How to keep chickens cheap?

[jolenesdad]

I don’t find leghorns to be aggressive. Sometimes chickens can be like Mean Girls, though. I personally think the mean leghorn opinions come from a small group of leghorns within a mixed flock. A sort of “you don’t look with us, you can’t sit with us” kind of deal.

And with the attention it seems you will provide, you probably won’t have many super flighty birds.

The pullet in the avatar photo I have is a leghorn. She is adorably sweet. I intentionally handled her and treated her more as a chick. She will probably always be one to hop into your lap.

I’ve got an 18 month old leghorn that is very typical leghorn but not aggressive in any way. But to pick her up, I’ve got to corner her and it’s a huge deal.

She is super alert and curious and ALWAYS scratching and will eat from your hand but that’s as close as she will get willingly.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Ok, if you want to try a business venture instead of raising pets just for bonus eggs, then you'll need a high production variety like leghorns or sexlinks as @rachelsflock mentioned earlier. The bonus for those breeds is they are lean birds that require less feed, are great foragers while free ranging and don't tend to get broody. Establishing a good flock rotation will keep you in a consistent supply of eggs. That means culling (rehoming or butchering) birds entering their first molt as their egg production ceases and having replacements ready to take their place. Here's a great article explaining the process:
https://nwedible.com/chicken-rotation-optimizing-for-year-round-laying-from-the-backyard-flock/

Chickens are super messy and expert food wasters. You need a feeder that won't allow them to scatter it everywhere. The best cheap solution I've found is a diy PVC gravity feeder and I've had absolutely zero spills. The important part of this one is the additional 3-4" attachment to the wye to make a longer "tunnel" reach.
View attachment 1567983 View attachment 1567981 View attachment 1567982
Oh, and there's other styles too!
https://blog.mypetchicken.com/2015/10/05/diy-no-waste-feeder/

If you rotate your flock and always have mixed age birds, you'll need an all flock type feed and offer oyster shell on the side for calcium. Young birds can't have the additional calcium in layer feed and won't bother with oyster shells until they need it.

Also, here's another article to help get those yearly new babies integrated in the flock easily and sooner:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Good job Flappy!

 

[Melky]

I'm assuming with all this discussion. Someone in your household checked with laws and ordinances in your area to see what you would have to do to own chickens. Probably need to check with your local planning commission to see if you need to apply or get a permit to keep fowl on the property. They may dictate some things in some areas regarding structure. Best to do before you purchase anything to make sure you can!

 

[sean_wonder]

She’s not aggressive at all. In fact I had to stop posting because she hopped up for cuddles.

Aww that is so adorable!! I love leghorns' giant wobbly combs too... I have a soft spot for big combs.

 

[sean_wonder]

I'm assuming with all this discussion. Someone in your household checked with laws and ordinances in your area to see what you would have to do to own chickens. Probably need to check with your local planning commission to see if you need to apply or get a permit to keep fowl on the property.

Yep! I already checked! Many peopled have had pet chickens in my neighborhood before, and the building restriction is only that the coop has to be 150 feet away from our property line on all sides. I'm not allowed to run a large scale business without a permit, but thats meaning more like I'm profiting off hundreds of chickens... I'm sure selling a dozen or two eggs to some close friends in the neighborhood won't get me in any trouble.

 

[sean_wonder]

And with the attention it seems you will provide, you probably won’t have many super flighty birds.

I love that Mean Girls analogy, and your leghorn gal is super cute!!

But yes, I'll be handling them each at least once a day, if not just for cuddles or entertainment-- ticks are a problem up in here so I gotta check

Plus I'll make sure they're trained to come when I call-- we live right next to a highway and though I highly doubt they can slip through since I can hardly fit four fingers through the fence posts horizontally, if such an incident happens I'd be able to call them back & give em some treats

They'll be super duper familiar with my face, thats for sure. I love chicken cuddles.

 

[aart]

the building restriction is only that the coop has to be 150 feet away from our property line on all sides.

Wow, that's a lot.

 

[feathermaid]

I also don't want them to be so flighty I can't grab & inspect them

I've read many other posts besides here where people just love and adore their leghorns. Every breed has "general" tendencies, but each bird has their own personality. Even some of the most friendly docile breeds can be hard to catch. A little trick is to wait til night when they're in the coop and just pull one off the roost. Easy peasy.

 

[sean_wonder]

I've read many other posts besides here where people just love and adore their leghorns.

Aww, that is so cute!! I love that!!

 

[sean_wonder]

I've kind of been overloaded with work today but at the very least I'll get some measurements and pictures of the swing set uploaded soon... feel free to ask your own questions on how to keep things cheap!! I want this thread to be for everybody, not just me trying to figure out a coop plan