Covid-panic-induced chicken keeping?

[Zbee167]

Confession: I am one of those newbies who bought 10 pullets and 2 roosters (Barred Rock Chickens). I'm not a COMPLETE novice, being that I have secretly raised rabbits and quail for a while in my backyard in the past. We still had equipment left over from raising quail, so, we didn't have to buy much to get started. I only had to get a chicken coop built by my brothers. I'm concerned about this economy tanking and wanted to make sure that we had fresh eggs and protein available to us in the backyard if need be. We've had our chicks since 4/30/20, which is about 6 days ago, and already, they are SPOILED ROTTEN! LOL!!! This is my breeding stock. I got them mainly for egg laying, but, we got the roosters so that we could have the option of hatching out some of the fertilized eggs. I plan on giving them the BEST LIFE possible and do everything in my power to keep them healthy and happy.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Confession: I am one of those newbies who bought 10 pullets and 2 roosters (Barred Rock Chickens). I'm not a COMPLETE novice, being that I have secretly raised rabbits and quail for a while in my backyard in the past. We still had equipment left over from raising quail, so, we didn't have to buy much to get started. I only had to get a chicken coop built by my brothers. I'm concerned about this economy tanking and wanted to make sure that we had fresh eggs and protein available to us in the backyard if need be. We've had our chicks since 4/30/20, which is about 6 days ago, and already, they are SPOILED ROTTEN! LOL!!! This is my breeding stock. I got them mainly for egg laying, but, we got the roosters so that we could have the option of hatching out some of the fertilized eggs. I plan on giving them the BEST LIFE possible and do everything in my power to keep them healthy and happy.

You sound like you’ve got loads of experience with animal keeping! The main people I worry for are the ones who aren’t even on this site. Like they aren’t even engaged enough to do internet research let alone buy books.

 

[Trisseh]

The ones that frustrate me are the impulse buyers that pay no attention whatsoever to what the birds actually need. (Do baby day old chicks actually need a heat source? Can’t I just put them straight outside? I don’t need a fence for them, they can just live in the yard, right?) < — questions that have been asked of me by so many people lately that I truly fear for anything living in their care... I’m in NW Ontario, it’s the beginning of May and we routinely go below freezing every night with single digit (Celsius) highs for the day.

I have no problem with people wanting to get into backyard poultry; the more the merrier, please join us! But make sure you’re set to take care of them, if only so you’re not wasting your time and money (for those who don’t feel a connection to them). Oi. And around here, if it’s not poultry, it’s pigs.

 

[LizzzyJo]

The ones that frustrate me are the impulse buyers that pay no attention whatsoever to what the birds actually need. (Do baby day old chicks actually need a heat source? Can’t I just put them straight outside? I don’t need a fence for them, they can just live in the yard, right?) < — questions that have been asked of me by so many people lately that I truly fear for anything living in their care... I’m in NW Ontario, it’s the beginning of May and we routinely go below freezing every night with single digit (Celsius) highs for the day.

I have no problem with people wanting to get into backyard poultry; the more the merrier, please join us! But make sure you’re set to take care of them, if only so you’re not wasting your time and money (for those who don’t feel a connection to them). Oi. And around here, if it’s not poultry, it’s pigs.

Ohh my goodness. Pigs. Poor little pigs. I’ve been thinking of getting into heritage pigs for years and never made the leap. I can’t imagine being a farming newbie and doing it on impulse!!! Cute Piglets turn into massive animals!

 

[Mylied]

Ohh my goodness. Pigs. Poor little pigs. I’ve been thinking of getting into heritage pigs for years and never made the leap. I can’t imagine being a farming newbie and doing it on impulse!!! Cute Piglets turn into massive animals!

I won my first piglet in a facebook contest. I got him a female companion and then we went pig crazy for a while. At one point we had 40+pigs. We got down to 11. And now we have 7 new piglets. Most of the 11 are due to get processed soon as we want to downsize to just one breeding pair again. I almost never buy meat at the grocery store though. Lol. I have small breed pigs. American Guinea Hogs. And I had kunekune mixes before. They don't get that big. Small enough for us to process ourselves.

 

[Trisseh]

I won my first piglet in a facebook contest. I got him a female companion and then we went pig crazy for a while. At one point we had 40+pigs. We got down to 11. And now we have 7 new piglets. Most of the 11 are due to get processed soon as we want to downsize to just one breeding pair again. I almost never buy meat at the grocery store though. Lol. I have small breed pigs. American Guinea Hogs. And I had kunekune mixes before. They don't get that big. Small enough for us to process ourselves.

I LOVE kunekune! They’re awesome piggies. Problem we are seeing here, loads of bbq pigs randomly coming in from all over and people buying them with no clue how to take care of pigs. The one guy thought they would just hang out in the backyard with his dogs.

 

[LizzzyJo]

This has been going on for almost 2 months where I live. Like you, my biggest concern is for the animals who might receive substandard care by novices who aren’t really interested in taking care of them once they are no longer cute little chicks but still months away from producing eggs. The other problem locally is that demand seemed to stop just as quickly as it started. I have half a dozen tractor supply store that sell chicks within a 30 min drive radius and all of them were selling out within minutes of each shipment. Now the closest one to me overestimated demand and ordered a huge shipment and they are not moving fast. They are doing a buy 2 get one free, removing previous limits on quantities and requiring people to buy at least 3 at a time (not sure if that was always a rule in place or something they just started).

I‘m waiting for the local classifieds to be filled with people trying to get rid of their pullets and cockerels over the next few months as people realize how much time and money you invest in these creatures. I also worry about an outbreak of chicken diseases since I live in an area that is mostly suburban with smaller yards. Close quarters, improper chicken keeping and exchanging of birds amongst each other as people lose and gain interest but don’t know how to spot disease or to quarantine newly acquired stock could lead to some real problems

You’re right. I hadn’t thought about biosecurity. I hope people know about it!!

 

[LizzzyJo]

Is anyone else concerned that people are not only impulse buying chicks, but from straight run from TSC?

What will they do with the boys?

Again- I’m not concerned with people who’ve been planning this life change for years - only the panic impulse buyers.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What will they do with the boys?

Sadly this is one of the things that a lot of people don't seem to plan for, even if they did research and plan for chickens in advance.

Out of 3 sexed chicks we originally started with, 1 turned out to be male. My husband and I had already decided in advance that we'd cull any males, and so we stuck to that plan. Since then, our plan has been to donate males for dinner since there's a local farm willing to accept them.

 

[Chitown_Mike]

Is anyone excited there will be a "surplus" of partially raised chickens people will (hopefully the right way) want to get rid of?

We have 4 older girls and are wanting to add more, but with 2 cats and 3 young kids, raising chicks doesn't sound like the best idea for us right now.

I'll gladly spend a few dollars on a few month old hen.