So tell me... What got you into chickens?

[BrattishTaz]

Sadly, Farmville.

I hated chickens before that.

 

[BooBear]

growing up I had a pet game hen named Mrs T. She was a cool pet and loved attention. I could pick her up and carry her everywhere.
I got into them recently for healthy food and am really enjoying them. Ofcourse, I keep naming them so it makes it hard to process the extra boys. Gotta stop doing that.

 

[Life is Good!]

The growing realization that everything I can do now to be self-sufficient and teach our children to be self-sufficient will be rewarded.

Our local ordinance forbids livestock, specifically, but that's not poultry. Most neighbors have some form of poultry. Kids are eating between 3-5doz eggs a week. Cost - less than a bag of feed. Done deal.

Now, to find a way to have a miniature hereford cow or two....yeah, that's livestock. But neighbors have goats for 4-H. These mini herefords are about the same size as the goats..... http://miniaturehereford.com/ Then all our dairy needs would be met! That's my ideal. But not yet.

Who knew this city gal would end up on a hobby farm-ette in suburbia?! 2 acres is a lot of land to play on....

 

[Imp]

Many years ago I used to cater for a wealthy couple. They had a few chickens & ducks in their yard. I thought that was pretty cool.
Then a woman I worked with got an aggressive form of breast cancer. She got chickens and rabbits, and started growing vegetables in her tiny tiny backyard. She wanted organic meat, eggs and vegetables to eat. She fell in love with them, and couldn't eat them. A year or so later her husband said they have to go. She had several people interested, but gave them to me cause she knew I wouldn't eat them. Those 3 were my first flock.

Imp

btw- she went into remission, and kept the rabbit as a pet.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I have lived with chickens most of my life. I was the egg collector. I remember playing "house" as a 6 year old next to our little chicken coop with a trio. But I wasn't friendly with those chickens, I was just their "rent collector."
Fast forward 16 years, and now I am addicted to them!! I have to get them, in every color and size, with or without muffs, feathery feet or blue legs...

I am perfectly content being crazy with chickens. I wanted chickens because I was familiar with them, but also because they seemed like interesting creatures. Now they are one of my favorite animals (and companions)!
Now my boyfriend is an enabler. We've been together for a few years and one day he saw a yard with some chickens in a tractor. He said, "I always wanted to have a pet chicken, like a rooster." When he was a kid, he saw an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer had a pet rooster in his apartment, and my boyfriend always asked his dad if he could have a chicken. Nope. My bf will now let me have all the chickens that I want because he loves them too.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I blame one person and one person only that would be Kelly41 ! Thank you Kelly

!!!

 

[CrazyChickensEverwhere]

this is really cool! i like hearing all the different stories!

 

[Firefighter Chick]

Since I was little, before kindergarden i've been infatuated with birds. I would study, them draw them, etc. My mom said i could get a bird as a pet when i had a cage large enough that she thought wasn't cruel confinement. It never happened. Now that I'm on a 5 acre hobby farm, my husband was coaxed into chickens because there was already a coop on the property and the food aspect sealed it for him.

 

[Captain Carrot]

After living in towns and cities all my life, and having little or no garden space I finally bought a house out in the countryside with a nice big piece of land... right I thought, let's get have a go at growing my own food.

I was frustrated that the only chicken meat that was readily available, was meat from chickens that are kept by the thousands kept in huge barns and never seeing daylight.

I got myself 4 Light Sussex, 3 Isa Browns and an Amrock cockerel. I also got some hybrid meat bird growers.

I never looked back, I've not bought any meat or eggs for the last three years. Also when the veg patch is at it's best we probably eat 3-4 free dinners a week.

I still don't have enough chickens though. I'm looking into getting a couple more breeds.

 

[JulieNKC]

When I was about 12 I won a couple of baby chicks at a county fair. They of course were roos and went to live with a friend in the country, but I loved them. So, when I got the room to have chickens, one of the first things I did was get some chickens of course.