Each one add one

[Endur50]

I have only done chickens for about a year and a half, but I am a complete chicken nut. I know I will never be without chickens again. I got into it because I saw a (long distance) friend of mine post a pic on FB of her chickens. She's just a regular city gal, so that gave me the idea that "hey, this is something I could do too". Well I guess my enthusiasm for chickens is infectious, because since then, 4 of my local friends have gotten chickens too. When I add it up, they have a total of 26 chickens. I like to look out back at each of my girls and think that each one of them represents one less chicken in battery cages. In my distance riding organization we talk about each member adding member. So I got curious about here and about other people that have gotten people interested in chicken keeping. So how many chicken members have y'all added? It's like chicken math but with people. I think most people just didn't know they could keep chickens and how easy it was until they talk to someone who does. Sometimes I feel like a chicken ambassador.

 

[MomsGoneMild]

I have been doing chicken thinking for 8 days, and have actually had chicks for 3 days, and ALREADY one of my friends is coop shopping for her backyard. lol Sweet thread you started.

 

[sumi]

I've started selling eggs and bought a lot of hens, thinking every free range egg sold is one less battery egg sold. But with millions of battery hens I needed some help. It took time, but I "bullied" a local farmer into getting hens (he's got 150 layers now and just ordered 100 more chicks), I helped 2 friends set up small chicken coops and sell eggs, not sure how many chickens they've got now. Between me and my chicken farmer friend we influenced another farmer who came and told me he ordered 300 pullets, hoping to sell eggs eventually and yet another guy in town walked into my workplace recently, he's selling free range eggs and I hear he's got 400 hens already. The free range eggs business really took off in my town and we're doing very well, the only problem being that the demand grows quicker than we can supply!
Then I've helped some friends get their own chickens and recently gave a friend a hen with chicks to expand his small flock a bit.
My favourite was this big, macho, tough guy I sold some hens too. It wasn't long before he told me with this big smile how he buys them a whole loaf of bread every day and he calls them and scatter the bread for them and they are all over him, pooping on his shoes etc and he's just loving it!
I'm not sure how many people I've directly and indirectly got into chickens, but it's a couple and we've 100's of hens between us.

 

[Endur50]

Holy Moly that is a lot of chickens. I really think it is conceivable that small farms and backyard flocks could eventually supply a large part of the national egg supply. That's great that you are experiencing so much demand in your area. My surplus eggs get given away at work, and my co-workers fight over who gets the eggs that week.

 

[yakibert]

I really think it is conceivable that small farms and backyard flocks could eventually supply a large part of the national egg supply.

I like the 1918 Flyer: "Uncle Sam Expects YOU to keep hens and raise chickens ... Every back yard in the United States should contribute its share to a bumper crop of poultry and eggs"

 

[gingerpeach22]

 

[yakibert]

yeah THAT one!

 

[chloezoebob101]

theres something wrong with this picture, they want us to have two hens, but they show the picture with 11! XD

 

[ThePendragon]

two chickens for each person i think, but how do they have 5 and 1/2 people in the family? XD

 

[ChickenPeep]

Do they have a baby?