Chickens in town, or Urban Farming

[cobrien]

Before you get more I recommend thinking about what you will do with the hens when their production slows down. If you plan to sell them or eat them, then your limit should be based on what you can care for, house securely and keep clean, etc. But if you plan to retire them and continue to care for them as I do, then don't add too soon or all your girls will slow down production at the same time. For 2 people you could add ~2-3 chickens every 2-3 years and hope natural mortality keeps your numbers to something reasonable. BTW this practice is NOT recommended from those who wisely advise you to avoid the stress of introducing new chickens to your flock (stressful to humans and chickens alike as there can be fighting), and the possibility of introducing diseases. This and obvious economic reasons involved with feeding chickens that don't lay often are why most people sell or eat their chickens when they reach ~ 2years old and then get new ones. These are very real concerns and I share them but since I don't want to kill my girls I do my best to minimize my risks.

I now have 3 retired girls (about 3 eggs / week from them) and 4 in full production -too many eggs for the 2 of us but we share with neighbors for putting up with some squawking. Getting the 4 new ones at once was a mistake - I should have gotten 2, but you know, chicken math and all (well 1 might die and 1 might be a rooster so if I want 2 hens then I should get 4 chicks!). So I now have 7 chickens and the coop and run is plenty big for them, but for me the poop / food / overall care is a bit much with 7 and wish my math had been better and had stuck with 5. I also wonder what I'll do when these 4 start slowing down and want to get new ones....time to move, I guess!

 

[GreenGables]

You might want to check with your city ordinances. I have 5 chickens, started off with 3. In our city we are allowed to have up to 10 chickens but NO roosters. I'm inclined to believe that every city has regulations on keeping chickens. Have fun!!!

 

[laughingdog]

lol great thread! i currently swapped out a borrowed rooster, and a rogue one i caught, to roam a neighbor's property till i figure out what to do with them.

 

[kitchwitch]

I wish I knew the ordinances for my little community. I live across the street from a beef and dairy farm and around the corner from another dairy farm. Our close proximity to real livestock made my husband just go buy my chickens before checking! lol! His opinion is that if the neighbors don't like it, why are they living across the street from a a farm in the first place!

 

[laughingdog]

i fully agree with kitchwitch! i just got some baby orbingtons to keep my lone orbington cross company, and its trying to tear out their eys and toes off, and almost succeeding, and its just hatched, and others are twice size and feathering already! right now they are hiding in a box under heat pad, while my little land shark is just cruising at top speed, back and fourth four hours again, since they went into hiding. anything i can do for this, or should my one be a loner (worried that next weeks hatch to go into brooder will be eaten)?

on another note, my next door neighbor just complained about my rooster crowing at eight am on weekends... i resisted to tell my point of view on why she lives by the farm that has horses and roosters, and a neighbor on the other side whose dog yapps continuesly (though the dog sounds aggressive, it is just how it beggs for love, and its adorable as a pom).

anyone know of was besides stew pot, hooding, and the drop of pure lemon or lime juice in the morn? i have no lime juice, and tried hodding with pourous sock (which it decided to try crow through even though muffled some).

 

[Little_Rooster66]

Quote:
HAHA thats funny we did the same thing. The city that we live in has a grand whopping 260 people and that includes the farms for a 12 mile radius and quite possibly the next town over as they have the same zipcode! We have about 50 head of cattle a block and a half from us and horses 2 blocks from us, so we just went and got chickens. We didn't check but have been told that we aren't suppose to have them but they really have nothing to complain about as long as we don't let them cruise main because of the other livestock in such close proximity, can't complain about noise (Cows are loud) Can't complain about waste we have a compost bin and a garden that it gets used in. (Cows produce A LOT more than chickens and they stink). So if something is said we will put up a fight! We have 17 pullets and 2 roos but plan on keeping only 6 pullets and 1 roo for eggs the rest will be in the freezer. They are 5 weeks old now and we are just about done with the coop and will be going out in the next couple of weeks. So we will see what kind of a stink we can raise.

We had our next door neighbor come over last night admiring our "handy work" and explained that she was excited to see what happens so she can have chickens too LOL

Strength in numbers they say!

 

[BrynnRDH]

Quote:
So how many eggs do you usually get from your 5 city chicks? I was thinking 5 is a good number, but it might be too many eggs! Worst case scenario I can give them away.

 

[Kim_NC]

We don't live in town, so I can't offer anything on your OP. But I enjoyed reading the responses and wanted to say...

 

[babyrnlc]

We are supposed to have only 6 adult birds. We have 5 and 5 chicks. We don't have a rooster by choice, but many do. We live on my parents property, we rent the main house and they live in the guest house. It is on 3 lots and the coop is at the very back. So I figure, two household, we should be able to have 6 each right? So we are under the limit.

They are clean and quiet, my dogs are louder, we live by a park and trail and my gsd likes to bark as anyone walks by.

 

[GreenGables]

Brynn RDH

I have had three of the chickens for almost 2 years. These 3 slowed their egg production this past winter. However, I have 2 chickens that are now 9 months old and they layed all winter. There were enough eggs to get us through. I did have to buy a dozen eggs for my Christmas baking. Right now I'm averaging 3 to 4 eggs daily. I would like to get a few more chickens though. Were you aware that you could freeze eggs? Just break them open, scramble them up and put them in a zip-lock bag. These can be used for baking. I have not tried this yet but in the future I just might, especially since I ran out of eggs during the holidays. My best to you