How did you get into chickens??

[chicknerd]

I have to admit I did NOT want chickens. For years my DH wanted chickens. I said no. I didn't want them. He had a friend he would visit in England who had them and DH loved to see them. Everytime he came back he would say we need to get chickens. No way.

So, fast forward to last April. I am in Agway and I see a sign for a chicken swap at the local TS the next weekend. I also see an ad for coops. So I went home and asked DH if he was still interested.

He said yes, please go and get 4 chicks. So I go to the chicken swap and they have pre-made brooders for sale right next to the cute baby chicks. After picking out 4 buff orpingtons I decided to look in the big 2-week old chick containter. BIG MISTAKE. I took home 9 from that swap. Dont ask about the others......

 

[Spookwriter]

Stole mine from the neighbor....One a day until I had all their chickens.
Too many roosters, I put them all back. Then my wife got herself a job
where she had to get up early, so I sneaked back one night and took
the roosters. They crow every morning.

Chickens don't know about weekends.

That's bad.

But I do sell my neighbors fresh eggs at a discount.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

Before I got mine, I always hated chickens. "Stupid, fowl, nasty, disease-ridden beasts. Can't stand them. The only thing they are good for is eating and chasing."... said the women who now kisses select "babies" goodnight.

Long story short, when I was a younger my cousin got a bunch of baby chicks (Mind you, he's mentally challenged and they are all incompetent - so basically nobody had any clue how to take care of them. They were put outside without any light or anything. They died.). I begged for some, so I got two chicks. I had no clue what to do, but done my research. Took care of them, loved them. Once they were big enough, we took them over to my grandfathers old coop. Really, I think I wanted them as a way to keep a part of my Pappaw with me.

It turned out that I loved them with all my heart and soul. One of them died, and the other turned out to be a roo. However, Mr.Chicken loved me - would run into the house, and cuckle. I would tap on the roost, he would fly up, then get on my shoulder. He loved to talk at me up there and peck at my earring studs. Well, we got him some hens, and not long after he turned into a devil rooster. Run at me, attacked me. So... after he rode the hens to death, I sold him.

And after a lot of leaning, mistakes, hard times and good, here I am with my 16 precious babies - some of which, I couldn't live without. I don't see me ever not having chickens again

 

[pardygwyn]

My best friend and I bought four chicks at the pet store and tried to hide them behind her parents' garage to raise them. LOL When they were inevitably found, we next hid them under my duck, who'd just hatched ducklings. They were inevitably noticed there, too, but I'd already worn my parents down pretty far by then. It wasn't until the one surviving chick started crowing that I got in trouble!!

 

[debilorrah]

We got into chickens a few years back when the price of eggs was through the roof. We started with 6 hens and a rooster. Oh my those were the naive days. We now I have no idea how many chickens, 9 ducks, 2 horses, 2 goats, 2 dogs and a cat. And OEG's now too.

Selling the offspring of some breeds and selling the eggs for eating helps alot with the feed bill.

 

[CarolAnn]

I got interested in chickens when a friend of mine got her pretty new red/white chicken house. I stopped in to take a look one day and asked a ton of questions and she sent me home with fresh eggs right from the nest. My life had become very stressful and because of gas prices I was staying home more. I showed hubby the friend's chicken house online thinking we could build something similar and he said he guessed I could get one. The eggs from the store were so tasteless I was ready to have my own fresh eggs. All the years I've been checking out the baby chicks at Orschlen I never dreamed I'd ever be buying any. Having my little flock has been a wonderful and soothing experience for me. I got my first chicks April of 2010 and I'm already thinking about expanding a little this summer.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

I was visiting my brother and we were "thinning his flock". My mother called and asked when I would be back to town, and I told her I would be there as soon as we were finished butchering the chickens. She asked me to bring her some fresh chicken...

I brought her a young live rooster in a cage. I told her it didn't get any fresher than that, and that as soon as I took him out back and did the deed, I would help her fry him up.

She promptly fell in love with said rooster and told me that if I killed the thing she would disown me and extricate me from the will.

Forget that she wasn't going to take care of him, forget that I had to build a chicken coop and start researching online what to do with a chicken. I spent the next few days building a chicken coop and buying an old dog run. The rest, as they say, is history. That was in 2008....




Guess who still has said rooster?

 

[Welsummer Rancher]

My family had chickens for years before I was born. And they were always there while I was growing up. So I guess it was just normal for me to get some after i got grown.

 

[TigerLilly]

I had to have my American bulldog put to sleep last year...the place was very empty without him and I have about 2 acres. I'd dreamed of having a farm for a long time (I miss my West Virginia days), so I got a couple of goats. Then I thought how nice it would be to have fresh eggs, even though I don't eat a lot of them...so I bought some chickens. I work full time and spend a lot of time taking care of (& spending time with) my critters, but it's fun & it is very relaxing. I look foward to the day I can get up in the morning & start tending to my farm chores without having to worry about hurrying up because I have to get ready for work.
I'm up to 16 chickens at this time, but looking forward to getting some more Easter Eggers this spring. Also hoping I have a broody hen soon so I can let her do all the hatch-work!

 

[MustLoveHens]

I grew up with three RIR hens that my mom wanted for fresh eggs that we got from the local feed store. We named then Dotty, Big Bird and Super Chicken. Dotty was sweet and scatter brained, Big Bird was the largest and calm and Super Chicken was very business like. I liked Dotty the best. All of them were very tame, very nice and they were the best pets.
We lived in a subdivision and I don't think chickens were really allowed, but its was so different back then. We had one neighbor who didn't care and another who did not like the fact that the Girls would hop the fence into his yard and eat bugs. So after a few discussions with the neighbor, my mom clipped their wings so they could not fly into his yard. The next thing she knows he is mad because she trimmed their wings! Turns out that he had an increase in bugs destroying his plants, and he realized just how much bug patrol the Girls were doing for him along with turning over dead leaves and such. So, we would toss the girls over the fence a few times a week and then he'd toss them back when they were done. This went on until the molted out and could fly again. Also, any eggs they laid over in his yard were his, after all they were "his" bugs!! I think he liked getting all the perks without the time and expence if keeping chickens! It made him happy and we didn't have to get rid of the girls.

After we lost the girls, it wasn't until many years later that I got back into chickens. I actually married one of the guys who worked at and then eventually owned the feed store we got our first chicks from! He was raised with them and once we got our own house, we got back into them. We raised them for pets, but also for meat and show/exhibition purposes. We had over 200 at one time for show. We raised mostly American Gamefowl and Standard Old English Gamefowl, but I had a few Russian Orloffs and Speckled Sussex to show along with olds and ends that I had aquired. Most of the odds and ends I placed with people who would show and breed them.

Now we are in a new state and Im starting over. Right now I have three little bantam hens that are just pets. Nothing fancy- a Barred Rock (Lavinia) and two light Cornish (Emma and Violet). I had a Cornish roo, but he developed "going light" syndrom that Cornish tend to get and I had to destroy him a few weeks ago. I am planning on getting some Orloff pullets to start showing again and start a breeding program next year. I think the hardest part for me is not wanting to get everything I see! But I cant get into the vest numbers I had and I want to be more concentrated on really good quality stock. So I'm going to get started slowly and enjoy the heck out of them!