Official BYC Poll: How Did You Get Into Chickens?

[Iluveggers]

and they just served as a gateway bird to chickens

I’m going to have to steal this line sometime!

 

[Yowza Wowza]

Lil ol impressionable me saw baby chicks at a science center and fell in love with the idea of having chickens. Then my parents got me three baby chicks and the rest is history.

 

[Show Sebright]

I met Lace and everyone was scared of her so I stuck my hand in her cage then took her out. She was so sweet! Here is my first picture of her when I met her. Lace let me flip her over. She looks the same now but missing a toe and about 4 years older.
Edit
(Her toe was removed because it was infected and needed to be removed. I did it with a vet and she is fine now)

 

[Hetzer]

Our neighbor is quiting chickens due to her age and i love the country fresh eggs we used to get. I am getting chickens after i build a coop.

 

[Luckywolf]

My bff @FriendlyWyandotte loved chickens when I first met her. I already own like five chickens then after meeting her I gained another four.

 

[esme13]

I wanted chickens ever since I was in my teens and saw on some episodes the hen and duck on Friends. I wanted a house chicken after seeing those episodes.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have always loved birds. Always. I worked briefly on a ranch when I was grade school caring for heep and turkeys, but I always sneaked off to the chickens (though the turkeys were adorable). My hubby was dead set against getting any.

But found out one of his friends had chickens. THEN he agreed. That's how he rolls. Gotta know someone.

So annoying...

 

[Lizzy733]

We were moving house and the city rental we were looking at had a huge unkempt backyard and the property manager said 'go nuts'. My husband offhandedly mentioned chickens, and the idea stuck.

We got our little fluff balls about a month after moving in and built a coop and run from scratch and were very generous with the space requirements on both.

I'm a reseach-centric person and tore through BYC in short order. Hoping to get more hands-on bird expertise to help prevent and treat issues with my flock, I even volunteered at the local native bird rescue weekly for about a year before we moved away.

Chickens really are a gateway farm animal. They aren't a set it and forget it pet and if you can manage their husbandry, handle their emergencies and escape attemps, and ensure they have the right housing, it gets you set up for what to expect in regards to commitment and that next step up for animal management - especially at the point that you start hatching, dealing with integrations and handling roos.

It started with chickens which has now expanded to Turkey, Quail, Pigs and Sheep in the last few months since we've gotten our rural block and abandoned the city.

Thanks chooky-doos, you've been great teachers!

 

[Deezchix]

I grew up in the city, so always had thoughts of a rural/livestock lifestyle. A few years ago we moved to the suburbs and hubby and I immediately discussed chickens. Then I was diagnosed with cancer. Three operations later went into remission, I told hubby lets do chickens, so we did. That was last year. We are loving it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As a child I was in love with chickens - not sure if anything in particular triggered it, but I remember my mom being very excited to tell me any time we'd visit the one cousin that had chickens, so my family was obviously aware of it even when I was little. As it wasn't practical to have chickens in suburbia nor was it practical with school and then work, I didn't give it too much consideration for years.

I "retired" early, and then we got to the point where we were ready to jump back into the housing market, so when hubby asked what I wanted in a house, I said: 1) zoned for chickens 2) a water view 3) a garage. And so chickens got added to the list, and now here we are.