Best strategy when you want pet hens?

[candicesj]

I am slowly building a small coop for my future chickens. It's my first time with chickens and I really just wanted 2 hens as our family pets. This is my ideal. By reading a lot on here and other chicken resources, I found that there is a good difference in how much the chicken becomes your pet (friendliness, attachment to you, etc.) depending on the age the chick was brought in the family at and how much hands on care. This made me decide to get very young chicks that I could bring up practically from birth in my home until they are ready to go into the coop outside. It's important to me that the chickens be friendly with us because of my young 3 year old daughter. I'm sure she will love them and want to pet them and stay with them... And I want that too in a chicken.

But the other thing that is extremely important (it's essential!) is that they be hens and not roosters since we live in the city!

What should I do? From what I read, they can't be sexed very accurately until 6 weeks or so for the most part... But I was really looking forward to raising the chicks...

Does it sound like something a chicken breeder would accept to sell me 4 chicks, and then have me return the roosters if there are any? With good luck, 2 would be hens. It would still be good if 3 or 4 were. Of course, it would be really bad news to find out that there is only one (lonely) hen or that there are none at all, but I'd definitely be willing to buy and take care of all 4 as well as I possibly can until I'm able to sex them. I just don't know if I'd find someone to adopt the roos if there were any! This is the solution I found to my problem. Does it sound crazy? Should I just go with two 6+ week old chicks?

Are chickens like humans ('bout half and half hens and roos)?

 

[LadyB]

If you buy sexed chicks, you have a much better chance of receiving hens. Sexing chickens is not an exact science until they are older, but you have a fairly good chance of getting hens.

My suggestion would be to get 3-4 and handle them a lot. Then, if you end up with a rooster, you can find a new home for him. Oh, and its extremely unlikely that you would be able to return the rooster, but you can always find a different place for a rooster.

Good luck,

 

[abanjaf]

If you purchase your chicks from a hatchery, they can sex the chicks for you. Not 100% accurate but pretty darn good! The quality of chicken breed won't be as good as getting chicks from a breeder, but if you only want pets anyway, then who cares? Not that I'm advocating this hatchery, because I have no experience with them (some of my original flock came from McMurray hatchery), but you can order from MyPetChicken.com for as few as 3-5 chicks which sounds like it would work out well for you. Shipping smaller numbers of chicks can involve a higher mortality rate in the chicks though.

 

[r-l-newell]

Quote:
You can't return roosters unfortunately. You can sell them on Craigslist or you could raise them and butcher them when they get big enough. If you go to several of the hatchery web sites that are on this web site you can select sexed pullets for not much more money than what Straight Run Chicks are sold for.

Good luck in getting your chickens and raising hens as pets. As someone lse said be sure and hold the chciks a lot after about a week of having them and they will get used to your family holding them. Our seven year old son holds the one year old hens we have in our coop without any problems.

 

[saritastar]

I got our chicks for pets and for eggs. I plan to keep them, even when they are done laying. They are all named and we try to hold them daily. They are getting pretty tame (my mom thinks... they try and peck me and still act scared, lol). But they aren't even 6 weeks... I would think getting baby babies would get more tame chickens, much quicker.

We also can't have roosters so I just bought extra chicks. I'm only allowed 3 as per our city ordinance, so I bought 6--they told me they were 97% chance of pullet (and then yesterday I bought two more from a straight run

) I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get any roo's, lol.

I just told my kids ahead of time, that if we get roosters, we can't keep them. I simply told them it was the rules. I know my 7 yr old will be pretty okay with it, and I have a 3 yr old daughter too, and I'm sure it will be harder for her. I think preparing ahead of time will be a good thing for us. I plan to sell them on craigslist if I get any.

 

[Silkiefan]

I would reccomend more than two. Heaven forbid, should anything happen to one, the other won't be left alone and freaking out. Keep at least three. I figure 50% of what you get is going to be male... MY luck is more like 75% - but anyway... when you get chicks, buy a few more than you'll want to keep. Craigslist is a great place to rehome the boys.
If you really really don't want to take a chance at getting boys, go for SEX-LINK breeds - that way you're guaranteed HENS- again, at least three. If you choose a sex-linked bantam breed, you'll have smaller chickens for your coop and could justify the extra bird(s)

 

[OrpingtonHopeful]

My local mom and pop feed/hardware store orders sexed chicks from hatcheries and then sells them individually- Have you checked your local sources?

Last year I bought 4 BO day old chicks and raised them all by hand. They come running for my 5 yr old and I- All the neighborhood kids hold them, though I do insist they wear sunglasses if they do as we have had a pecked eye...

I wouldn't buy from any feed store, but this place is great- they use a reputable hatchery and have their own chicken coop outside the store- all the guys who run the store have their own chickens at home....

We did just lose a hen this week for unknown causes (so sadly we are down to 3 lovelies)- up until then all my gals had been so robust and perfect, so do also consider the possibility of some loss when you establish your flock. This gal was just shy of 1 yr old and looked fit as a fiddle the day before.

We almost had lost another of our gals during those first few days when she got a chill and pasty vent at about 2 days old...Power had gone out in the middle of the night so the heat lamp went off- I sat in a steamy bathroom with chicks tucked in my shirt to save them..All 4 made it through, but that is another thing to consider when you start with day-olds- You have more chance to imprint them, but there is also more risk of loss and also more time and effort to grow them. It wasn't hard, but I was definitely glad to be home full time to be able to really fuss over them and monitor them...

Best wishes! Chickens are so much fun and lovely to hang out with!

 

[candicesj]

Thank you for the great responses!

I will definitely be buying local, and I think I will go with young chicks that are sexed. 4 sounds good after getting your advice, hoping not more than 1 turns out to be a rooster. For only 1 rooster, I think it'd be possible to find someone to take him. Comments made me realize that I really should start with at least 3 chickens in case something happens. If there are only 2 and something happens, the poor hen would be so lonely.

r-l-newell: How old would they be when they are big enough to butcher and would they have started crowing? I'm looking for friendly, docile breeds that are dual purpose and can tolerate cold like Buff Orpington or Barred Rocks (or others like that).

saritastar: I hope my 3 year old will be able to let go since we are likely going to need to get rid of 1 or 2. I think she will be fine though, as long as they don't ALL go! She's already starting to be excited about chickens, watching me building the coop and seeing pictures on the internet.

silkiefan: You are right. I will go for 4 and hope for 3 hens! Sex-linked sounds like a good idea! I was hoping for Barred Rock and Buff Orpington, but I am open if they have it where I want. And guaranteed hens would be great. My coop will be big enough for 3 standard hens, but I wouldn't want to put 4 in there. It's a chicken ark with 4 by 8 feet at the bottom and 2 by 8 feet on top. Without the nest boxes, it's more like 2 by 6 feet, but there roost is very low in the middle and the ramp so it takes floor room and the ramp when down is not floor room...

OrpingtonHopeful: I'm trying to get help finding a good place from a fellow BYC member from my area.

For chick care, I work full time but my husband is there all day so he will be able to check on them to make sure they are OK while I take care of the rest when I'm home. I think the set-up will work well.

Thanks again everyone