Can't decide if we should raise chickens

[madrooster]

with 5 hens it wont a big deal at all just clean up once a week water and feed, i put sevendust in the dusting holes and it keeps the mites and lice away all yr just put it out twicw a month and try to handle ur birds and give them scratch and goodies and they will love ya. its funny each bird has its personality yull c, feeding and maintinece on five hens wont be much to deal with,and they dont need alot of space,especially if u clip there wings they cant fly and they can just hang out in a five ft fenced area. hope u get some chics there great to have around. also as far as eggs go we have 18hens and 2 roos and a couple pullets and get 9 to 12 eggs a day with five birds u should a couple eggs a day depending on what breeds u go with.

 

[wsdareme]

To the OP: You are getting some great advice from my fellow BYCers. I think the suggestion to visit someone with a flock the size you're thinking of getting would be a great way for you to see what it's all about.

You say the city regs say you need to "clean" your coop daily. You can still use the deep litter method -- just make sure you have a poop board under your roosts and scrape it daily. They do most of their pooping on the roosts, and with 4" to 6" of pine shavings and an occasional sprinkling of diatomaceous earth (food grade only - available at your local feed store) you will not have any odor. The DE helps dry the poop, and it's actually good for humans and animals.

Like any pet (and they WILL become your pets), they do require daily attention. But when you get home from work, grab a beer and a lawn chair, and sit in your run while your ladies flock around your feet and fly up on your shoulder, it will be worth every single minute of work. They are total entertainment, and there is nothing that beats a home-grown egg!

The other thing you've already done is join this forum. There is more information, GOOD information, on this site than in a 1,000 books on the subject.

A word of warning: CHICKENS ARE ADDICTING.

 

[chick-george]

I started last summer with 3 chicks. I now have 9 hens and 1 rooster. The rooster was an accident. All three of the original hens started laying in September. The rest have just started laying in the last couple of months so we are getting anywhere from 6 to 9 eggs a day. We are a family of 5 and we are giving a couple dozen away every week.
We are on a 3/4 acre lot with neighbors on both sides. No complaints so far. The rooster, a silkie, has not started crowing at all yet. The hens however are pretty noisy. They are either showing off when they have laid an egg or trying to get my attention. The clamor to be let out on the lawn. The like the greens growing around the yard. I have not seen so much as one cricket or water bug since November, quite a miracle for us especially since we've had quite a bit of wet weather the last several months.
The cleaning is made easier for us since we use the deep liter method. The poop gets turned over pretty well with all the scratching they do. I only really have to do a little turning myself underneath their roosts since I don't confine them to the coop all day. We have a 40 square foot fenced run so they prefer to hang around outside the coop and just go in at night to sleep.
I think you are off to a good start and you sound like a very considerate neighbor. Of course no matter how well you plan one of your neighbors may well not end up very happy with either the bit of noise or the occasional whiff of chicken manure. Some people will always find a reason to be put out.

The inducement of the occasional gift of fresh eggs may soften them up a bit though.
With all of that out of the way. I have never had a more productive or enjoyable outdoor hobby. My darkest moods can be lifted by a 1/2 hour or so of just watching the girls do their thing.
Good luck to you and your family with your new endeavor.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

I would HIGHLY recommend chickens! Yes, they do tear up the spaces that they range and can be noisy after they lay an egg (the "Egg Song", which sounds like buc-buc-buc-buc-AWK! *repeat many times*. It can also be an alarm call if there is a predator, though), but they make great pets.

I have a lot that is 1/4 of an acre, but there's a front yard, a house, and a backyard, so the chickens get to roam about 1/9 of an acre. They do fine, though! They used to jump over the fence until I clipped their wings. I would suggest the type I have, Gold Sex-Links (also called Golden Comets, Golden Buffs, Cinnamon Queens...). They weight about 4-5 pounds and I get an egg every day from each of them. They aren't very flighty or noise and they make great pets. Plus, you can give extra eggs to your neighbors

. However, GSL's are not purebred, so if you want to show a chicken, I wouldn't recommend getting a flock full of them.

Speaking of neighbors, you should ask them if they would mind living next to a few laying hens. Tell them that you will keep the coop clean and do your best to keep them out of their yards.

And keeping the coop clean: Put a board of wood under the roosts to catch the poop. Then you can remove the board and dispose of the droppings easily.

Mites and lice: Give them plenty of dust to roll in. It helps keep pests off of them. If they do acquire mites, though, dust them with Sevin dust.

My Gold Sex-Links:

Hope this helps!

 

[aubreynoramarie]

my backyard is TINY and my neighbors are WAYYYYY close. we are the epitome of urban chicken farmers

we also have five hens and they are my first as well

The neighbors honestly had no clue they were there until i told them, and now they love to come by the house and watch them run around.

I would also suggest getting a reliable layer. Feeding that many people will be easy in the summy, but this winter weve been getting one egg every other day from our five.

dude, seriously. youre going to do this and youre going to be fine.

then youre going to love it.

then youre going to want a bigger backyard.

eta: i have dogs, cats, fish, and chickens.

the chickens are BY FAR the easiest to care for. feed em every so often (they have a five gallon food thingy), clean the coop every other weekend- badda bing.

 

[Qi Chicken]

It looks like everyone is giving you long and thoughtful responses. I didn't read all of the details but wanted to say that Deep Litter IS an option for you. You should use poop boards. They poop at night. you clean the poop that falls onto the poop board every day. THAT IS cleaning the coop every day and it takes all of 3 minutes, especially with so few birds. We have never had any kind of lice or mite that I am aware of, but they are almost a year old and I have not yet wormed them or anything. I was going to post about that actually and ask if it was necessary. Obviously I have never seen a problem.

Make sure that they are legal. Sounds like they are so no problem. They take me about 5 minutes to clean, change the water every few days 15 minutes if I do food and other stuff too. The problem is getting someone to care for them if you go away. A few days they will be fine if you have a very secure coop, but more than 3 I would want someone to check on them.

My husband is kind of laid back. He definitely doesn't love them like I do, but he doesn't mind them either. He thinks they are funny because they are funny. He doesn't sit out there with a chicken on his lap very often. I have seen him once or twice though, I never said I saw!

The thing that takes the time is spending time with pets you love. Watching them and hanging out. Time well spent in my opinion.

Good luck, I think you will really have fun with this. My husband was kind of like, whatever, but he has taken eggs to work a few times and can't believe the response. He tells me how interested everyone is in our chickens, and he suddenly thought that maybe people would BUY them! YA THINK?!?!? Been doing it for months honey!

Anne

 

[Qi Chicken]

I just read nuchickon the blocks response and I think she is right. In the winter I drive over to our coop when I have finally gotten the kids in the car, I hop out and make sure they haven't unplugged the water and give them a treat. Leave for work. They won' t go out in snow and our coop is big so I don't sweep or shovel. Too much snow here in Iowa for that. They just stay inside in the winter. When the snow is gone from the grass I just open the door in the morning and they free-range. At night I lock them up and clean up if I have the time. I have my own business so some days are busier than others. I always fill the water sunday night because I can't do it again till wed. But newchick is right, there is always something. We have had all kinds of various crisis and they have so far taken a good amt of time, but I think part of it is inexperience. Now that we know how to do things it should be easier. Having a good vet that will see chickens would help a LOT. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem was. Also plan on it taking a fair amt of money. Much more than eggs from the store. But much much much more rewarding too. If you have kids it is no brainer. My kids spent all of last Sunday building some kind of teeter totter device to weigh the chickens with. It was so cute. They LOVE them. Unsolicited they say I love chickens, I am so glad we have them. ME too!

 

[azygous]

You've got a huge amount of great advice and experience on this thread of yours!

I want to stress the important role that a covered run (pen) plays in preventing all sorts of problems:

1. It will keep your chickens safe from predators and droppings of wild birds which cause bird flu and parasites. In the four years I've been keeping chickens, I've had no serious illnesses and no parasites.

2. It will prevent your chickens from straying into a neighbor's yard and being killed by their dogs, and the dogs from climbing into the pen and killing your chickens.

3. Covering the run will keep it dry. Wet chicken poop smells a thousand times worse than dry. Dry chickens are also more comfortable chickens.

4. Chickens feel more secure under cover. They'll be more relaxed, maybe quieter.


I use sand in the run, and I scoop the poop several times a day, taking just five minutes or less each time. The result is complete freedom from odor and flies. If the poop isn't there long enough for flies to lay eggs, you won't have anything more than transient flies in summer. The poop is put on my compost pile, and there are no odor or flies if done correctly.

I use pine shavings inside the coop and put down poop planks under the roosts at night. Most of the coop poop accumulates at night. In the morning I pull out the thin, linoleum-covered boards and hose them off. Stray poop has clumped to the wood shavings and is easily plucked out and composted.

Chickens, unlike dogs, only create mild noise during daylight hours. They're pretty much silent when in their coops at night.

There really are no problems associated with chickens that can't be addressed successfully with good housekeeping and good coop and run planning.

It's a labor of love. Chickens are so delightful and entertaining, it's all worth it! You're doing the right thing by getting advice so you can plan well. Success is at hand!

I almost forgot to tell you that I use corrugated, transparent, fiberglass panels to cover the pen. They're screwed onto light-weight 2" x 4" and 1" x 2" lateral supports. Rain and snow stay off. Light gets through. I have some green panels along with clear ones for varied sun and shade.

 

[Cindy in PA]

I have had chickens for 18 years. I do have 2 acres, but the chickens were at the back of my property when the McMansions went up behind us. I made sure to have a rooster to welcome them to the country. The closest neighbor hasn't seemed to have a problem in 5 years, but I also put up with their 3 year old coming on my property at will to see the chickens & their cat roaming my yard.

I open & close my two coops daily (5 min each time) and spend about 20 minutes total changing water, collecting eggs & throwing scratch. I have never wormed or dusted my flock with Sevin (suspected of thinning egg shells in swallows & bluebirds in the 80s) and have never had a problem. I may have one tomorrow, but to this point "dusting" every few months would be overkill.

I didn't have a chicken killed by a predator until at 15 years a fox got under my plastic fence & grabbed a hen. My run is not "Fort Knox", but I do shut the coop door every night when I am home and the top is covered with deer netting.

I have gone away for as long as 5 days with no problem, except I throw away the eggs if it's in the summer. I always fill their 30 lb. feeder and put 2 extra waterers in when I go away. If I would go away longer, I would need someone to look in on them.

I only clean my coop twice a year & usually have no smell. I agree a "poop board" would help a lot. My girls are sometimes noisy when laying an egg, but normally are relatively quiet, much more so than a dog. Using a high quality feed seems to cut down on flies.

I would say go for it. Caring for 5 hens would be pretty easy. They are fun to watch & the eggs are great. My husband complains about the chickens, but loves talking about his chickens when a someone stops by. Go figure! Good luck.

 

[Bubbles_erin]

I know you got a lot of info here already. But I will tell you my experience. I wanted chickens for eggs to start and since have gotten meat birds too. I had never raised any livestock at all. I have only in my life had cats or dogs. So it was all new to me. It was MY idea and experment to try, my husband, though he raised many animals in his time, did not really have any invested interest in raising the chickens. He has since come around more to them and helps with them more. I think that in a minimum you can try it. You don't even have to build a coop, yet. If you are in a relatively low predator area, like me, and have an old shed or other enclosure to house them in, it will suffice until you decide you want to keep them or not. I still do not have a "real" coop. When I got my first, I housed them in a kids play-yard thing with a makeshift roof. A dog came into the yard and killed some, so that made me start thinking about a better, more permanant home for them. Besides, cool weather was heading our way. So we have a 10x20 canopy and I rigged it up with chicken wire around the inside as well as the walls to make sure no one can get in or out of it. They have been there since. My hubby tried to build me one tractor (moveable chicken yard) with some free wood from craigslist, its too heavy for me to move alone, but with a few more additions, is actually a good, small housing for something else...So point being, you can house them almost anywhere outside of the elements and safe from predators. My canopy is just like a coop at this point, they have bedding, roosting, nest area, and the baby chicks are in their own box inside the canopy too. Once we move to the country here in a few months, I know this will no longer suffice as there are coyotes as well as other predators that I will have to look out for. But until then, I have no plans to build a coop here where we are staying...

As far as the time taken, it is very little. I go first thing in the morning to open up the "coop," feed, and water the chickens...the big birds have a large feeder and waterer, so that makes it very easy, I just top off the waterer and put the feeder out for them, the babies are a little more time cosuming, I add more bedding, grab the feeders and waterers and fill them while my older hen tries to steal "baby" food

I then add it back to the brooder and watch the lil ones go crazy...

the big birds run outside first thing when we open the coop to eat their fill of grass and bugs...and they eat a lot of them too, so food costs go down. I go again when hubby gets home to freshen the water and food for the babies. At sundown, most or all the birds are back in the "coop" and I go and water the babies one more time and close up for the night. As needed, I add straw to the bedding for the big birds. About once every two weeks, they get a fresh thin layer. Haven't yet pulled it all out and started from scratch (only have been using straw bedding throughout the winter), but when the time comes to do so, I can use the straw in my garden.

Weather or not you decide it is for you, they are a lot of fun. Really. I enjoy sitting by the window throughout the day and watching them, or go down and seeing their antics. I have, in the past, tried to round my turkeys back into their "coop" and had all 10 of my chickens running behind me...made me laugh...I love raising them from babies because they are easier to handle when they are used to you more. Out of all the chickens we have gotten, I have had two sets of babies from local people that were anywhere from 4-6 weeks at the time of purchase and two sets of hatchery "day old" chicks, the older ones were a lot more skitish and the hatchery ones have been a lot calmer and friendlier. So, if you decide to get chicks, very easy to care for..no need to buy a whole lot of supplies, I got an old produce box from the grocery store (I went to Costco since they had the BIG boxes) its a kind that sits on a pallet and is the size of a pallet and about 4" tall. Already had reflector lights, but had to buy a few bulbs, just bought my first set of real waterer and feeders, used plastic storage containers before (warning they WILL poo in it though), bedding is realatively cheap, and lastly food, which too isn't much...Starting out either with chicks or grown birds does not need to be elaborate. Start with buying as little supplies until you know. The chicken waterers and feeders, for both big and little birds are new to me, I have gone at least 6-9 months without them.