POLL: Chickens - easier, same or harder then you thought, once you got them?

[Aschenfire]

I grew up on a farm, and in the country. I expected about the same amount of work that I put into my new chickens. They are easy to keep...too many people make it too hard with worry about temperature, "do they like me?", worry about every disease in the book (and overmedicating BEFORE there are even sick chickens), worry about light and heat and why the birds are not eating treats...a multitude of worry that is needless IMO. Just enjoy them and trust them to know how best to take care of themselves. Yes, keep them fed with a balanced diet meant for their age group as they grow, keep them clean, and have fun! Just don't overthink and don't stress!

They all have different personalities if you get to know them, and they are an endless source of entertainment and joy

 

[LaynaDon95]

It's easy as long as you make it that way. Some people freak out at every little detail. Chickens are hardy and can mostly take care of themselves. I give mine shelter, food, water and a field to free range in. They do great. Granted, I haven't had any predator problems at all.
(

) It would be a bit more work if you had that to worry about, but it would still be pretty easy, I think.

 

[CarolJ]

Chickens are less trouble and more fun than I thought they'd be.

 

[Sunnysimplelife]

I think living in the city, my biggest worry has not been the chickens but my neighbors. I have some crotchety folks on one side and I told them I had the chickens and they didn't seem too happy. Never mind they have four yapping dogs. I don't want to have to deal with city officials if someone complains. Three hens are legal here so I have the right to have them.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The big surprise was the building of the chicken coop. A project that I thought would be 2 or at most 3 days....took me 4 weeks before I could get chicks in the coop. I still have the run to build....so its not done yet.

Course...I didn't get to work on it as much as I had planned, and I am definately not a carpenter...but in the end not bad.

 

[fettslady]

This thread has proved VERY insightful! We are getting our butts in gear for a coop build and have found BYC to be an eternal source of information - and yes, at times an information overload. We are trying to be as cost effective as possible and found inspiration in the recycled pallet coop design(Jjamerb's Pallet Palace Chicken Coop) and I agree it can be as easy or as complicated as you make it...I have a tendency to go all out and overboard and over think everything and thankfully my husband provides some more common sense approaches to the mix. Our plan is to have the coop and run area done before the arrival of our chicks - hopefully early August. That way, once they arrive, we can enjoy them and get into a routine without going nutso on trying to get a coop done by a certain date. I am looking forward to having chickens for the first time

 

[Desirai]

I've never had chickens ever. I started with 12 cochin chicks. One of my chicks turned out to be an old English bantam mix.

I've had my chickens since March 17th (they hatched March 16th) and I started building my chicken coop the last week of February.

I spent more money than I thought I would when getting supplies.
Building the coop and run was a lot harder than I thought. I thought it'd take maybe a week. It took over a month!!
Chickens eat more than I thought they would.
Chickens poop a lot more than I thought they would!
They don't stink as much as everyone told me they would, but summer hasn't gotten here yet.....
They bite harder than I thought they would!

They're great therapy!
They're friendly, but don't like to be held or petted much.
They love treats!
So far, they aren't as noisy as I thought they'd be.
They haven't destroyed the grass in their run as fast as I thought they would.

They don't like mealworms* as much as I thought they would

Hmmmm can't think of anymore.

*edited to fix weird sentence

 

[Apyl]

It's been about what I expected. I built a 10 x 10 coop from recycled wood, so that was free. It took a whole two days to complete but that was only because I had to run the kids to school and back, clean the house, and cook dinner on top of building the coop. I open range from 7am ish to dark so my feed costs arnt bad. I brooded the chicks indoors for 2 1/2 weeks then sent them to the coop. Heck we've enjoyed our chickens so much we added 9 ducks to the mix and bought an incubator.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Wow,it seems about the same, food, water shelter, although I see an automatic door, water and electricity in my near future. That doesn't mean I'm out there at 6 am to open it, I open the coop when i feel like, and that depends on whether I'll need shoes or not. My roos are smart enough not to crow alot very early either. Like life, you can make it hard or make it easy, it's up to me. So does that mean I won't make a spiral roost pole from tree with the roots still on? Of course not, I mean I got the chain saw out and leveled it up and all, but that is just fun, and the chickens take turns coming by to check the progress.
The benefits are worth it, they give me eggs and fresh meat, they demolish pesky insects, they churn up the yard and compost and gve the best fertilizer in the world,and, they provide a living aesthetic quality to life.,which I believe is the part that surprizes everyone the most. No, they aren't pets, but they aren't just livestock either..they are just...chickens!!!!
Besides, they actually don't need all that much.

 

[Nsampsel]

I got my first chicks the beginning of March. Started with 4 LF, 2 bantums & 2 ducks. I now have 44 chickens of various sizes & breeds & 6 ducks. My incubator is in the mail & so are 2 sets of hatching eggs. I ended up building 3 different coops (I'm in town but have a huge yard). The first 1 took 4 1/2 days, 2nd (for the ducks) took 2 days, and the last 1 was finished in 3 days all but the gate that I ran out of wire & nails for. All coops have runs & are fenced all sides including top & bottom with sand floor runs. I've had up to 3 brooders set up at a time & have had ducks in my bathtub (luckily we have a shower in the basement & rarely use the tub). I started with woodchips in the coops & quickly switched to straw which is much easier & doesn't have to be cleaned out nearly as often. My brooders have woodchips, but other than the ducks, require very little maintenance. I use deep litter & throw feed & grit down on my brooder floor to get them to scratch & they keep the litter well turned, dry & "stink free." Ducks require a bit more maintenance in the brooder stage. Due to the water they sling all over their litter needed changed every couple of days. Once they go to the coop, high maintenance period is over. My coops have no electric or running water, so we carry water out every day, about 8 gallons or so, & 2 feed buckets, 1 with flock raiser & 1 with scratch. I also toss any leftovers & kitchen scraps out to them which significantly cuts down on feed cost. My 5 yr old son checks for eggs (I only have 2 laying so far, they were laying when I got them), my 8 yr old daughter does most of the water & I do the feeding. Other than arguing with my daughter to get her moving on water, there is very little maintenance to even so large of a flock. I still have babies in the brooder in my bedroom & I only have to tend them once or twice a day. There is no free ranging due to being in town, so there is no need to supervise that part. They put themselves to bed at night & now that they are bigger & the weather is warmer I don't even have to close coop doors anymore. They let themselves in & out whenever they choose.

Overall, the ducks were a bit more work than expected at first, but the chickens (layers & roos) are much less so once you get past the brooder stage. I can get everything done in the coops in less than 10 minutes as long as I don't have to argue with the kids to do their part. It's the kids who are "high maintenance" LOL