Chicken Confessional: I'm a little scared!

[notabitail]

I hope some of you experienced chicken keepers can remember all the way back to your first foray into the world of chickens and perhaps sympathize with how I'm feeling. Or maybe I'm nuts.

I'm a born and raised city and suburban dweller -- I've never been on a horse, held a baby goat, milked a cow, or umm interacted with chickens. Ever. My childhood pets were fish, a pet store parakeet, and indoor cats (and my current household is run by one precious Maine Coon cat).

As the house hunt shifted from a small condo or townhouse to a real SFH on some land, I started thinking about chickens. Fresh eggs. Great compost for a new veggie garden. So when we moved to this 1-acre property last year, I knew it was time to get serious and make a plan for a small flock.

I've probably done more research than most would consider healthy, and fortunately have access to real live human friends who are longtime chicken people and have provided real-world information too. I think I'm as prepared as anyone can possibly be at this point, T-minus 49 days from picking up 5 Dominique pullets.

As excited and happy as I usually am, there's a part of me that's terrified of taking this whole thing on. What if I hate it? What if I can't tolerate all the poop and cleaning? What if we get a rat infestation? What if the birds get super sick, or hurt, or killed in some horrific way? I understand intellectually that any of these things could happen, but unlike other areas of my life, I have no previous experience in dealing with this. I'm not overly squeamish about some things, but disgusting smells or a mauled bird... I don't know how I'd react to that.

This whole post is really just to say that I'm 70% excited to begin the chicken adventure but 30% horrified at the many possible forms of misery this entire undertaking could produce. And believe it or not, this is considered progress in "well-managed anxiety" for me!

Words of advice? Sanity check? Anyone else felt/feel this way, or have a different personal tale to add to the Chicken Confessional? (Corn-fessional?)

You're going to love those Dominiques. I have two. Dominica and In Albis. In Albis is sitting on my lap right now. And she will eat your entire fridge.

 

[castillo_de_luz]

Good for you for spending time researching 'how to' before getting your birds!
Starting with healthy birds, and predator proofing, can't be overdone. Many of us have learned the hard way that our coops weren't safe enough, and that free ranging has huge risks. Having a really safe coop, and a large enough coop/ safe run space for your birds, when they have to be locked in for maybe weeks at a time, makes a big difference in their survival.
And 'chicken math' is a real thing! We started with (?) six bantams from a neighbor, over thirty years ago, and now get down to thirty or a few more for our winter coop! Build as big as you can! We've enlarged and redone our coop three times now, and I wish it was bigger...
Mary

Healthy and safe for sure! Luckily the person building my run is a very experienced chicken keep in addition to run builder, so he's been schooling me on the real ins and outs of pest and predator issues.

I REFUSE to budge on my stance of being "anti-chicken math" I absolutely do not have the time or energy for more than a handful of these birds, and I have made a vow to resist the curse of Sudden Chicken Acquisition Syndrome. I hope...

 

[castillo_de_luz]

You have the makings of an excellent chicken caretaker! I only wish more people had the gumption to learn what they need before getting any! The more research you've done the better prepared you'll be on your journey!

Thank you <3 I can't do it any other way -- it's in my nature to research, obsess over details, discover contradictions, research again, and repeat. Nothing teaches better than experience, but at least I've read the notes!

 

[castillo_de_luz]

I really feel like an animal person is an animal person, period. It's not so much a matter of whether you've had experience with certain animals, but whether you can read animals in general and have empathy for them.

Of course, there are plenty of chicken keepers who have a more old-school economic focused farmer mentality, and for them extensive knowledge and experience is necessary to kind of walk the line of what's practical.
But for those of us modern keepers who consider chickens to be little buddies with fringe benefits, we can learn a lot by being attentive to signs of their contentment or distress. Confidence will come with that in time.

There are a few lessons that are hard learned and bear repeating to save new keepers and their flocks pain...

1. Space. I want to cry sometimes when I see some coop & run setups, just thinking that's their whole lives. It causes social stress that people get used to as "normal chicken behavior", then they never experience how peaceful a flock can be. As a rule of thumb, they should not be hurting each other or complaining all the time unless there are new changes to flock members of something upsetting happening.
And then, even when you get the space right to start with, eventually you end up with more chickens... Then space can become an issue.

2. Hardware cloth. If you don't want birds to die, you use 1/2 inch hardware cloth, period. No chicken wire or whatever else on the coop. Where they sleep at least should be completely protected with hardware cloth. Personally, I take a risk and fashion their yards out of no-climb 2x4 wire fence. Because they can look out for themselves when they're awake it's not such a big deal (depending on environment). But sleep space is always protected with hardware cloth.

My entire run will be hardware cloth, including below the floor and extended out. The coop and its attached tractor-run is metal, but I'm going to also wrap it with HC because I refuse to just assume it'll be enough to protect them. Between the tractor, permanent run, and some supervised free-ranging, I do hope my ladies will feel both safe and happy.

 

[Evadig]

Look at those fluffs! How did you end up in a hotel with them?!

Long story but summary is we were having our house worked on and needed to stay in a hotel during that time. One day we went to a feed store and they had some of the breeds I wanted (I had already been planning to get chickens). So we just got them while they were available and brooded them in the hotel for about eight weeks !

 

[castillo_de_luz]

You're going to love those Dominiques. I have two. Dominica and In Albis. In Albis is sitting on my lap right now. And she will eat your entire fridge.

I fell in love with what I learned about this breed, and just had to have them. Seriously hoping they at least tolerate me, if not eventually chicken-love me!

 

[castillo_de_luz]

Long story but summary is we were having our house worked on and needed to stay in a hotel during that time. One day we went to a feed store and they had some of the breeds I wanted (I had already been planning to get chickens). So we just got them while they were available and brooded them in the hotel for about eight weeks !

I want to make a joke about the chickens being well-seasoned travelers...

 

[notabitail]

I fell in love with what I learned about this breed, and just had to have them. Seriously hoping they at least tolerate me, if not eventually chicken-love me!

I interact a lot with my chickens. Make sure you have tons of food for them.

Meanwhile, I need to clean some Dominique poo up. Those things eat a lot.

 

[castillo_de_luz]

Im also a first timer. Grew up in the suburbs and never had anything more than cats and dogs.

Im 8 months into it now and let me tell you, it's really not hard at all. Even better- it's the most relaxing and rewarding hobby ive ever had. I never dreamed I would love chicken keeping as much as I do.

You got this. It's really not rocket science. Promise. Ask a million questions here and take advantage of all the wonderful experts and friends on this forum.

I really really hope this is me soon! I very much want to embrace this whole thing and enjoy it (or most of it anyway). It might not be rocket science, but maybe that's why I'm so hell-bent on overthinking everything -- it feels suspiciously simple!

 

[castillo_de_luz]

I hear you! I was too afraid to try for many years. We moved into a house with a bigger yard 9 years ago and I didn’t find the nerve until new fantastic neighbors moved in next door and also wanted hens. We are sharing responsibilities, costs, and, soon, eggs. However, I raised the chicks in a tent in our living room and I’m extremely attached, so I haven’t been willing to share much of the responsibility yet! They just started laying, so I haven’t even shared any eggs yet Honestly, even cracking and eating that first egg was a little emotionally difficult!
You’ve got this!! Can’t wait to hear more about your journey and see pics of your girls!
Here is Raspberry, named by the neighbors’ kiddo, standing on my lap, checking out my new glasses
View attachment 3750894

My goodness look at that face. So sweet!

I'm starting with pullets rather than chicks, so we'll see how well I do with socializing them to be friendly. Maybe someday I'll hand-raise a few and see how that goes. It sounds like you're well on your way into chicken keeping!