Anyone have chicks or chickens?

[indianchica]

We had them once but gave them to my parents and then they got eaten (not by my parents). Can you remind me if this is going to be awesome or suck?

[Deleted]

squirrelymom

[zzuvet]

It depends. Usually awesome but, depending on where you live it can be a chore. We have to be home every day at dark because we Often loose chickens to racoons and fishers. Here they must be locked up inside a coop at night. I prefer ducks.

[indianchica]

Apr 27, 2015 14:32:17 GMT -5 @meepmeep said:

We have both chicks and chickens right now, and raise layers, meat chickens, and turkeys. I think they're awesome, but we do lose some to illness and predators. What are your concerns?

I would only have four maximum and for eggs. Any experience with Bantams? I am more worried that it will become a chore and not be worth it for the eggs. 

[Bernadine]

Well, why did you get rid of them before?

[indianchica]

Apr 27, 2015 14:36:01 GMT -5 mofongo said:

I feel like having chickens has become trendy. Is this a new thing?

I don't know. We had them 5-6 yrs ago so if it is, I'm pretty sure we started it.

[indianchica]

Apr 27, 2015 14:48:20 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Well, why did you get rid of them before?

We gave them to my parents bc our home inspector raised concerns (we had just moved). They are allowed within legal limits where we live but we just couldn't find the info to show/prove it. So my parents took them and since they live a mile away, we just never got around to moving them back.

[Bad Dingo]

I consider taking care of chickens to be very easy so I say go for it. If you are getting them just for eggs and not for the fun of it too then you might want to reconsider bantams though.

[jinkies]

We have chickens! We have a lot of trouble with predators; keeping them safe is definitely the hardest part.

The actual care and feeding is really easy. We like Cochins- they aren't heavy layers, but we've found them to be very friendly and good with the kids.

[textbookcase]

We have 7 hens and a rooster. We've kept chickens for the past 8 years or so. I don't think they require very much maintenance at all, ours free-range in the yard and we basically just feed them and collect their eggs with no issues.

[isabel]

We bought pullets instead of chicks because we didn't want to hassle of raising the chicks. We have a fairly predator proof run and a coop. They literally require no effort aside from checking food and water every few days and cleaning out the coop every few weeks. We have barred rocks. They are pretty social, have fun personalities, and are easy to take care of. I wish we could have them out in the yard more often, but they really need supervision. They destroyed everything last year and we've spent this spring redoing all the garden beds and refinishing our wooden outdoor table because of them. They stay in their run unless we're outside with them.