Covid-panic-induced chicken keeping?

[Karen612]

I am not sure if I am right, but I’ve begun to see an increase in the number of people buying chicks who are woefully unprepared to care for chickens in the long run. They seem to be worried about not having access to eggs or meat for a few weeks so they make a huge monetary investment and buy animals when they don’t actually want to take on the massive lifestyle change of chicken keeping.
This is a years-long investment and they’re doing it for a few weeks of worry? I worry for the level of care the animals are receiving based on the reason for their purchase.

Totally. We just happened to get our chicks the week before everything locked down here, but we had been planning it for months and that’s just how the timing Worked. But I had plenty of experience raising chicks-chickens. Wouldn’t you know if a couple of weeks into it, several friends contacted me about where I got them. Each of them I called and gave the run down of exactly what they needed to have space wise, safety wise, etc etc. none of them ended up buying after we talked.

 

[daddyanddoodlebug]

One of those newbies here! Although having a flock is something I have wanted to do for some time, I will admit that the pandemic lit the fire under my butt to finally pull the trigger. I also wanted my daughter to learn some husbandry. Also, since we are home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY it seemed like a good opportunity to be able to give the the attention we would want them to receive. I had a friend with an old coop that just needed some adjustments and TLC and invested in materials to build a good-sized run (see attached picture). I don't plan on letting them range due to the nature of our neighborhood and predators in the area.

There is clearly a learning curve here! For example, I built a brooder from scratch 18"x 48"x 24" tall ... yeah ... "Plenty of space!" ... uh ... *thinking* ... they grow pretty dang fast ... CRAP!"
Guess the run build can wait as I build a bigger brooder!

Our biggest concern right now is if we have any roos. I told my daughter we wouldn't be keeping roosters out of respect for our very accommodating neighbors. A couple are making me wonder ... ya know, kinda like when you have a weird pain you go on WebMD and find out you might have cancer. Yeah, I go online looking for ways to ascertain if Nugget or Bailey are roos based on feathering, cone, etc. (both different breeds). They all have names ... they all get held and chatted-up daily ... afraid one of them is going to break my daughter's heart by turning out to be male requiring re-homing.

Sorry for the ramble ... first time posting here!

 

[Wyoyell]

We are new chicken keepers, or will be next week. Our little ones will be arriving from Meyer Hatchery next week and everything is ready. Two Lavender Orpingtons, one Olive Egger, and a Barred Rock. The brooder is ready and the coop is almost finished. With the prices of chicken coops these days we decided we could build a much sturdier one for about the same price ourselves. Planted several different herbs two months ago so they have some healthy snacks, and I continue to read through my three “chicken keeping” books like crazy. Please don’t judge us newbies to harshly. We really do want to have happy healthy feather babies...

 

[sylviethecochin]

I’ve thought for years that TSC and the like should have even the tiniest of screening processes for buying chicks like you would have at a dog shelter.

Members of store chains do not like confrontation. What if the customer complains to corporate and gets a $50 gift card (out of store budget) for his "unpleasant experience?" So no store is going to implement that policy on its own. They'll have an official policy of going only so far as corporate tells them (Chick care instructions sheets, recommendations on what to buy).

Still, there's usually at least one employee (my TSC has at least two) who are pretty protective of the chicks. The older lady will tell you you're an idiot, if she's having a bad day.

 

[K0k0shka]

I’ve been teased a lot by my friends for starting out with chicken keeping right now, but what a lot of them don’t know is that this is the culmination of one year’s worth of planning and building, completely unrelated to the pandemic. The timing of the chicks just happened to coincide with the lockdown (and I’m SO glad it did - so I could be home to watch them hatch and grow!) There certainly is a pandemic-related rush as well, but there is also a lot of coincidental overlap. Anybody who was going to get/hatch chickens this spring regardless of the pandemic is probably getting lumped together with the panic buyers...

 

[TheMrsBird]

We got chickies because of COVID I ordered them probably the week everything locked down because I didn't like the way things were already heading (after stocking up on food & essentials since January because I didn't like how the "new pneumonia" in China was looking. We own about 60 acres & fortunately the lease was up this spring so we were able to negotiate less $$ but a slaughtered cow as part of the lease. Between that, the chickies, and doubling my garden beds (the south/west side of our yard is too wet so all plants have to be raised beds)...we should be in an OK position (plus it helped the farmer when the selling price on his cattle plummeted).

I don't know...we've toyed with the idea of chickens for a long time & I've been a stay at home.mom for the past 4.5 years, so it's a bit insane to be getting them *now* when I'm getting ready to start school, but the kids are old enough to help (7, 4, & 4) and hubby's schedule is usually M-F 8-5. Who knows what my schedule will be, but we'll make it work.

That being said, before I got my chicks, I looked up coop/run requirements. Decided I would order a few extra "just in case" but also made arrangements for the spares should they all survive (a fried had a predator break into her coop this winter, so the possibility of cheap pullets to help replace her losses was appealing). The only downside it that we may have a spare rooster...I promised hubby I'd try to find him a home but I'm pretty sure he's headed to the dinner table.

 

[Grampy7]

My flock aged out late last summer and we were very busy through fall, so I have only two hens now after raising them for 10+ years. Just our luck this year hens are hard to find, so when I heard about so many starting to raise them, I told my wife that in two or three months there will be lots for sale or give-away. So, the last week or so has been spent adding on to my small coop. I had only 15 square feet inside and I added about another 33 with a total run area of 400 square feet.. Now I wait and prowl the local listings for hens.

 

[cracrzy4chicks]

One of those newbies here! Although having a flock is something I have wanted to do for some time, I will admit that the pandemic lit the fire under my butt to finally pull the trigger. I also wanted my daughter to learn some husbandry. Also, since we are home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY it seemed like a good opportunity to be able to give the the attention we would want them to receive. I had a friend with an old coop that just needed some adjustments and TLC and invested in materials to build a good-sized run (see attached picture). I don't plan on letting them range due to the nature of our neighborhood and predators in the area.

There is clearly a learning curve here! For example, I built a brooder from scratch 18"x 48"x 24" tall ... yeah ... "Plenty of space!" ... uh ... *thinking* ... they grow pretty dang fast ... CRAP!"
Guess the run build can wait as I build a bigger brooder!

Our biggest concern right now is if we have any roos. I told my daughter we wouldn't be keeping roosters out of respect for our very accommodating neighbors. A couple are making me wonder ... ya know, kinda like when you have a weird pain you go on WebMD and find out you might have cancer. Yeah, I go online looking for ways to ascertain if Nugget or Bailey are roos based on feathering, cone, etc. (both different breeds). They all have names ... they all get held and chatted-up daily ... afraid one of them is going to break my daughter's heart by turning out to be male requiring re-homing.

Sorry for the ramble ... first time posting here!

I’m not sure how many chicks you have, but it looks like enlarging your coop may be the your next project !!

 

[aschmoll]

I am not sure if I am right, but I’ve begun to see an increase in the number of people buying chicks who are woefully unprepared to care for chickens in the long run. They seem to be worried about not having access to eggs or meat for a few weeks so they make a huge monetary investment and buy animals when they don’t actually want to take on the massive lifestyle change of chicken keeping.
This is a years-long investment and they’re doing it for a few weeks of worry? I worry for the level of care the animals are receiving based on the reason for their purchase.

It’s not just chickens. My daughter decided we’d see about selling some of our meat rabbits. There’s a waiting list. And they want them sexed so they’re looking at raising meat. Admittedly there’s less involved with rabbit care when they get young rabbits, but it’s the same long term commitment. Either life will return to pre CoVid status and people will dump their new hobby, or they’ll flounder through and be one more self sufficient as we all did in the past.

 

[Crzy Chi Lady]

I too started in 09. However I had been dreaming about it for a long time. Had to wait till I had a house were I could keep them with a piece of land etc. I was fortunate enough to have a friend who gave me 3 chickens so I could experience it before I was in to deep.