Who here raises chickens?

[Deleted]

There has to be one or two of you! Our county allows backyard chickens and the people who owned our house before us left a chicken coop in the shed. I've wanted chickens for a while now but H is totally on the fence. If you own chickens, why did you do it in the first place? Was it hard to learn how to take care of them? Do you like having them now? Yay or nay on the backyard chicken owning?

[mala]

I want chickens so bad! I think I finally haven H convinced so it is just a matter of time before we save the money to build a good coop. My dad grew up on an egg farm and thinks I'm nuts.

If you haven't found it yet, go to backyardchickens.com for some really good info. Browse their forums, too.

[TrickyBob]

Get chickens. Feed them. They pop out eggs. Eat eggs. Feed chickens. Don't get a rooster, you'll live to regret it.

[game blouses]

I had chickens when I was in high school and it was so much fun! I thought ducks were a little friendlier, but those might have just been our ducks. I'd love to have chickens now but DH says no, boo.

[Deleted]

TrickyBob lol, the county doesn't allow roosters and even if they did there is no way in hell I'd get one. A friend at church keeps them and she said they were just like plants: feed and water them and they're good. I didn't know how accurate that was haha.

mala I love that website! I'll probably spend more time on there today.

[TrickyBob]

My brother has tons of them and homesteads. My cousin also raises them for eggs and to butcher, she homesteads.


Literally, feed them, water them, let them peck around at the ground. They'll do their own thing.

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 12:53:51 GMT -5 TrickyBob said:

My brother has tons of them and homesteads. My cousin also raises them for eggs and to butcher, she homesteads.


Literally, feed them, water them, let them peck around at the ground. They'll do their own thing.

This is exactly what I wanted to hear! 

[AHappierHour]

I want chickens so bad too. I know someone who had them in her yard and they were so friendly. They had a nice coop but during the day they roamed the yard (it was fenced) She said they are easy to take care of. The only downside she said is that they ate all her strawberries she tired to grow.

[TrickyBob]

If you don't fence them in, just be prepared to lose a few to wild animals. It happens, especially with raccoon's. But chickens are like tiny dogs, they follow you, they come running when you call them, they like to be around people. My brother had an issue with all 6 of his chickens roosting on my parent's back porch, then they laid eggs in flower pots. LOL.

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 12:56:36 GMT -5 AHappierHour said:

I want chickens so bad too. I know someone who had them in her yard and they were so friendly. They had a nice coop but during the day they roamed the yard (it was fenced) She said they are easy to take care of. The only downside she said is that they ate all her strawberries she tired to grow.

Good thing I already killed all my strawberries this year! 

[soozy87]

Yeah, chickens are very easy to raise. I grew up doing so. Feed, water, protection. That is pretty much all they need. And they give you eggs in return!

[textbookcase]

They're super easy, and you get free eggs. Get some!

[TrickyBob]

Jun 13, 2013 12:59:32 GMT -5 ste said:

What happens in winter? And if you go on vacation? Would having a dog be an issue?

Most importantly... What about neighbors???

The chickens still wander around in the winter. My brother has a bowl that heats the water to keep it from freezing. 

If you go on vacation, make sure you have a fenced in area and access to their coop. Give them food or have someone come over and feed them. Make water available. 

A loose dog might eat them. Some dogs don't care. When I bring my dog down to my parent's house, if she were to get off her leash, she'd kill them. And the neighbors dogs have done so before. 


Some neighbors care, some don't. Chickens wander ALL over, across the street, etc. Offer free eggs to them. 

[BieberMyBalls]

I raise chickens

We have lots of space here and wanted to try living a little more organically, so we planted a garden and bought some chicks. That was the extent of our thought process, lol. Last year (our first year) was horrible. We had 18 chickens and a raccoon all but cleaned us out, despite us doing all we could to animal proof the coop. We have an electric fence now, so no more problems.

They're really easy to take care of. Build some nest boxes for them to roost in, lots of food and fresh water, a clean pen, and that's about it really. We have vitamins we put in their water sometimes, but usually only in the winter. Oh, in the winter we just filled the coop with lots of straw and put a heat lamp out there and they were fine. As long as they have a place to get into where their feet won't freeze, like their nest boxes.

We have 7 hens currently laying, and they give us about a dozen extra large eggs every other day. We just bought 18 more (10 for meat, 8 layers). I've had a lot of fun with it. The hens are like pets, they follow me around and crouch with their wings spread to picked up. Plus, farm fresh eggs are the bomb.com. I say go for it!

[BieberMyBalls]

And the babies

[sugarbear]

Jun 13, 2013 12:39:08 GMT -5 @utahlove13 said:

There has to be one or two of you! Our county allows backyard chickens and the people who owned our house before us left a chicken coop in the shed. I've wanted chickens for a while now but H is totally on the fence. If you own chickens, why did you do it in the first place? Well, we eat Pay-Lay-oh, which means a ton of eggs. And we try to source everything anyway, so what's more local than our backyard? Also, I'm not excited about indoor pets so this was a good way to teach DS about work, chores, and empathy towards living creatures.

Was it hard to learn how to take care of them?  Nope. They aren't terribly high maintenance.

Do you like having them now? Yay or nay on the backyard chicken owning? Yay! We love it.

Eta: we don't really pronounce it that way...

[IndiaInk]

They're super easy. I have about 300 (but then again I farm for a living. Keep them closed up in the coop at night so raccoons or other predators don't get them. If you want them to lay consistently in the winter, you will want to set up a light on a timer in the coop to extend the amount of "daylight" they get so stays about the same as it is in the summer (~16 hours). Feed them a little oyster shell free choice (you can get it at the feed store) so they will have extra calcium to make strong egg shells. That's about the only things I can add to what others have told you.

[dana2006]

Nobody has touched the most important question yet: don't they poop everywhere? How do you clean that shit up?

[motzie]

I want chickens but I'm afraid of how our dogs will react. As a puppy, my dog got into a friends coop and went nuts. No injured birds, but they were terrified.

[evynsmama]

Yes, make sure you only get hens, roosters suck and they can then cause you to have more chickens than you want.
We got them to have fresh eggs.
We were letting them roam in a big area and two got taken by a hawk and they were getting into the front yard and crapping eveywhere, it was gross. We made them a smaller enclosure with chicken wire on top to keep out the hawks and eveyone is much happier. They are pretty low maintnance IMO

[hamster]

Jun 13, 2013 13:43:39 GMT -5 dana2006 said:

Nobody has touched the most important question yet: don't they poop everywhere? How do you clean that shit up?

Our chickens typically stay inside their run, so the poop is largely contained there. We put down straw and turn it over every once in a while (like every couple months) and the smell is almost non existant. We don't clean it up unless we let them roam the yard and there's a nasty poop on the back patio. The dog also likes to help "clean up" 

Chickens are super easy. Build them a house with a couple nest boxes, and give them food and water and that's pretty much it. They are certainly entertaining to watch, and they even have their own personalities. I'd liken it to owning a cat that gives you eggs. Some are bitchy, but we have a couple that are super friendly. 

[mala]

I've heard good things about using sand as a substrate. It acts like kitty litter and you just scoop up the dried solids every day.

[Deleted]

Do it!! I had four in a chicken tractor and had them for the eggs. Chickens are easy. If we went out of town we'd just set up a big feeder and waterer. You just have to scoop poop (it's like cleaning a litter box - no big deal), collect eggs daily, and refill the feeder and water bottle. And they are fun to watch if you throw then scraps or chicken treats.

Mine all caught a disease and died, though. I need to get new ones soon. We bought young adults and will do that again because chicks are time consuming.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

Our county has the same allowance, but I can't have chickens because, a. H doesn't want them, and b. one of our dogs has a high prey drive and would kill them. Make sure your dogs won't go after them.

[circa1978]

My sister has chickens, as does a friend of my husband's. She's had a lot of trouble keeping hers alive. She's lost three in less than a year and keeps her flock at four. Two aren't laying at all. Friend loves it and his chickens are great. Both rave about the eggs. The kids also LOVE the chickens. My four-year-old niece names them anew every day and loves to get the eggs. I'm not sure how her mom has explained the string of chicken fatalities, but I guess she's learning important life lessons?

[Deleted]

I read H this thread and after I asked him if you guys changed his mind. He said 'maybe'. PROGRESS! I'll have chickens in a month!

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2013 14:54:28 GMT -5 mala said:

I've heard good things about using sand as a substrate. It acts like kitty litter and you just scoop up the dried solids every day.

This is what I do. I have a cat pooper scooper and it takes about five seconds to scoop the poop from four hens.