Big question, why did all of you new chicken owners get chickens?

[2many2count]

I have to say this isnt our first time with chcikens...but first time keeping them. I have had several flocks but coyotes come in one or two nights I am without even one chicken. So we redid the chicken house and to do some of that "chicken therapy" we got more chicks. I am an animal lover and enjoy taking care of them, feeding them, watching them and even supervising house clean out....lol. We were in rural king I think it was and wow found some cute babies.....so of course being wonderful man I have he said ok lets get 10 well picked out 15 lol. Few days later at another farm store and oh guess what they had more baby chicks.....you guessed it another 20 this time. I keep em in the garage when babies and sit with cup of tea watching them anytime I have a chance lol or makes chance to do so. One day that wonderful guy said hey come here see what I found.....he went on a hatchery site and yep you guessed it here comes another 50. I was so excited when we got the babies in I insisted we take em to his mom in nursing home......she was excited too. Well few days later I said oh lookie at these and here came another batch of chickens......umm do ya think I have enough yet??

Well if ya did your wrong....I went week ago and got 10 more full size chickens just cause well they were cute and ppl didnt want em no more they said too much trouble dealing with em. So now I have chicken something atleast once a week from some rooster that got little obnoxious...and yes several in freezer. My hens are doing thier job of "chicken therapy". I have made actual pets out of few of them lol to the point one rooster will never see the pot and 2 hens no matter what will be around. Cindy makes me go out and put her in every night due to well she spoiled and nope not me I wouldnt do that. Ya knew I would end up jabbering agian didnt ya?

But have to say we got them for the fresh eggs, "therapy" and oh of course meat...back to the self reliant thing and tough times I can always eat or atleast watch them instead of tv

 

[Sphinx]

I'm not sure what originally got the idea in my head. My kids are violently allergic to dogs and cats, so traditional pets were out. We bought a house with a large lot. I thought a horse would be fun, but too much work. I think I must have visited with someone who had a couple chickens in a portable tractor, and it looked like a fun, easy, and productive pet.

I had my husband build a small chicken tractor, but he hadn't done the actual henhouse, so it sat for a couple years.

This spring, I took the plunge and haven't looked back.

I think my family wishes I wasn't quite so enthusiastic about it though- it's all I can talk about lately.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

I got them for the eggs.
I had no idea I would fall in love with them!!! But I did

 

[LadyWoodsong]

I was raised on a farm and had the chore of "picking the eggs". Many moons later, my hubby, boys and myself moved back to the country about 2 years ago and I knew that once I was back in the country I wanted to have chickens. I knew that chickens would be a good "first-time" farm 'animal' to have. I knew my boys would enjoy them (myself included).

We got 12 sex-link chicks in April of this year and they have been a real joy. I can't imagine going back to being chicken-less.

 

[CricketYang]

I got chickens/ducks/turkeys because my 12 lb pomeranian couldn't make me breakfast.

 

[harleyjo]

For us, we about starved last winter. We are self employed flooring installers and this economy has really hurt us. We got some pullets last spring, we have 15 that can lay. They are BSL and I keep a light on in the coop so they will keep producing through the winter. So I have eggs to eat. I can do a lot with eggs. Then we have bought 2 batches of 25 cornish x for meat. I have the second batch yet to process. I am letting them free range so they are taking a little longer but costing me less in feed. So I will have eggs, and chicken. Throw in some flour and I have a lot of possible meals.

Now that I have them, I love them.

 

[pawprint2104]

I wanted to reduce my dependence on the egg industry. An industry I've lost faith in.

I've since re-discovered some of the joy from my childhood when we had ducks, goats, and rabbits, etc. I love my gals, and much to my hubby's chagrin, still threaten to turn them into Sunday dinner if they don't produce Sunday breakfast.

 

[gryeyes]

I was a couch potato for all of my adult life. I worked shift work, slept days, worked nights, really lazy. Accepted a promotion when I was 54 and was relocated to the Sacramento area. The job is "regular" hours, with weekends and holidays off. Never had those before! So I came to chickens in a round-about way:

Too hot for me here, so I built a double goldfish pond. Lovely, relaxing (once it was completed). My landlady also had no problem with me building raised garden beds in my back yard, so I did that. Then I got annoyed with the horrible soil - clay and rocks - and buying bagged soil and all sorts of amendments to get anything to grow well.

Hmmm. Chickens provide the best fertilizer, I could get a few chickens and have free fertilizer! Oh, and they eat bugs, too - another problem here. Oh, wait, they lay eggs, too, don't they?

Started in Summer 2009 with a plan for 4, maybe 6, okay, up to 8 chickens, and built the first coop, which was an A-Frame. Bought the chicks from the very last feed store with chicks in October. All different breeds, too, since I wanted to be able to tell them apart.

I was absolutely gob-smacked to discover chickens have personalities.

And now I have multiple coops, around 30 chickens and 2 Cayuga ducks free ranging on land-lady's full acre, and tons o' chicks in two brooders plus 7 incubators full of eggs of even more breeds I want to discover.

Plus I sell some eggs to people who work in the same building as do I. I will never eat any of my own chickens. I've named them! they can live out their lives here, because they will always produce free fertilizer and help reduce the bug population, even if their laying production slows down.

They are absolutely wonderful to watch and they make me laugh.

 

[moondog425]

Pretty much the same reason as oldchickenlady.....Tennessee Ticks .....I live in a wooded area and the ticks have been really bad the last few years so I have a friend that gave me three grown chickens, a roo and two hens,then i got five game hens ( chicks ) that are bug eatin machines. I let them free range about two hours a day and it helps with the ticks. Now i want some Dominique hens, but they are hard to find around here. I remember when thats what everyone had !!!?? And I like to sit out in my lawn chair and watch them too.

Quote:

 

[Taylor]

I think they are educational, they are a good way to preserve the past, they give you food, they are fun to watch !!!!