Official BYC Poll: How Did You Get Into Chickens?

[KikiDeAnime]

My dad grew up on a farm so he had a lot of knowledge to pass onto us. Luckily my brothers and I still live with him so we get to pass around lots of new knowledge.

 

[JustTC]

Chickens really are the simplest and most rewarding animals to rear. From eggs to free therapy to learning about self-sustainability, there are a variety of reasons to keep your own backyard chickens. Whatever the reason, we would like to find out: How Did You Get Into Chickens?

Place your vote above, and please elaborate in a reply below if you chose "Other".

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Further Reading:

• Top 5 Reasons People Have Chickens
• Common Mistakes Poultry Keepers Make (And How to Fix Them)
• Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

I worked on & managed chicken farms for 5 years. The 1st half of that time was on a egg farm. (Not caged or NEVER would have taken the job) & the other half was on a broiler farm. In hindsight.....absolutely not a job for a animal lover that becomes very easily attached So..the egg farm wasn't bad. We would let the girls out every morning into the big green paddocks. They were happy. Plus, they got extra love from me My Mum had chooks. Never understood it until the egg farm. So thankyou Pretty sure that's were my love of them came from. Broiler farm. Much cleaner BUT we only had them for 7 weeks max & then the trucks would come to take them away just in time for me to have already picked my favourites (& named them)
So..worked my arse off there & had a moment of madness when I accepted the managers position. I don't care how much you need the money. Don't do it!! My very first pick up (when the trucks come to take them) as manager was traumatic. I had to leave my sunnies on so all the truckies (i thought) couldn't see that I had a constant stream of tears running down my face. It was horrible.
That day I promised the universe that one day I will get chickens. They will be very happy and a truck will never pull up to take them away.
Needless to say, I didn't hang around there much longer. I had many dummy spits along the way but one day I just said "*** this shit. I'm going home & this time I'm not coming back" I waited 12 months to make sure I wouldn't give them I.L.T or any of the other crappies diseases, then set my plan in motion.
I only have 3 silkie X Pekin bantam girls at the moment but one of my girls is sitting on 6 Furness pekin bantam eggs & hopefully our little chicky family will expand.
Long winded, I know but a little reading for y'all.

 

[CrazyCochin]

8 years ago we moved into a home that came with chickens. We have only one of the original hens, a SLW who was an adult at the time of moving in. And she’s been with us ever since. She must be at least 11 or 12 years old.

 

[JustTC]

We ( mostly my mother ) had chickens from time to time when I was a child.

Many years later I started keeping chickens after a small prefab coop that belonged to 2 rabbits got empty (died of old age). The coop was so small that I only could keep bantams in it. I did read a little about different breeds and some basics in keeping chickens.

After some problems I started to do more research on illnesses , health care , feed, space requirements, etc. I really loved my 4 tiny dinosaurs.
Gradually the coop and run extended and the numbers increased. Now I have 7 sweat naughty bantams.

Edit: correction

Everything is cuter when it's small.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

We live in the countryside, our neighbor had chickens and then one day he became sick so his family took him away. For several months they didn't come back and we felt so bad for his chickens (which roamed free and ate what they could) that we started feeding them. Then my father was diagnosed with cancer and we had to leave to help out; about six months later we were able to return and the flock had gone from more than 20 to about 5 and the rooster. We took care of them again and made them a house, some time later our neighbor passed away (he never returned to his home again) when his wife returned, she told us if we wanted we could keep the chickens (we'd grown quite fond of them). Some time later his son came by and gifted us some 9 chickens.
The flock has thrived since then and we have close to 30 now, they're just endearing and I couldn't imagine our life without them.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

This is how it happened:

My sister saw a book on a shelf, picked it up, and read the first chapter.

She then got really into them, researched for three years, and finally got permission to own chickens.

After a year of her owning chickens, I fell in love and wanted a few of my own.

I now have 3 fluff-butts, Safaia, Cupcake, and Nutmeg.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Well, this is a crazy story, that leads me to believe I was destined to have chickens in my backyard. First you must understand that here in New Orleans, people have always kept chickens and ducks and geese, sheep and goats. We once had a camel that lived a block away from us. Those are the pets, we also have a plethora of wild animals you would not expect in the middle of the city.
When I was 3 we went to a fair and Daddy bought raffle tickets and I won a basket with a stuffed Red Hen and a bunch of yellow chicks in the basket.
When I was about 8 I found a white hen in an empty lot near my Grandma's house, I named her Mr. Cluck and got to keep her in my Grandma's backyard for a while.
I had bought books in my late 30's and started researching what I need to do to keep chickens in my backyard properly. After Katrina my neighbor and her boys were coming home from a baseball game and saw a cockerel trying to cross a Major Highway (Airline). They brought the cockerel home and the husband was complaining about the crowing and his dog going nuts all the time. I came up on the tail end of the conversation and begged like a small child for the cockerel. I got to keep him. DH set up a coop that would hold a ridicules number of chickens. (Smart man). Everyday the cockerel would roam the entire backyard. But he was alone and wanted playmates. So he would peck at the glass backdoor, until I came out and played with him. Over time he was taking up more and more of my time. So we bought him 3 full grown hens. All of my chickens until recently have been large size fowl.
New Orleans past a law that you could no longer keep Roosters and there was no grandfathering in. I kept my Rooster anyway. Then someone reported me and I had to rehome him. It truly broke my heart.
Then just before the last hurricane (2 days before) I see on the Neighborhood site, that some woman has a bantam hen and 1 chick in her garden, they don't belong to her and she doesn't wan t them to die in the hurricane. So I got a box and picked them up.
The chick was a yellow chickmonk looking thing, cute as a button. And Momma was so sweet and gentle. It was also as though she knew I was saving her and was extremely greatful. They all went into the 2nd floor laundryoom/chicken hurricane bunker. See, no touch method.
We named the cockerel T-Boy and although he is much smaller than my full size hens, he has taken complete control over the entire flock. (He does have a bit of frustration when it comes to mating the full size hens. However he still tries and goes out of his way to sing and dance around the hen he is courting at the time)

 

[Naisha]

I bought a house and the previous owner left more than 20 chickens there without any explanation!! After an intensive research and some mistakes (ahem predators ahem).. I ended up rehoming almost all of them to just keep the ones I could take care of without spending too much on food and having way more eggs than we eat. It’s been stressful! But I love my chickens and if that man hadn’t left his chickens there, I would have ended up having chickens anyway. Just.. reading a lot first and being prepared.

 

[MysteryChicken]

My grandpa introduced us to chickens many years ago. I don't remember how old I was when we got our first peeps. But we ended up butchering, & starting over every spring after 2yrs.

This was before we moved to Michigan. We were only visiting occasionally once a summer.

 

[Candyjablonski]

My granddaughter caught my rooster at a rodeo when they let the kids run inside the arena to catch a variety of animals. A few days later I ended up with him. I really thought he was a hen because I've never had one before. He had a small comb. Later I got the biggest shock when he started crowing. He's a mix Wyandotte. I now have 2 roosters and 6 hens. ( my 2nd rooster was supposed to be a hen lol.)I love them all and I watch them and I learn quite a bit from them. I've read everything I could to make sure I care for them the right way. I would love to just raise roosters.