I am addicted... and stupid...

[vickig]

I don't have a clue, all she said was her neighbors dog was digging under the coop and she needed to get rid of them.

She did say " young Frizzles"

 

[chiknwhisperer]

RIR is cockerel!!!! He crowed yesterday ( told my husband he was just hearing things lol ) and he crowed again this morning!!! Well I'm going to try to keep as long as possible. You know kinda look the other way when the neighbors are out lol. But the really sad part is. I am already trying to pick what I want next after my roo is gone. Any suggestions? I can only get two of whatever it is lol.

 

[Ole'Brothersfarm]

Good morning! Luckily my wife is as addicted as I am. We have a local sale barn with several high quality breeders who bring in their stock on a weekly basis. We have to talk each other out of raising our hand at auction. We are contemplating silkies. RIR are our favorites and constantly bid on the birds. We are thinking about getting a tom turkey to wander our property during the day. Yesterday, we bought two guines. Thought we did good until I got home and read that more is better. So be it, more guines it is!

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Me too...my name is Cindy and I'm a chick-a-holic!!!! Started last summer when we went to the county fair and my DD wanted a chicken. I said no, but a few weeks later what happened? My DBF surprised us with 16 peeps! We have plenty of eggs but I wanted MORE MORE MORE...so got an order of 13 Freedom Rangers for meat. Now that those are done, the yearning continued. My cousin gave me her incubator. I said no more chickens, so now there are 12 button quail eggs in there! No more chickens...ha. Couldn't help myself so I'm picking up my BO peeps a week from tomorrow at the local hatchery. I am truly addicted and my family thinks I'm insane. But it's FUN!!!!

 

[mistylady]

My name is Misty and I'm an addict. I make spoiled pets out of every critter! We have 26 Dominiques in the basement. I have one baby Dominque that sits and waits when you start to lift the lid of the chick box (wire mesh) and when she had room she files up to your arm and perches. She will sit on your arm the entire time you move out the chicks and clean the box. I told my hubby that one was real friendly and he said you can't tell them apart do how do you know? But you can tell them apart. So a couple of days ago I told him to come down to the basement and put his hand in the chick cage. He opened the lid and Star (my chickie friend) was watching. She leaped. Now everytime I go to clean the cage or someone comes over to visit my hubby is right there and Star flies up to his arm (just little flies). He is hooked now and believes that you can tell them apart.

We have a cat that comes in the house and visits. She's spoiled rotten! We named her Drop Kick but thats just because she always under foot.

Two dogs (Norwegian Elkhounds) that are spoiled rotten. the lady dog will sit in your lap if you sit down outside. The gentleman doggie backs up to you and stands up so he is leaning on your legs and wants his chest rubbed. Both are love junkies!

There are two rotten goats. The female is rather obnoxious but she gets jealous if you don't pet her first. The nuetered male is a runt goat. he was supposed to be full size but i'm glad he isn't. He is about knee-high. He can't drag you places like the gal goat can. Shes a big goat. He stands up and puts his front feet on you so he can get in your face and lip your nose. He's kinda pesty but very sweet!

So everything here is spoiled and I wouldn't have it any other way!

And in August we will have 26 more chickies! More pets for me to spoil!

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Yea…… knowing and acknowledging we have an addiction is half the problem, the other half is where are we going to put more chicks!

I’m a simple guy, I’ve had chickens before, but man, I’m being kinda stupid this time, I’m blaming it on the kids. My dear wife and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, and are on polar opposites in the chicken arena. I spoke with my local herbalist, she was telling me about the benefits of having fresh eggs, being a technologist I figured I’ll go online and check it out, by the end of the evening I was hooked, I decided to purchase a couple of dozen brown egg layers, I wanted the kids to buy into it and love them too, so I bought them their pick, they were so cute, they all picked frizzles and silkies. I figured what’s a couple more right? My wife, not so much a fan, my excuse was “Awww baby, it takes as much effort watering 20 as it does to water 2”, so she let it go. So the day olds arrived from Meyer, all 38 of them, they were so cute, my kids were in love, could we put them outside, noooooo, it was “too cold”, so they spent their first 6 weeks of life in large bins on my pool table in the “man” room, everyday I’d come home finding my kids making little blankets out of paper towels so they could hold their chicks while watching tv, playing and doing homework. The kids were out of control; we had to make rules, so they were never allowed to have them at the kitchen table. The kids started to bring them places and wanting me to buy leashes for them so they can walk their chicken. We finally moved them out to the coop, after putting many man hours into it the old “chicken shed” was alive with chicks again!

The first Saturday of every month a local town is filled with hundreds of farmers/Mennonite/Amish at a barn auction, my youngest daughter and I went to the one in May. We were looking for items for our coop, but of course we bought more than I was expecting to purchase. We arrived and parused, I asked my daughter if she wanted anything, with the bluest puppydog eyes she pointed at some 2 blue eyed white lion head rabbits, so I bought them, and many of the items they need for support, including cages. On the way home, she was petting her rabbits and I was wondering how I would convince my wife I wasn’t crazy. So I added to my previous mantra, “Awww baby, it takes as much effort watering 20 chickens and 2 rabbits as it does to water 2 chickens, and besides if we don’t like them we can bring them back to the auction next month, it’ll be like renting the animals and gear”. It worked! With rolling eyes she chuckled and just shook her head. We have 12-14 different breeds of chicks, but the one that really started interesting me was the “Buckeye”, reading more about this rare heritage breed I thought man, I need more of those, so I called Meyer, and they had some, so I decided to go down the Buckeye road, I thought 12 would be a good number, but they had only 40 left, so I figured “It takes as much effort watering 20 as it does to water 2”, and ordered all 40 pullets due on June 17th, I mean they really don’t take up that much room, and they probably wouldn’t be able to get rid of the rest without culling, right? So I told my wife, once again she just kind of gave me that look and went on about her day.

While searching on the net I found a woman was giving away perfectly good rabbits, they just happened to be lionheads, so I got them, my wife didn’t even say a word. On Wednesday of this past week, I was lurking on ebay and found a guy down the road who was selling eggs, so I messaged him and asked if he had any layers he was willing to get rid of, he did and you know my motto “It takes as much effort watering 20 as it does to water 2”, so I bought 5 mature egg layers, a good deal really.

We went from 0 to 75 chickens and 5 rabbits in a half of a year, total investment with modifications to the coop and the flock and rabbit herd near $700, new windows, fencing plywood roofing, but now just this morning we have 4 tasty brown eggs to show for our efforts, it’ll be a long ROI but you know, it really is more than an investment, it is a great little hobby. I mean it takes as much effort watering 20 as it does to water 2, right?

I’m just glad to read that I’m not the only psycho chicken owner out there.
Peace,
Dave

 

[sunnychooks]

BuckeyeDave, you crack me up!

 

[blessedchickenmama7]

I started this thread and I am loving it. Everyone's stories are so funny. I've decided since there are so many of us, we can't be the ones with the problem. It must be everyone else. Surely going through life chickenless isn't sane!

 

[BuckeyeDave]

Quote:
I felt a bit more sane without them, but I enjoy them and enjoy the excitement the chickens have brought to our family. The newest update is we have 3 more eggs, 7 total, that makes it only a $ 100 per egg investment. Saaaaawwwwweeeet, I can sell that.
Peace,
Dave

 

[mistylady]

I love your story BuckeyeDave! I hope you don't mind if I use your watering 2 or 20 idea on my husband! I'd like a few rabbits! And a donkey pair - to eat the pasture. Can't have just one donkey since it would be lonely! We need to fix the fence first though. But I'm plotting my attack on how to get a larger herd of pets ... I mean farm animals!