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

[Louieandthecrew]

After going on a trip to Costa Rica my family loved the chicken that they had on the place we stayed and so we decided to get chickens of our own. End of story

 

[cldineley]

I didn't have any plans on getting chickens until the neighbors roo decided he likes us better than her , so now he's mine, and I'm planning on getting him some friends when I can find someone selling Barred Rocks. I was raised around all kinds of farm animals but the chickens we kept were just for meat. I have found that I enjoy going out and talking to my roo and his girlfriend he has picked from my other neighbors flock, and would like to try to get eggs too.

 

[jdellosso]

Our friend got three and my two boys fell in love with them. We have a totally protected 10x10 atrium in the center of our house, and we felt it was ideal for chickens-no predators, big enough, and we could watch them (like an aquarium!) from three sides. We took the plunge, got a used small coop on CraigsList for $75 and chose two chickies from our local pet store, which happened to be cochins. We didn't care what they were. There is no farming or even anything resembling country life in any of our lives, so this was our way to have the world's smallest "farm". We put a little 10x3 garden in our postage stamp back yard to grow our own food, and the thought of having fresh eggs was perfect. They are easy to care for, inexpensive (I get 50-lb of organic feed that lasts 6 months), they fertilize and till our garden and love being scratched on the back and held. Pets? Well, yeah. We also have two cats, two fish and a turtle in our little 1500-square foot house in suburbia. Now I know I will always have chickens.

 

[ChristianMcD]

Three years ago, my husband said he wanted to get chickens. This seemed crazy to me, but I didn't say anything because I thought it would push him to follow through with his outrageous plan. That winter he was online one night and said he'd ordered 25 Red Star chickens and they'd be arriving in June! So much for my strategy of tolerantly keeping my concerns to myself. We live in a very rural area, and certainly had room for them, but I knew who would end up taking care of them, and I'd always kind of been afraid (yes, afraid) of chickens.

Well, they arrived and it was love at first sight. I would sit and watch the chicks for hours, playing with them, and just enjoying their antics. Needless to say, while we share responsibility for caring for them, I still consider them mine

. We're now on our second flock and have a small egg sales business. I've also realized how nice it is to have our own fresh eggs coming from hens who we know are happy, super spoiled, and are fed good, healthy foods.

-C

 

[Lisa202]

Because chickens are the epitome of country and I've always wanted to live in the country...plus... they make me happy.

 

[WhetzelMomma]

I have lots of reasons. I've written a lot about it on my blog. http://www.minetothine.com/2010/04/why-i-choose-chickens.html

 

[aprophet]

I don't have chickens I have seramas

they are such sweeties and have so much personality when I was a lot younger I helped raise 50,000 broilers at a time at a time it is a lot of work . After being away from chickens for a while I missed them

mostly I have quail and a few chukars but my Babies ( 7 seramas) are a lot of fun.

 

[ginznchix]

We have a small 5 acre farm and have had different animals over the years, including chickens many years ago. I don't know how we managed to get out of them, I think we just didn't replace them over time. But hubby had been talking about getting them again over the last few years and so we finally did. I actually got ginz first to help with ticks, and the chickens just naturally followed. We always loved collecting the eggs, and there was no good reason why we didn't still have them!

Now we have 2 groups in 2 different locations, our "working girls", one JBG and 5 RIR's laying eggs for us, and " the littles", 5 mixed americauna/MFD/sebright crazy chickens that I hatched from random eggs I grabbed from a friend's nest boxes. Unfortunately 4 of the 5 are roos so I'm getting ready to order more girls.

My wish list includes americaunas, buff orps, silkies, more MFDs, cuckoo marans, cochins... SEE WHAT YOU DID TO ME?! This is all your fault, I learned about all these birds here! I'm officially addicted.

 

[cumulus10]

2 main reasons. 1. I can show them at the fair. 2. To get FRESH brown eggs for free.

 

[PhilErvin]

I got chickens for the eggs they lay.