said of the growing trend in raising chickens.
The Buschers said they don’t make a large profit from selling their eggs and chicks, but are able to put those funds right back into the maintenance and care of the chickens and the hens’ supplies.
“This is not a lucrative business in the least,” John said, but that’s of little concern.
He enjoys being able to sit in their coop, and see the birds come one by one to climb onto his head, shoulders and lap.
Each of the chicken keepers said while maintaining coops and caring for the hens takes time, it’s not a difficult task.
Dubeau said there are chicken rental services, like Twin Cedar Farm in Acushnet, Mass., that first-time chicken keepers can use in summer months. Portable, A-frame coops and hens are available for rent, she explained, and folks from the farm bring in feed for the fowl, and also pack the gear and coop up at the end of the summer.
It’s all part of a resurgence, she said, of people wanting to eat healthy and know exactly where their food is coming from.
Once folks care for chickens of their own, the Buscher couple said, there’s something that hooks them to continue.
“Chicken people,” Dina said, are people “who just love their chickens as much as they love their pets.”
Chicken regulations by community
Cumberland: A maximum of five birds or fowl may be kept in residential zones for each single-family dwelling unit, but roosters aren't allowed. Housing or enclosures that house fowl must be located no less than 25 feet from the property line. Properties with more than one residential unit do not qualify. Chickens are also allowed in agriculturally-zoned areas.
Foster: Permitted in some districts by right, allowed in other zones with special use permit.
Glocester: Raising of fowl allowed in some zones with a special use permit.
Lincoln: Chickens are allowed in RA-40 areas, or agricultural zones, where they may be raised for producing eggs. The birds are also allowed in RS zones with a special use permit, and the Zoning Board of Review determines how many chickens are permitted. Roosters are prohibited.
North Providence: Not allowed.
North Smithfield: Owners of any house lot with at least one dwelling are permitted to keep no more than 12 chicken hens, but roosters are prohibited. All chicken hens must have a coop and fenced outdoor enclosure with provisions.
Scituate: Allowed in some zones with special use permit. No resident shall keep any fowl of any kind in any part of a dwelling house or allow any fowl to go "at large" off premises.
Smithfield: Commercial raising of fowl is allowed on lots at least 120,000 square feet in size, and for non-commercial uses, fowl, aside from roosters, toms or gobblers, guinea fowl and peacocks, are limited to six animals on a parcel with at least 80,000 square feet, with more than six such animals on any parcel of four acres or more.
Pawtucket: Not permitted.
Woonsocket: Backyard chickens allowed with special use permit in few zones.
Blackstone, Mass.: No more than 10 live fowl to be kept in a residential area, either in a hen house or enclosed area. Owners of five or more birds and one clutch of offspring are required to have a permit from the Board of Health. No person shall keep any fowl in a building used as a dwelling, and no roosters are allowed in a residential area.
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