How did your chicken adventure start?

[Blondiechic]

12 years ago my partner at the time found a property for rent where my horse could live with us (we live in Sydney), the second we arrived I raced out and got a bantam to live with my pet duck...and I have carried on from then! I don't have bantams anymore (although, Betty my first one was a total delight) because they tended to start roosting in the trees and then disappear.
My family aren't quite sure what's wrong with me since no one else has any interest in chickens and I am always telling them how fun they are. Dad says he likes coming down to look after everyone when I am away and he enjoys the girls though.
I had always wanted Silkies but thought they were dainty and likely to be difficult to have but Christmas just gone I got my first one and then a second, I love them! (I asked for a swimsuit for Christmas but summer was so crap I changed it to chickens... as you do!).
I am astonished that you guys have towns where you aren't allowed to have animals, that is just the most ridiculous thing ever, but makes me realise how lucky we are - I have lots here in the city and my poor husband is dreading when we finally move to the country as I have a list prepared of additions!

 

[wildriverswolf90]

Sounds like me!

I had lived in the heart of a city all my life, but dreamed of having land and a barn out in the middle of nowhere, well 5 years ago I got my dream we moved to a small farm house with an old coop and barn. I had never pictured myself owning chickens, because to me “a chicken was a chicken”. So we started fixing the barn for a couple goats. But the coop remained untouched. Then oneday I saw a video about factory chickens and it made me decide to raise my own birds. But I needed to learn about chickens, and found BYC, and you can imagine my surprise at how everyone thought of them as pets, and sure enough my 1st chicks were so sweet and had so personality, it began my chicken addiction and in less than a year I went from zero to 80+ chickens!

 

[shadow rabbit10]

shadow rabbit10, my chicken adventure started on the other side of Manasquan River from you, in Wall Twp. One of my aunts had chickens and ducks when I was a child growing up there. I spent hours watching her flock. It was not until my city boy husband read Micheal Perry's book, Coop, that we took the plunge into chicken math. Three years ago the idea was to get 3-4 hens, that turned into 12 chicks the first year. If we count this spring's chicks in the bathroom brooder, it is now a flock of 25. Have fun with those BO chicks, they are such a pretty breed!

Thanks! Actually, I only ordered one BO. The rest were assorted bantams, and a Faverolles. It's always fun to meet people on this site who live or have lived in the same area as each other. I am finding way more people on this site from the NJ coast than I thought I would.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

When I was 5 years old my family moved to Choctaw Ok. While I rambled around the Native American reservation with my bestest friend my Dad decided to get chickens. He brought home 50 yellow chicks which grew into 49 large white cockerels. So much for selling eggs. While I loved all my roosters, my sister and mother were flogged mercilessly by them so Dad hired someone to process them. My family and I enjoyed many chicken dinners, and Dad tried again with 25 young pullets.

They were my little angels. I cuddled with them, snuck out at night to sleep with them, made sure they had food and water. I collected the eggs and sold the best to the Native Americans. I chased away snakes and other predators such as my big brothers who teased me by saying which chicken was tomorrow's dinner.

It was a common sight to see me leading my little white angels out to pasture where I stood guard as they grazed on bugs and plants. At times the gals and I formed a huddle where I would sing and whisper to them. (Hey! I was only 5 years old!) Thus I was nicknamed the Chicken Whisperer by the Native American Chief because the first time he saw me I was sitting on the ground whispering to my chickens.

49 cockerels! Unbelievable!

Sounds cool to live near an Native American Reservation, and to be nicknamed by a chief. You sound like you really loved those chickens!

 

[markandcindy]

In October of 2010 I was reading an old Time magazine while waiting to be called for my mammogram and found a fascinating article about the number of people keeping "backyard chickens", exchanging information on websites and having weekend swapmeets. I had never had chickens but my husband's family did while he was growing up in rural Alabama. I took the magazine home (hey, it was old anyway) and showed it to him and asked him if he thought we could get a small flock of chickens. We live in the Houston city limits but have a very large yard and are in a subdivision that allows livestock. We started with 2 silkies and now have a mixed flock of 13.

 

[onebigglo1]

I got my first flock last year around Labor Day. I saw an ad on craigslist where someone was downsizing their flock. It was an offer I couldn't pass up. I got a chicken coop, a fenced run, 15 BO hens and 2 roosters for $150.00. I put it in a big back yard and leave the run door open. They have about 1/4 acre to run in the backyard. I've also been letting them out in the evening to forage on another 2 acres. They always go back to their run at night to roost and I close the backyard gate to hopefully keep out predators. I've only lost one rooster so far. I don't know if it was a predator or the older rooster that got him. I also bought 5 Dominique hens that were just starting to lay for $34 and 2 collards. I let the BO rooster mate with them and hatched out 2 calico chicks. They are black, white and orange and both look different from each other. I can't wait to see what they look like grown! I also supposedly have 6 black australorp hens and 2 roos. I bought 5 more BO chicks from TSC and only got one hen! I'm currently trying to re-home the cockerels. I don't consider them my pets because I didn't hand raise them, but I do love to watch them. I also love to give them grapes or tomatoes and watch them play chicken football. Grubs and crickets work well too. I sell all my extra eggs from the Bo's and Dom's but plan to only sell the Aus's as hatching eggs. I also plan to try to hatch some Aus's to sell this fall.

 

[rikithemonk]

Love the stories.

I'm a big reader and I happen to be the type of person that when I get interested in a topic, I become obsessively super focused on it. I study up on the subject and just devour data. I really do become obsessed to the exclusion of everything else. Eventually I become burned out on the subject and loose all interest.

Some examples of this are Exotic pets like my poison tree frogs, exotic fish, and distilling alcohol.





The wife says I cost her a lot of money.

Any how, I am also a bit of a preper and try to be prepared for common emergencies. This has also lead me to try to become more self sufficient. Several years ago I came across a news story about chicken tractors and I absolutely loved the idea. So the obsession was sparked and I read everything I could get my hands on. The problem was that I was living at the time in an apartment. No garage, no patio, absolutely no place at all to have one. So after some time I burned out and lost interest. Years later we finally moved into our own home and I was finally able to create some of my earlier obsessions. I built my green house and began raised bed gardening. This caused my wife to begin talking farm things with a woman that she works with. They made a deal completely with out talking to me about it. We would purchase 25 chickens that the co worker would raise and take care of. We get the eggs and in exchange she gets the excesses from our garden.

Well, when I found out about the deal, I immediately started plans on a chicken tractor. I always pictured myself owning a small home with a few backyard chickens. The problem was that although we were in a rural area, Our home is in the city limits of Mount Dora. For those of you that don't know, Its a small town surrounded by rural areas and it loves throwing artsy fartsy Art festivals and Food festivals. You know the type. If Mount Dora was a human, it would be a yuppie and would wear a polo shirt tied around its neck. Mount Dora was the last place I expected to allow chickens, so I didn't really hold out much hope. But, It didn't hurt to ask, so after putting it off for months due to figuring that I already knew the answer, I sent code enforcement a simple E-Mail. The reply was "No problem." I was floored and immediately got very suspicious. I sent another E-Mail asking about licenses, permits, or any thing else that I could think of. There are actually very few restrictions here. So armed with my E-Mail, I built my coop and told the wife to grab 5 of our birds from her friend. By this time they were already 8 weeks old and I felt were old enough for us to take care of. I had the chickens a week and Chicken Math happened and I had her bring home two more. Now I sit on my back porch and just watch the chickens. Its strangle relaxing.

Riki

 

[Zany Chick]

I got my first flock last year around Labor Day. I saw an ad on craigslist where someone was downsizing their flock. It was an offer I couldn't pass up. I got a chicken coop, a fenced run, 15 BO hens and 2 roosters for $150.00. I put it in a big back yard and leave the run door open. They have about 1/4 acre to run in the backyard. I've also been letting them out in the evening to forage on another 2 acres. They always go back to their run at night to roost and I close the backyard gate to hopefully keep out predators. I've only lost one rooster so far. I don't know if it was a predator or the older rooster that got him. I also bought 5 Dominique hens that were just starting to lay for $34 and 2 collards. I let the BO rooster mate with them and hatched out 2 calico chicks. They are black, white and orange and both look different from each other. I can't wait to see what they look like grown! I also supposedly have 6 black australorp hens and 2 roos. I bought 5 more BO chicks from TSC and only got one hen! I'm currently trying to re-home the cockerels. I don't consider them my pets because I didn't hand raise them, but I do love to watch them. I also love to give them grapes or tomatoes and watch them play chicken football. Grubs and crickets work well too. I sell all my extra eggs from the Bo's and Dom's but plan to only sell the Aus's as hatching eggs. I also plan to try to hatch some Aus's to sell this fall.

Calico chicks? I have to read more about this! Pictures?

 

[rikithemonk]

I am astonished that you guys have towns where you aren't allowed to have animals, that is just the most ridiculous thing ever, but makes me realise how lucky we are - I have lots here in the city and my poor husband is dreading when we finally move to the country as I have a list prepared of additions!

It has to do with the ghettos and city slums here in the United States. Since the 1930's whenever a slum or Ghetto is depicted in a film or movie, its the same run down image. A dirty dilapidated area, Dark, naked infants running around with dirt covered faces. Here's the important bit. Front porches containing full cloths lines, chickens and a goat tied to the door. That image is now ingrained into the consciousness of the majority of the people. If you say to anyone that someone lives in a city and owns chickens or a goat. That image flashes in their mind. No one wants to live in a slum, and so the governments ban livestock.

Riki

 

[Zany Chick]

When I was small my grandfather had chickens. To tell you the truth, I remember fighting cousins over checking the coop for eggs than I remember the actual chickens.

When my kids started school and had fieldtrips to farms and pumpkin patches I was always mesmerized by the chickens. Something about their behavior just relaxed me, I could have parked a chair and watched for hours. I never seriously considered having my own though. Fast forward 10 plus years and I had a new career and a new job, one of my friends had chickens and I found myself jealous.

I did home visiting and a few of my clients had chickens. At one house I climbed a long stairway to a deck that led into the house. One early evening I arrived, climbed the stairs and found myself face to face with a chicken in a tree. I walked in and said "There is a chicken in your tree!" She just said yes. I had no idea about chicken behavior and roosting and to me it was the most absurd thing I had ever seen. More and more people seemed to be getting chickens, another nurse I worked with, neighbors down the road. Still I didn't think of it as something I could do.

A couple of years ago I, like many people, I came across the subject of chicken tractors either in a magazine or online. The idea intrigued me. My husband said no. The next year when my coworker was getting more chickens, my husband said no. Last year my husband said no. In the past year one of my cats got very ill, a beautiful calico, and I had to have her put down. About 6 months later our "senior" dog could barely stand anymore and had to be put down, I stayed with both of them. In the past year I became unable to work and I have more time and two less pets to care for. This year he pointed out that if I got chickens we would have to find someone to take care of them while we went on vacation in June. I quietly plotted to get chickens after vacation. The next month our Boxer developed a cancerous tumor. I didn't think I could handle losing another pet so soon. We spent our vacation "fund" on surgery and thankfully they were able to remove it all and it hadn't spread. My logical brain reasoned, no vacation, no reason to not get chickens. I knew exactly what I wanted a small coop with an attached run - chicken tractor. I wanted to Rhode Island Red hens and one Barred rock hen. He still wasn't on board with the idea. At the beginning of the month we made a stop in Tractor Supply while waiting for take out pizza. DH picked up the dog supplies we needed and I was drawn to the center of the store where there were hundreds of chicks in tubs. It was "chick days." I stood watching the chicks until he came and led me out of the store. By the time we were out the door I had tears running down my face. I went to the car and he went to get the pizza. When he got back to the car he asked if we were going back to Tractor Supply, but I told him no because I couldn't just get chicks and not have things ready.

I went back to Tractor Supply one or two days left and there wasn't even a feather in the bins. I bought a brooder lamp and bulb and food and was told their last shipment was coming in the following Monday. When I came home I set up a cardboard box and plugged in the brooder light and it tripped my circut. In the meantime I found out a local feed store had chicks, I called and they said they had barred rocks so I drove out on Monday morning planning to buy two and then get the others at TSC. When I got there all they had were Cornish rock. I got a feeder and waterer and was told they would have both breeds I wanted on Thursday. I drove to Tractor Supply to see what they got in. They had Cornish Rock and Buff Orpingtons, both straight run. I asked to buy 2 Buff Orpington only knowing that they were a dual purpose breed. I figured if I ended up with 1 of them being a rooster that would be ok. They told me I had to buy 6. I said no thank you and resigned myself to waiting until Thursday to get any chicks. A "helpful" man piped up that 6 was just as easy as two and I told him that I was getting 4 more on Thursday and asked what I would do if I ended up with all roosters. He asked if I ate chicken and said he could process them for me. It all sounded very reasonable at the time and he gave me a business card. So my 2 RIR and 1 Barred rock hen became 6 Buff Orpington chicks. Thursday came and I went to the feedstore. I planned to get 2 each of RIR and BR unless they told me I needed to get 6, then I would get 3 each. They hadn't gotten any barred rock in so I bought 3 RIR and brought them home. The next morning I decided I was done buying chickens. Now I needed a bigger coop and a plan for whatever roosters I ended up with. It's been 3 weeks and I'm fairly certain I ended up with 4 roosters. So I have 2 Buff Orpington pullets, 3 Rhode Island (maybe) Red pullets and 4 Buff Orpington cockerels. I just learned this week is the result of a common affliction called chicken math.

We started the coop this past weekend. My chicks are in the spare bedroom and I am loving them. I found someone who will take the extra boys, but not sure how to choose who will stay.

I'm excited that I can share the whole experience with my 3 year old granddaughter and my 2 new grandsons. I can't wait until they start laying and my 10 year old son and my granddaughter can collect the eggs (if I don't get them first!)