What made you start keeping chickens?

[MotherMal13]

A few years ago i saw some of my grandmas neighbors chickens. Went to TSC one day and got 6...... now i have 19 and just orderd 27.

 

[gckiddhouse]

I am just a glutton for punishment that way.

I have always thought it was important for children to be very aware of where food comes from. Nothing makes me hotter under the collar than a parent who protects their children from the realities of food. Those little buggers will grow up and vote someday!

I also want my children to understand that animals are animals and people are people. Another thing that gets me hot under the collar is the whole humanization of animals.

So, I wanted to teach my children (homeschooled) about animal husbandry. We respect and care for animals and they feed us. Big difference between companion animals (the family dog), farm animals (the chickens) and wild animals (the deer we hunt and others) and how we respect and care for them.

Such great life lessons in having animals.

That's why we started!

The reasons we continue - well its back to that glutton thing. And we love hangin' with the chooks!

 

[Teach97]

the devil made me do it

 

[ChickenToes]

My husband's family had chickens when he was young, and after we'd been married for awhile he mentioned getting chickens again. Over 2 years later we now keep ducks instead of chickens, but I imagine we'll always have some sort of backyard flock.

 

[Jilara]

I think it started with stories about my grandfather's chickens. Especially the banty hen. When my father was growing up, my grandfather would leave his hat on the bureau by the window of the dining room. The banty hen would come and knock on the window every day, and my grandfather would let her in. She would go to his hat and use it as a nest, leaving an egg in it! And that's why I've always loved chickens and wanted some.

 

[Blueggchick]

My parents had chickens when I was little, and now, many years later, as my grandaughter would call them, I got bit by the chick chick bug! LOL. I now have had my own chickens for about a year and a half, and in the process of trying to get a special group of Ameraucanas going.

Love them blue eggs!

 

[yomama]

I had become aware of the horrific conditions that battery hens were going through. From then on, I vowed to buy only organic cage free eggs. Well, since those run at least $5.00 a dozen where I live, it was getting a little spendy. I love animals, and have many. My poor husband made the simple comment of, "we should just raise chickens ourselves, and have our own eggs". That's all it took to get the ball rolling. Although I had never been a big fan of chickens, the idea grew on me. Now, I wouldn't trade them for the world! (And I don't even eat eggs!!)

 

[featherbaby]

I don't know which came first, the insanity or the chickens. All I know is they make good companions.

There's something endearingly irresistible about love covered in feathers.

 

[Shifty Joe]

My family raised them when I was a kid and I always enjoyed them. Went back to visit the old home front and my mother offered me the old nesting box (24 nests, made of metal.. very nice)... well, no sense having a nesting box without chickens right? I have a little bit of land and I've always like the idea of your land providing food for you... so after finding a local feed store I ordered a few chicks... and down the rabbit hole I went.

 

[esthermgr]

When I was pregnant with my second child, I got the uncontrollable urge to hatch out chickens. I tried to fight it for 3 YEARS but I finally gave in! I had chickens as a kid, but hadn't thought about it until one day I was sitting in a real estate class in law school, big and pregnant, and suddenly just knew I simply had to have city chickens.