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

[nchls school]

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

What got you interested in raising chickens?Even as a child I was thrilled with birds of all species.
Did you ever "take a break" and not have chickens/birds? Yes, but not willingly and not for long.
What breeds did you start with, how many, and do you have any pictures to share? Mixed breed bantams,,,then mallards...then geese...parakeets, guinea fowl, peacocks, finches, cockatiels, conures, macaws, cockatoos, budgies, pigeons, quail and on and on and on.

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[Miss Lydia]

Wow am I reading this correctly, your rooster is 10.5 years old?!

Yep!

 

[Sandeewhispers]

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OMG! The auburn with black and white speckles are beautiful! What breed are they?

 

[gallusdomesticus]

I've been keeping chickens for 15 years. I wanted a hobby after retiring from the Air Force and fortunately our housing area allows chickens. Currently have 12 hens and a rooster who all have names after Roman emperors wives, except Julius Caesar, the rooster after living in Rome for three years, I love Roman history. The birds and my wife and I rode out Cat 5 Hurricane Michael in 2018 which largely ruined the house but the birds were safe in dog crates inside an interior room with us. The flock is currently with a foster home down the street while the house is rebuilt, can't wait to get back to them!

 

[Sandeewhispers]

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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?

My husband surprised me with 6 baby Rhode Island Reds on Mother’s Day after beginning him for chickens for years. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go but over the months I have grown more and more in love with them. They have been producing 6 eggs a day since they started laying. They are so sweet and loved to be held by me (mommy) There is still a lot I need to learn and this summer I will be redoing it for next winter. Trial and error.

 

[NickyPick]

10 years next month. I still have my original rooster, Mr. Feathers. He now lives in the nursery/infirmary coop with a 9 year old hen for company (when there aren't chicks to raise). I've got 68 in the neighboring coop. I've been doing fermented feed for about 7 years now. Best compliment I ever got? One of my egg customers said my eggs were better than Whole Foods Organic/Pasture eggs!

 

[WandaLiz]

ohhh i am a huge fan of my flock!!!! i have raised roos and hens since i was a child. I love the crowing, and the flock! We eat the eggs and if we have too many we donate the eggs. The flock is part of the family! at some point we were mobility impaired and the hens were allowed to lye the eggs inside the house ( the hamper, garbage cans, and once i found one on the sofa). The cleaning was challenging but we lost no eggs and hatched many!

 

[FLChickens]

I was going to say 11-20 years then I read the part about taking a break so I got to choose 21-50 years, thinking of my own flocks as an adult.

My flock now is small (usually under 20 in a coop/run) but I have usually had around 100 free-ranging.

I got started with chickens when I was given a pet chicken as a toddler, and I used to carry her around, slide down the slide with her, and keep her with me.

Less fun were the three free-roaming roosters my grandma took in when I was a child - someone's Easter chicks? Those horrible roosters used to terrorize me as a child, especially if I brought a snack outside.

I also tended my grandma's chicks and hens as a child. (So I guess I could technically say over 50 years but during stretches of my adult life I didn't have chickens at all, so I dialed it back a notch.)

I used to raise parrots too, and have kept guineas, geese, ducks, muscovies.

 

[Double Yolked]

I hadn't thought about it, had to stop and do some math before I realized it had been a full 10 years since I first got my hens. Wow. Feels like yesterday almost sometimes. So much more to learn and do. At the moment I only have 6 hens. Am planning a move in the near future and moving chickens is a real pain in the ass so am keeping the minimum number needed for eggs for now. Girlfriend who loves chickens and keeps a good loving farm full of them will take my ladies when we move and I'll restock once I have a chance to build a new coop. And of course I will! And it will be bigger.... For more chickens of course!

 

[Da Momma]

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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 started tending chickens when we moved to a small farmette 9 years ago.
I’ve had several breeds.
Silkies, Rhoda’s Island Reds, Bantams, White Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks and our newest addition of Lavender Amerucana.
We love having fresh, free range eggs and ‘ my girls’ are my pets. I spoil them and it shows!