Why are we raising chickens?

[slbenter]

We are about to sell our home here in the city of southern California, to 5 acres in the north sort-of-west parts of Tennessee. (Paris)
We're allowed to have poultry, no roos, 6 hens. We travel too much though, and so we've never obtained any while living here. I raised 6 hens many years ago married to my first husband, same city. When we move, I plan to have a coop built, and have about 10 or less.
I thought I'd never be able to cull chickens for meat, I just love them and can watch them for hours. But the more I read about chickens, the more I think I will be able to butcher when the time comes. Maybe it's because I'm much older now. Maybe it's because I've read so much, watched so many videos on butchering (now without turning my eyes away, lol), or maybe I underestimated my capabilities....after all, I grew up fishing and can catch, clean, and cook any fish I catch...I don't know. But like some have stated here already, I find myself being unable to resolve having them, and still going to the store to buy inferior birds to eat.
Then there's the fact that we still plan to travel some in our motorhome, and I worry about not being able to find someone to take care of them if we want to take a longer vacation, so being able to cull before we take off for a month or more, might be wise.

So for now, with no real experience about just how I'll really feel when the time comes, I'm gonna say my birds will all be dual purpose, and I will find a way to humanely care, and butcher, all of them.

 

[diamondsilkies]

We first starting raising chickens for eggs, but it became quite the learning experience, and they have now become my pets. I started breeding them about five years ago (we got our first chickens 11 years ago).

I get a handful of chicks every spring for egg laying, but once they stop, I either find them a new loving home or, as is usually the case, keep them until they die of natural causes.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Honestly, there's no one single reason. Every time I'm asked, my answer changes a bit. I started with them because of eggs, but my reasons grew. I keep them for meat, companionship, breeding, showing, and yes, eggs. I admit freely to playing favourites with my flock—a few of them are treasured pets that will live out their lives here, and some are hatched with the intention of butchering.

I love how chicken keeping can be as simple or as complex as I want. There are so many facets of their care and physiology that I will never run out of things to research and experiment with. I love hatching them. I love seeing them grow up and explore the world. Social dynamics of the flock are fascinating too and a few hours a day of watching them will yield much insight. You can hyperfocus on, say, the exact mechanics of gas transfer in the lungs, or you can zoom all the way out to the history and domestication of the chicken.

As for the aspect of butchering—I wasn't ready to do it for a few years. I took my time, but once I was ready, I did it. Large amounts of technical research helped, 'cause I'm just that kind of person. Give me something simple and I'll turn it into a 10-page opus complete with diagrams, lol. Nobody can 'make' you ready. You have to come to your own conclusion, and if you decide you want to do it, that conclusion has to be firm so you don't wimp out once you've got the bird in the cone. Knowing how to cull your own birds is a necessary part of owning them, IMO. Even if you don't want to process them, you're going to want that skill when you have a terribly injured and suffering bird that has no hope of survival and is going to die anyway, only slower and in a more excruciating manner. I realize this might be a rather charged statement, but I believe that if you have a bird that is suffering and you watch them die slowly for your own feelings' sake, you are failing at the promise of kindness to them that you made when you took ownership. In the "wild", a predator would have killed them quickly once they started to fail. We protect them, so we have to take on that duty too.

I don't enjoy butchering day. But it's a part of how I choose to run my flock. I hatch them, I give them a really great life full of grass and bugs to chase, and then they die quickly and provide food for me and my family. I don't turn into a huge, emotional process, I do it quietly, cleanly, and with awareness that this is a life that I am taking and I should not let it go to waste but rather to a continuation of my own. As for what happens when you get attached, well, that depends on what you've decided. Me, I try in general to have a greater share of logic when I decide who needs to go. I look at factors like egg production, health, age, and build. Emotions aren't a good way to run your life in general. There's still a few birds that I like more than the rest due to unique behaviours or colouring, and I keep them, because why not? An extra three birds won't break the bank. Chickens are a hobby, after all, even if I do try to make them pay mostly for themselves.

You could debate forever on the ethics of it, but I don't have the time or patience to do that over and over again when I have already hashed it out with myself, which is all that really matters. The bottom line is that you've got to be comfortable with the choice you make. There's nothing wrong with keeping them for pets, and there's nothing wrong with keeping them for meat.

Edit: I think the human concept of "living out a life" is kind of sketchy as a whole. I don't want to "live out my life" if it means I'm in a wheelchair in a nursing home, rotting away in mind and body. I'd kill myself first. Humans have a fear of dying in a way no animal does—maybe we should learn from them and quit worrying about measuring time and start enjoying things like worms. Wait, not worms. That's ONLY for ducks.

Wish I could "love" this post.

 

[Ribh]

As I don't eat meat our chooks aren't considered *dual purpose*. The eggs are lovely but I like the compost for the veggie garden & in all honesty I choose chickens as *eye candy*. Seriously, I am always being told what pretty chickens I have ~ & that's from people who mostly have ISA Browns or Leghorns. When I expand I will be choosing looks over production though my choices are also pretty good layers.

Everyone has different reasons for keeping chickens but I believe the instinctual drive for survival means everything wants to live & I choose to honour that because I have other food options.

 

[Stick Chicken]

I never really thought about why I have chickens. I just have them. Most record books and people, in my experience, are trying to convince me that chickens are for making money, but you don't tend to make a lot with a little backyard flock. It's nice to get eggs, but we don't really keep them for eggs. Really, I believe the main purpose of keeping chickens is to show them and improve them according to the standard. That's not the only reason though. I breed mixed breed chickens, so apparently that's not the only reason. I suppose I am interested in the genetic side of things and determining what gets what.
I don't raise chickens for meat, though. I used to raise broilers, but not for very long. When we need to make room for new chickens, we sell the older ones or the ones that never made any sort of connection with us. Someone mentioned looking at the flock as a whole. I don't do that. Each chicken is an individual that has to prove its worth somehow. This typically means that we don't have any chickens that live past laying years, excepting the lone silkie because she can just stay with the cochins.
Perhaps I keep chickens because I always have owned some. I simply like to know that I own chickens, and while I like the ones that model the standard of perfection, that's not the only reason I like them. I suppose I like the ones that are attractive to the eye or can produce interesting chicks.
Maybe I don't keep chickens for any of these reasons. Perhaps I have a subconscious need to own chickens, and I simply do not realize it. Or maybe I am prideful and just like to be able to say that I own chickens, the same way that someone might keep a lizard or a bear to say that they own one. Perhaps it's not that either, but rather that I enjoy going out to the barn and petting them. Maybe it's therapeutic in some manner; maybe in the way owning a fish is supposed to be therapeutic. All I know is that I own chickens and probably will forever, 'tis the way things are.
I would like to apologize for how convoluted my reply has become; I am not a very straightforward person.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

We got chickens as a step towards self sustainability. But I didn't grow up on a farm. I'm having trouble bringing myself to process my old hens, but I also realize that if I don't, I'll eventually have no room for new layers which will defeat the purpose of having them. They are fun to watch though.

 

[Ribh]

We got chickens as a step towards self sustainability. But I didn't grow up on a farm. I'm having trouble bringing myself to process my old hens, but I also realize that if I don't, I'll eventually have no room for new layers which will defeat the purpose of having them. They are fun to watch though.

Some breeds will lay until the day they die ~ ISA Browns for example.

 

[Trux]

There is debate in my house over why we have chickens. I like the life and companionship my flock offers. I like to watch them grow and interact and just be chickens. My husband likes this too, however he has more of an economical point of view. He sees all the money and time it takes to raise them. We make a little from the eggs we sell to help offset the cost of feed, by no means are we making a profit.

But what happens when they slow or stop laying? I would prefer to let them live out their life. My husband sees something we feed and get nothing from and would prefer to cull them for the freezer.

He grew up on a farm and I did not. That has had a tremendous impact on our lives as we do not share the same view of life and death (when it comes to our animals). I can’t find the line between pet and stock. I prefer everything to live and in the world of farming that is just not realistic.

My husband and I have laid out somewhat of a plan to raise a new flock every year and cull the oldest flock at around 3 years of age, like a cycle.That way we have them through the laying years and are getting the most from our investment by stocking the freezer.

What do you do? What is the purpose of your flock? How do you manage your attachment and feelings toward the animal you have raised and now have to kill?

My Flock is dual purpose eggs and meat. Like your Hubby I to grew up on a farm and totally share his view point. I started out with a flock of 15, orps, rocks, wy's and jersey giants. however of those 15, the jersey's got cut from the flock at 8 months. All 3 were feather pickers...and yes I tried things to stop them including peepers, sprays and a few other things, so they went to freezer camp. I also lost 2 white orps, 1 to heat and one at 4 months which is still a mystery, found her dead by the water fountain when I went out for the morning feeding.
So the next spring I got 6 SLW from TSC 4 ended up being cockerels, freezer camp for those 4, and one pullet didn't make it so I got 1 left from that purchase. Then I got 7 from another source 3 GLW 3 SLW and one Silver Penciled Rock. From this batch,1 was a cockerel the rest pullets. I rehomed the cockerel, he was to pretty to eat. and 1 didnt make it from the SLW's
So now my next step was what you are doing, replacing old with new. I turn over 15 birds every season. Only exception is a pair I have, Heritage Orps which I plan on raising some stock from.

 

[Trux]

Some breeds will lay until the day they die ~ ISA Browns for example.

And Deathlayers

 

[LulaBell]

I keep my chickens as pets, and to observe genetics - I don't eat meat, but I do eat eggs. I have 67 pet chickens (!) currently, the most I have had at one time is 80. The layers and the retired layers plus a few meat-type hens and mixes I have taken as pets free range over six acres with a livestock guardian dog, but I have an all-rooster flock of twenty odd birds (everything from a Brahma to leghorns to bantams and several mutts) who are kept in a spacious (half acre) grassy run or they would cause havoc with the hen flock. I also have some hens and cocks in smaller runs, mostly bantams and silkies, these are my breeding birds and they are paired to produce specific ornamental traits in their offspring. Almost all of them have names (there are some who are virtually identical, and they are the"twins" or the "triplets" etc), and the oldest, a bantam rooster named Elliot, is fourteen. I have laying breed hens and notice they don't last as long as ornamentals and roosters always outlive the hens of any breed, but I do have several 7-9 year old layers. They produce about four eggs a year now, but as long as quality of life is good, this is their home.

I also have a small assortment of other supposed-to-be-eaten farm animals which I have made pets, including a steer bought at a 4-H auction, saved from becoming steak by his extremely friendly demeanor. The girl who raised him was too attached to see him sold for slaughter, and I overheard and did an impulse buy I don't regret. He is very sweet, and the girl still visits him.

I rehome excess birds from my hobby breeding programs as pets, they are very well socialized and I have no issues finding good homes for them.

I am competent at euthanizing birds when the time comes, but don't do so otherwise. The very old birds, if they haven't been on medication that I would worry might remain in their system, are given to a neighbor who does raise meat birds, and they become stew - which is fine by me, as it is a better use than they would get otherwise.

My personal mantra is kindness. For me, that's making everything a pet. I understand this is not possible or reasonable for all people, but it makes me feel fulfilled.

67 pet chickens! Only in my dreams! I would love to keep all of my girls for pets. Unfortunately I had to compromise, but I will get to keep 1 flock of whatever I choose.