Official BYC Poll: How Long Have You Been Raising Chickens?

[Amtorres]

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Beautiful

 

[Ada06]

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How many of our peeps are really new to raising chickens and how many are old-timers?

In addition to answering the poll, please reply with some fun details, like:

What got you interested in raising chickens?
Did you ever "take a break" and not have chickens?
What breeds did you start with, how many, and do you have any pictures to share?

I got my first 6 chickens in March of 2020.
I had been obsessed with them since 3 or more years before when I read an article about the difference between healthy eggs and the eggs we bought ($1.50 or less lol).
I spent those 3 years begging and ALL it took was for the world to go insane and a global wide pandemic for them to finally agree!
I got 5 golden comets, and one olive egger (not sure what she really is though).
Bailey, Corona, Freckles, Ramona, Cadbury, and Ollie.
We cat proofed the dog cage they lived in, and 6-7 weeks later moved them into their forever home.

 

[Coops Dad]

What got you interested in raising chickens?
I'm kind of a "prepper"- not TEOTWAWKI but more like I prefer to be more self-sufficient in case of emergencies... or even minor discomforts. I was pretty much born in the woods and raised by wolves so plan b and plan c were always in place. My wife begrudgingly got onboard with being chicken keepers when we moved into our house- we went from 1/3 acre inside the city to almost 20 out in the county. After the Snovid freeze in '20 and having to cook on and heat the home with a woodstove, she's more of a prepper than I could ever have dreamed. She's in charge of the chickens and keeps a running count of the daily eggs, number of freezer residents, etc.
Did you ever "take a break" and not have chickens?
Nope. I can't imagine it.
What breeds did you start with, how many?
I started with 3 Black Copper Marans, 3 RIRs, 2 Barred Rocks, 6 White Leghorns and an EE, all bought from a friend who was getting ready to move. Got his whole flock for $100.

Since then, I migrated to a flock that's about half Ameraucanas and the other half is whatever struck my interest on Craigslist or in Atwood's, Orscheln's or TSC, plus every barnyard mix that my wife hatches out in the incubator. At one point, we had 70+ laying chickens including 4 roosters plus I can't remember how many Cornish Cross (over 25) and a lot of turkeys (8 or 9 BBWs, 6 BBBs, standard bronzes, a couple of red Bourbons and a sweetgrass).

Our feed bill was staggering. I knew we had to make a change when the feed store owner bought a new $90k truck.

We're currently at 30+/- laying hens, two roosters, 10 pullets, one Red Bourbon turkey and an incubator with 19 chicken eggs and three turkey eggs. And I am looking for a couple of BBW poults and some Cornish Xs, lol. If I can close the chest freezer and don't need to put a cinder block on it to keep it closed, it's time to start raising meaties again.

 

[crazychickenman007]

My wife and I started with 6 in April and we’re up to 23 in august, chicken math or something we started with one SLw, 2 Sapphire gems, 3 black sex links. Then we added 17 jersey giants (tractor supply gave us a deal)! I’ve always wanted to be a farmer since the time I was old enough to walk. Now that I’m grown and have kids of my own, owning chickens has given me that opportunity in some capacity and I love that my kids love it as much as I do.

 

[Alexandra Runner]

I first became interested in having chickens from a deep desire to homestead, and chickens were first on my list!
I have never "taken a break," and I never intend to.
I started with a dozen RIR "pullets" from a feed store in my town. Three of them turned out to be roosters, haha!

 

[StinkyAcres]

15 years next month!