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

[BDutch]

10 years that's a long time! I bet you took excellent care of them. In the wild the average rabbit lives 2 to 3years. Cats are similar. Chickens must have been a good change up then.

We had rabbits for approx 10 years. But the first generation where killed by a fox. The male (offspring) was kept apart at that time. He and a baby rabbit we kept, survived the attack. The offspring (father and doughter) lived for about 7 years. We had Remy castrated cause we didn’t want more baby rabbits.

 

[Molpet]

There was a long running thread here someone trying to get everyone to prove this theory was accurate....consensus was 50-50.

I can do better than that...




70% of mine are cockerels

 

[swalberg]

View attachment 2009564​

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?

Hi, I'm new to the group and getting ready to restart my life with chickens! I started as a kid, we had 'suburban' chickens, a pretty large backyard flock. Then after a college haitus my boyfriend at the time built me a big coop, and that flock followed me to my next house. This was in Seattle, then I moved to Maryland, where our neighborhood was very divided about chickens, so we never did it. Now I'm in Florida and discovered chickens are a thing here! I'm so happy! My honey is going to set up my coop this coming week. I'll be looking for a few hens/pullets in the Melbourne area very soon!

Susan

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi, I'm new to the group and getting ready to restart my life with chickens! I started as a kid, we had 'suburban' chickens, a pretty large backyard flock. Then after a college haitus my boyfriend at the time built me a big coop, and that flock followed me to my next house. This was in Seattle, then I moved to Maryland, where our neighborhood was very divided about chickens, so we never did it. Now I'm in Florida and discovered chickens are a thing here! I'm so happy! My honey is going to set up my coop this coming week. I'll be looking for a few hens/pullets in the Melbourne area very soon!

Susan

Glad you joined! How exciting to be getting chickens soon!

 

[Don 27]

We had rabbits for approx 10 years. But the first generation where killed by a fox. The male (offspring) was kept apart at that time. He and a baby rabbit we kept, survived the attack. The offspring (father and doughter) lived for about 7 years. We had Remy castrated cause we didn’t want more baby rabbits.

Cool! Rabbits do breed fast.

 

[Haybaler72]

First time I ever arrested a perp, I said " my hen thinks you look guilty, so you are under arrest"
Perp had no idea they were trying to steal from an OC Sheriff Deputy, from my own back yard!

Fairly still new at this ....going 7 months I think lol....but learning a lot here

 

[featherhead007]

Fairly still new at this ....going 7 months I think lol....but learning a lot here

You will catch on quick!

 

[Lynn Manes]

View attachment 2009564​

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?

We wanted to get chickens for eggs and meat. We started with about 6-8 pullets- 2 RIR's, 2 Delawares, a BR, an Australorpe and a Frizzle Cochin rooster, named Frizzle. I named them all right away. That ended the" for meat" part of our endeavors very quickly, added to the fact one of my Delaware's, Henrietta, used to sit on an run roost near the outer door of the coop. Each evening when I went to gather the eggs, I would talk to her and in a sort of chicken voice, I'd say, " I love you." I did this every evening. Henrietta loved to talk. But one evening, I had a big surprise when I told Henrietta I loved her, still mimicking her own voice, and she returned the sentiment. Every night from then on I'd say, "Goodnight, Henrietta. I love you,"and she would say to me, "I love you." It was funny, yes, and so endearing. From then on I was in love with chickens. And that first little flock, all flying high with the angels now, except my Australorpe, Astra, and my rooster Frizzle, has expanded from 7 wonderfully, gentle creatures to 3 flocks totalling 33 chickens today. I never had another chicken learn to speak chicken- human to me like Henrietta did, but all my birds are gentle souls that I've trained to respond to their names. All breeds now are only for egg production and are a pure pleasure to me.

 

[RedneckGurl]

I've been keeping chickens going on 6 years now. My first chickens were given to me by a woman I used to buy eggs from. She was selling her eggs to make money and had about a dozen birds who were older and weren't laying enough to make it worth her while to keep them. They were members of her original flock and she couldn't bear the thought of culling them so she asked me if I would take them and I jumped at the chance - instant flock. They were all different breeds and I've kept that mix over the years. I've also raised a few Cornish cross that were given to me and we processed them last year. I've got about 40 birds right now but I really want about 100 and plan to get some chicks this coming spring.

 

[Gwynny7]

I don't have any chickens yet, but I have a small flock of guinea fowl. We got our guineas as one day old keets on May 13, 2015! I trained them when they were little to come when called using white millet. My family had never had any farm animals before this adventure. Since I am battling severe neurological Lyme disease and co-infections and my family was being repeatedly bitten by ticks we knew we had to do something. The tipping point was when the three of us had a combined 9 tick bites in a week and a half just walking out to the car in the driveway! With wanting to avoid toxic chemicals at all costs since food is grown on our farm we opted for guinea fowl and a natural essential oil tick spray we put on our bodies when outside. Since doing these two things I have not been bitten by a tick. At the time I was doing infusions at home with a surgically placed Hickman catheter in my chest so I had to wear gloves and keep my chest protected, but I am glad we got them! I am still very ill so each day is a struggle, but I am hopeful my doctors can help me get some of my health back.