So did you jump in with both feet or?

[NancyP]

hmmm, I think odds are you will. Seems to be a lot of enablers around here.

 

[Mahonri]

Had chickens as a kid. I spent HOURS and HOURS with them. Mother always said, she knew I'd have them again someday.

so after twenty years of marriage and realizing that we'll never be moving out of our home in the barrio, I had a coop built, layed down some linoleum, I put in a run and got some Rainbow Layers from McMurray... along with a few other chicks from the local feed store.

I had lurked here for a while then joined almost a year ago.

Here we are a year later and we've got 43 total.

We'll be eating some roos, we'll be rehoming some non-laying hens... or eating them.

DW wants to get the flock down to 15, I'm hoping for a compromise at 25 including at least a roo or two if we can.

 

[KattyKillFish]

when i was about 5-6 (im 19 goin on 20) my mom decided it was time to get chickens.

my aunt marlene lives in a VERY rural area. she has goats, pigs, and ALL KINDS of fowl. from geese to quails. but mostly chickens. she lives in the middle of Alaska and is very self sufficient. my guess is that this was the inspiration for my mom to get our birds. so i kinda was grown into it and my mom i guess followed her older sister's example.

mahonri, i can relate to you. i spent sooo much time with my birds. we started out with 5-6 and after a few months ended up with over 50. i spen alot of time taking care of them with my mom

 

[geeber]

Quote:

We currently have:
7 dogs
3 parrots (1 african grey & 2 love birds)
1 guinea pig
2 cats

See, a couple of outdoor chickens wouldn't hurt anything would it?

(Actually, we are over the dog limit in my town, so we do have to be very careful)

 

[mullers3acers]

It depends on how much land you have and what your city ordinances are, but my opion is to go for it.
Quote:

We currently have:
7 dogs
3 parrots (1 african grey & 2 love birds)
1 guinea pig
2 cats

See, a couple of outdoor chickens wouldn't hurt anything would it?

(Actually, we are over the dog limit in my town, so we do have to be very careful)

 

[chickenchaser1]

Hi Nancy, I'm sort of doing both....jumping in feet first that is...I decided that I would start my first year with meat birds and then see if I liked it well enough to add layers. I have a neighbor who does meat birds, so first year, he is buying the birds, feed, etc and we will raise them. We are providing the housing at our expense.

At the end of the "season", he will have the birds butchered (commercial butcher who also handles small producers). We will then sell enough birds to break even on his investment and split the number of birds we have left over.

We are starting with 25 birds and expect to have 5 chickens in the freezer for each household.

The meat birds only have to raised for about 3 months so we can see how we like raising the birds.

It's kind of a nice way to get started with minimal investment. At the end, we only have the investment in housing and feeders so if we change our minds, we can re-purpose the housing and will only be out the expense of feeders/waterers, etc.

I'd say nothing ventured, nothing gained. Go for it! I have a feeling I'll be doing this again next year!

 

[hobbyfarmrookie]

I started with 8 RIR about 3 weeks old to get started, they were about 8 weeks old when TSC started getting shipments of chicks in. I realized in the 5 weeks of having the few that this was for me. I did lose two of the first eight when they were scared in a storm and crushed two in the corner of the cage. I now have 21 mostly 15 are RIR, 2 EE, 2 silkies, and 2 that I'm still not sure (they are black). Raising chickens is like going to the pool for the first time this year, stick your toe in to test the water, then JUMP right in.

 

[Davaroo]

I started by incubating hatching eggs.

 

[chicky gal1]

I started with 2 that a teacher gave me after she hatched them for her students. now I have 31! If I had more room, like maybe a barn or something, I'd have 200!

 

[GAchick]

Quote:
We currently have:
7 dogs
3 parrots (1 african grey & 2 love birds)
1 guinea pig
2 cats

See, a couple of outdoor chickens wouldn't hurt anything would it?

(Actually, we are over the dog limit in my town, so we do have to be very careful)


You don't want to draw attention to your over the limit dogs. But on the other hand... None of the other pets will feed you back....