I couldn't imagine not having chickens :(

[Sobek]

I was reading a post about someone who basically said they were miserable with their chickens :l I guess it's not for everyone. I always thought about it like raising kids lol. At the start it was stressful because my new birds were sick and I would have to manually feed them for 2 weeks three times a day. I would have to mix medicine from the vet and so forth. It did get very stressful and I wanted to cry lol. Now I'll gladly run out in a storm and crawl in the mud just to rescue a chicken too scared to run to me. I will literally do just about anything for my chickens. I could not imagine not having my babies. Raven stepped on a nail or something and she's injured. So she's laying next to me with a tray of food and water I made for her. My chickens need me I just could not imagine living without them.

 

[LRH97]

Good for you! Sounds like you had a tougher start than most, but fulfilled your obligations well. Lots of people think chickens would be fun and easy but don't realize that they get sick and do require work to keep. Keeping any animal for the long-haul, especially livestock, isn't all fun and games (although most of it seems to be if you really love what you're doing). Owning animals isn't all about keeping, it's also about caring. That's why it's so imperative to do homework and research before getting the animals!

 

[Spartan22]

I totally agree with you, I was “miserable”worried about the chicks when they were young if they were warm enough, too hot, too much poop on the beddings, making sure not falling asleep in the water and drown, enough clean water, if they’re eating enough? if they huddling or perching at bed time.
When I moved them in the coop are they comfortable? Are they perching? Or are they piling up and suffocating each other? Do they have enough insulation? Enough ventilations? Is the coop predator proof enough? Even though everything were built Fort Knox, I still have to check on them 3-4X a night, going out with flashlights surveying the perimeter and discovering that there’s actually some real owls on the tree adjacent to the coop. Discovering that hawks are real and one even got in the run one time when I was expanding the run 2X it’s size. I will be sleeping late and waking up early even though I’ve got to work just to make sure everything was alright. I might as well move them in my kids rooms since I do the same thing when my kids were very young.

Who needs these worries and have that extra stress in life, except Me? and raise new chicks every spring, and when they’re mature making sure to scooped up poop boards early enough, pick up eggs before it gets dirty/muddy during rainy days or freeze when it’s subzero out. Or retro fit the coop and run every spring and every winter to make sure everyone’s comfortable. I guess I’d been miserable for almost 6 yrs with chickens, I keep on raising new chicks every spring and I even got to learn how to hatch eggs. Misery love company, the company of chickens.

 

[Abriana]

Sometimes it's really stressful and hard, but then there are the moments of seeing your best mama hen with her chicks, or when a hen jumps up on your lap for a snuggle, and it makes it worth it and you can't imagine your life without them. Chickens are the best