Official BYC Poll: How Did You Get Into Chickens?

[Chicken poppy]

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".

View attachment 2974280

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!)

So, i honestly forgot a bit, i started buying in the beginning of may. But researched long before that. I think a work friend had eggs and i for some reason thought it could be a nice idea to hatch some. Not very intresting haha!

 

[jonalisa]

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".

View attachment 2974280

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!)

 

[jonalisa]

Beekeeping... The gateway drug

 

[Lady of McCamley]

When I was a little girl, I went to live with my grandmother who had a chicken ranch and sold eggs. She retired, so the hens went away, and I grew up without them (in a very rural area with cows and horses), but remembered the experience.

When my oldest daughter went to Vet Tech school, she wanted a farm project. We immediately jumped at the idea of chickens. We used my first flock for her studies. She graduated and moved on, but the flock has stayed. They are my little feathered backyard friends that I now breed for all the pretty Easter egg colors

LofMc

 

[Tuch baluch]

We always had pets growing up but I always wanted chickens. I have loved chickens for so long. But after doing alot of research on the brahma breed and other breeds, building a coop, and figuring out where to buy them, I finally got them and I love them so much.

 

[Pyxis]

I had ducks first - I got two drakes from my aunt when I was 14. Then, probably about two years into owning them, I found a hen in their pen one morning. I think she came from the neighbor's place.

She looked kind of thin, and had scaly leg mites. So she decided to move in, and somehow spread the word because over the next month a few more hens showed up, and then a rooster. I kept them, got the mites treated, and let them stay. Some chicks also showed up, that was a surprise. The hens weren't laying since they were in rough shape and none were broody. No idea if the neighbors tried to 'replace' the birds and bought chicks and just tossed them outside or what happened there. Kept those too.

From there, I bought chicks at a feed store since I was intrigued with all the different breeds, which progressed to hatching eggs from breeders, and here I am.

 

[MaddChickens]

FFA project for me!

 

[Bonwell]

Lockdown (around April 2020) when I read an article about a woman who hatched ducks from supermarket eggs. Random, right?! I started to imagine If I hatched chickens. Myself and my mum did secret reseach for months! Then we got permission 1-2 months later!
We couldn't find chicks or eggs so we reserved 2 hens and picked them up after the summer holidays!
I'd always loved chickens though, and my parents did want chickens many years ago, but it never happened for some reason.

Just over a year later I have two times as many chickens as I'd planned (having to make a bigger coop)

Hahaha, I remember reading that article too!

 

[sourland]

Maternal grand parents had an egg production facility. Mother always had chickens, and I became a 'feather' person.

 

[ViciousLizardEaters]

I used to not know much about chickens. There's all these cartoons, advertisements and pictures with inaccurate autonomy. I really wanted to learn important agriculture stuff, like all these skills people learn over years, for example the best time to grow a crop. So I went into agriculture class. This teacher was new, and the vibes, weren't so great, but I tried to be nice and friendly. Very rarely we'd get to go outside and see them fluffy, floofy, chickens. I got to hold one, which looked like a RIR, as someone who often looks at how things work, like 90-degree angles, I learned that chickens are perfectly designed for holding! The teacher told me to support the wings, although I liked to touch the feets. Lengthwise generally chickens are about the length from my wrist to my elbow, her head and beautiful red eye were perfectly set so I could see her beautiful face while holding her, and she was the right size for holding and supporting the wings and everything! And she didn't die or get lethargic after being held! We rarely went outside though, often when we were waiting, the teacher would tell us it was too long already, and we literally didn't learn anything that class period. One time we finally went outside and I got to hold that lovely chicken, but I had to go to a party thing for my grades, I was hoping I'd get to stay, but no, I had to go. There were tears in my eyes. It was so ridiculous, there was a speech and picture and stuff, we ate regular old doughnuts, and had to go to the next period!! Completely skipping holding the chickens! It was terrible. One of the chickens was actually really broody, I know that now. Well, I got into chookies, and their feathers are amazingly designed, them Isa Browns or Golden Comets, their moving feathers make so purdy patterns! Also, they don't have the very bestest personalities, like that extreme viciousness towards lizards, baby turtles, and sometimes, pecking the eyelid. They're so snuggly though and can make the treats in my hands, mysteriously disappear!