I confess...

[Miss Red]

My mother knows everyone that works in the feed store by my house. One of which is my neighbor. She threatened them with their lives if I came home with chicks without confirming with her first, she didn't say anything about ducks though so I snuck two of them home. Teehee. It's funny I feel like I'm 13 again and hiding the stray cat I brought home. Or the sick puppy. Or the pretty horse.

Right now I have 8 chicks and 2 ducks in the brooder, and about 40 chicks outside being brooded by my hens. They'll be wild, but they'll be there!

 

[WildWalker]

Oy, addictions like these are how I started raising chickens!

Being born and raised a city gal, I had never dreamed of raising chickens in my life when my Gma dragged me into the feed store to get her Ameraucuna pullets. I took one look at those banties they had and I was hooked - hook, line and sinker. First I got 10, came home, set up the brooder, got em tucked in and turned the house upside down for spare change. IIRC, we ended up visiting the feed store 4 times in a single day for chicks as we got various errands done and found more change - by the last visit I had become the laughing stock of the feed store staff. Even the clerks were pokin fun at me, "You know if you want chicks, you can get them all at once if you like!" - to this day they give me a hard time when I go in there, especially if there are chicks for sale or if I want to purchase some, my last purchase being 13 chicks "13? That's an unlucky number you know, you should get one more and make it 14..."

I love my lil' peeping cottonballs, and while most of my city-friends think I'm the chicken equivalent of a Crazy Cat Lady, they can hardly complain about the prospect of fresh, cheap eggs.

 

[EggsForIHOP]

I'm a city girl turned Country and it's BAD!!! Started with the horses (course both DH and I had experience with those - but still, it took a LOT of work to stop at three!) and it is slowly spreading to full fledged farm...


A couple of years go by and now it's the chickens! We have 15 more coming to join our 11 (and that wasn't even my doing!) But now it is slowly spreading to other forms of what my BF calls "edible pets"!!!


Just tonight we discussed turkeys.....and maybe a pig...just ONE pig...and maybe some more chickens specifically of the meatie variety...but I have said no to raising a steer (so far) oh! Ducks....just a couple of ducks....and next year (I say next year, but who knows) maybe some of the silkie bantams and just a couple of the polish chickens...lord knows we have the room.....it's BAD I say!


I always said moving to Texas is like joining a cult - you go buy all the TX themed decor for your house and yard and it takes years to get over it - I almost bought a jacuzzi shaped like the state of TX with my income tax one year - it's bad! But the chicken addiction....IS WORSE!!! Picture this....

My sister calls to tell me to "Check out this website! It's awesome, it's called Backyard chicken dot com" and I do.....and the wheels begin to spin....I could do this...this sounds like fun....just maybe 4 or 5 chickens for the heck of it....okay 11 chickens....hubby's BF orders 15 chickens and his wife says NO....so sure, we can take them don't cancel the order....then maybe a turkey or two?....the insanity does not stop with chickens here! It's extended to anything with feathers!!! DH just got up for work and asked me if I thought quail were a good idea! NOOOOOOO!!!!

 

[kasey08]

its the other way around in my marriage

i'm the one that gives him the eye like can we keep it? and of course he's like NO but i always get my way

if we had more money and our own land i would so have a farm!

 

[robk0220]

Just read the signature line below...

Plus we are going to be ordering some more day old duckies after our move.... and I'm sure the wife is gonna order more chickens....

somebody, please please please open up a branch of CA near here.

 

[bigdaddyabc]

When I started this new "project" 4 weeks ago, no one told me that chickens were made of CRACK either. WAY addicting. I got 6 at TSC and built a small run. That lasted about a week. I fed THIRTY chicks of varying ages and breeds this morning in the coop I built. I feel your pain with your 85!!! If I bring home any more chicks, my wife will move ME into the coop. Does this site offer an intervention program??

Rob

 

[sheaviance1]

I totally get the whole addiction thing, although, I made myself stop at 10, for now. Hubby went out to the coop last night, and when he walked back in the house, he told me he had to go and get his chicken fix, LOL, I think he misses them being inside.

I want to be sure that I can feed them and take very good care of them once they are fully grown which is why I stopped at 10. Being new to this, I can certainly see where you could go nuts, but personally speaking, I didn't want to go overboard and just keep buying them because they are cute, not to mention go to the expense of building a bigger coop. I have a chant that I use whenever I am near the chicks in the store to keep me from buying anymore (but it didn't work when I stopped at a lawn and garden store and the lady that owns it told me she has an incubator completely full and that she can and will incubate any chick breed that you are interested in owning argh!)

We have talked about doing meaties next year, so I will have to figure out what kind of housing we will need for about 50 meat birds, but until them, I will just enjoy the ones i have. We have integrated the younger chicks (3 wk olds) with our older chicks (6 wk olds) and one of the younger ones is such a bossy little bird that we have renamed her Tyson (after Mike, not Tyson Chicken). She chases the older, bigger birds all over the coop, it is quite funny at this stage, but I can see it being a major issue when she grows up.

 

[france]

We have 14 hens and 1 roo all about a year old. 8 chicks on the way. 6 eggs in an incubator and all look viable. Tempted to hit TSC this weekend.
Chickens are fun

Even DH who said "NO" is now addicted. Did not even bat an eye when I mentioned putting more eggs under the broody
hen this summer. All because he is the supplier of organic eggs to his office LOL We are planning on meat chickens one of these days and I had
to stop him from buying them this summer.

 

[nelgkel]

Quote:

Hi my name is MDULIK and I am addicted to Chickens!!! OH My goodness!!! 85!!!!! I thought 12 was bad! Of course if I had the space and land I would have that many too.....who am I kidding? LOL Glad your wife is so understanding....

 

[Sjisty]

I also must confess to the addiction - mine is hatching eggs, though. If my two incubators aren't running or there isn't a broody out there, I am a very sad individual!

This started with DH wanting a few chickens when we moved out to the country. I wanted no part of the stinkin' noisy things! Well, I bought an incubator on eBay and some hatching eggs. Now we have probably 50+ chickens of varying ages 22 in the living room in tubs, 9 chicks running around outside with their foster mommies, approximately 20 (haven't counted lately) hens, 4 roosters, 3 ducks, and a goose. There are also a couple of dozen eggs in the incubator.

I never knew how enjoyable chickens could be. I have a "house chicken," Frack, who pecks on the front door about mid-morning. I let her in and she goes to the kitchen (she has her own dog bed) to lay her egg. When she is finished, she goes to the front door to be let back out. She also sleeps in the kitchen every night. She was torn up by one of our roos a couple of months ago and ended up very spoiled. She watches TV on the couch at night with us and is really very good at not leaving "gifts" all over the carpet.

I love each and every one and don't know what I did for entertainment before I had chickens!