Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Beekissed]

Just need to be fishing for tuna or something you can sell on the mainland!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Since most of my birds are moving around, I don't have much poop. Most of it ends up as a fine dust that seems to be on everything. I have friends asking for poop and I tell them if you can find any, it is yours. There isn't any in the breeding pens either, as the birds keep churning up the litter.

Walt

Oh, it's there! Actually, take a little Bobcat or Kubota, as I do, and scrape the pens ever few years. That top 2" is fully mixed, fully composting, black gold!!!

Edit to add: All except for that which is coating your electro-magnetic TV and computer screens. LOL

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I hate to disagree.... No I don't.

Yes it costs to feed the critters. But.... The chickens free range, cutting that cost considerably. They produce eggs. I sell some... a lot actually, but that is to offset feed, or to market other products. I hate to operate a non profitable business.

I haven't bought eggs in 3 years. I hatch my own replacement birds. I sell my meat birds at a profit. I raise hogs. I sell them for a profit. the profits from my meat birds and hogs, pay for the feed and processing of the hogs and chickens that I eat. I butcher excess roos and spent hens. I eat them.

The profits from meat sales buy my beef for the family too. It has also paid for my poultry fencing, my electric fencing and the shelters and odds and ends that I have purchased... mostly.

Next year, most of the property will be planted in consumable feed crops. Clover, Alfalfa, corn, plus vegetables.

All that said, this is a hobby of sorts for me. After a day of dealing with the public as a Buy Here Pay Here Dealer and a Landlord, the animals are cathartic for me.

This hobby is a less expensive hobby for me than my other hobby, fishing.

If I calculated the expenses of fishing, with gas, boat, time, etc.... my fish probably costs me $500.00 per lb..... and I am a decent fisherman lol!

I agree in full. My brother is big into fishing and he has spent far too much money IMO. Whenever people hear that I have chickens as a hobby, they look at me like I'm crazy. They don't even know what they are missing out on. My favorite part of the whole day is watching the little cockerels and pullets and I can do that for free whenever I want. It's also very satisfying to load my egg buyers up with eggs that I know they will appreciate and make money while I'm doing it. I get fertilizer, bug control, entertainment, eggs, feathers (my uncle makes fishing lures/baits from them), and meat from my chickens all for only the cost of feed and straw. My coops are all repurposed so the only big start up cost for me was wire and the birds themselves. All this is really much more rewarding than going canoeing or kayaking, especially with gas prices being as high as they are.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Anybody think about all the bugs they eat? I haven't seen a bug or spider on the poarch or under the house in a long time. I have to start looking and digging for them now, so add the cost of spraying insecticides around the foundation and cost savings go up. Now is I could only teach them to fly and get those wood borers....

 

[Beekissed]

Worked wonders in my orchard and gardens for fall cleanup of larvae of pest species. Couple them with my sheep, who graze closely, and one could say that they made a mutually beneficial parasite control system when run together on the same pasture.

Same for the dogs who consumed the chicken poop, while the chickens dispersed and ate the dog's poop. They say that 95% of an intestinal parasite's life is spent outside the body as the eggs hatch and they go into larval stages...but if they are consumed before they can reach certain stages, it can halt the proliferation of the pest.

 

[chickencowranch]

My chickens are just BYC for a hobby to get me outside to care for something since my teenagers don't need me so much. I'm always thinking of ways to improve their housing and such. My hubby takes the extra eggs to work. I like watching the chickens through out the day. I'm not kiling any chicken. They'll die on their own. with the flock free ranging it saves of feed. Winter may be a different story. I'm already thinking about how deal with them in the winter. I heard lots of snow for this coming winter. I wish they would eat stink bugs.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:

I actually started scooping poop every day - not because the coop needs cleaning but because it was the easiest way to harvest the stuff for my compost pile. Otherwise it just turns into dust and disappears. It's done wonders for the garden. It's a small flock, so the scooping doesn't take much time and it gives me another excuse to hang with the chickens. Not that I need an excuse!

 

[JulieNKC]

They are now selling Cadbury "Scream" eggs for Halloween. I did a dance in the market when I found them.

Really!?! Going to the store later, you've just made my day.

 

[Beekissed]

I can most definitely see folks using this as a hobby if they can afford to have hobbies. Most folks have a hobby of some sort or other.

Usually hobbyists attempt to get better at their particular hobby, don't they? They say that's most of the fun of having a hobby.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Right. This year I am fencing the garden plots so once seedings are rooted the chckens can go though and methodically eat pests, once the veggies and fruits form, close it off. After the harvest they can root around again and spread manure for me. A flock of tiny rototillers that save me time and energy! They even crop the grass down neatly, especially if I throw some scratch there, it becomes part of their circuit. Cost wise, they barely eat any scratch or feed this summer, I put it out but they prefer to hunt bugs, and leave the table after a cropful. I could easily sell all my eggs for a buck fifty, but, extras go to the growing dogs for healthy teeth and bones. Huge savings. (My poop eaters) I've never seen a parasite in any poop here, not one. It's never even been a consideration. I can get chicks for a dollar each, but I've bought eleven chicks, and now have close to a hundred. My coop cost around $200.00 mostly because its on pressure treated timbers that double as skids, it can be drug down the logging roads and be a great deer stand if I ever want to..power sand the interior and good to go. Or it can make a good storage building, but chickens are so cheap, I can't imagine not having some. And they Taste good...better than anything I've ever bought, same for the eggs. The entertainment value? Priceless.