So, what got you into rasin' yer own chickens?

[darkmatter]

Preparing for Y2K?

Preparing for "The big collapse"?

Grew up with Raising a few backyard chickens considered "a given"

Likes me eggs tasty from grass & bug fed chickens, not battery cage factory eggs tainted with salmonella.

Got's to have something to do for retirement since Wall Street/Government stole the value of my retirement funds, will have to have a garden and chickens just to eat.

Cause I want to, I like them, and it was considered somewhat odd when I started.

 

[NC29mom]

We had a stray rooster come in our yard and take residence in a bush. We started to feed him, really just to see what all he would eat. Well, after a few months, he would jump out of the bush and come to the deck when he saw us. SOOOOOO, my hubby asked me what I thought about getting some girls for our Rocky Rooster. I wasn't OK with it at first, but my 9 yr old daughter was toooo excited for me to say no. He went to a chicken auction and returned with 13 buff orphington hens (thank goodness somebody warned us not to bring home any roosters). Of course, this was after he built the chicken coop mansion for them. Once Rocky saw the girls go into the coop, he was right behind them!! But, it was probably a week or so before he ever tried to mate. Turned out to be the BEST rooster EVER!!!!!


I must say, I was like 'ewwwww' at first. BUT, funny thing, now I AM THE ONE that does all the feeding, cleaning, watering of the chickens. And to have started out with just 1 - we now have, hmmmmmmmm, I think close to 50!!!

 

[Fourgirlsoneboy]

My girls in 4H! We read about them for a year before we got them!!

 

[ijon1]

Darn friend got some bantys and thought I should have some. I did not want them. Now I have twenty or more chickens.

 

[Mattemma]

Probably the memories of spending summers in hungarian villages where most people had a few chickens,goats,and pigs.Went to TSC last May with dh and after hovering over the chicks for a good 20 minutes he bought me 6.

 

[rcentner]

My DH convinced me to get chickens when a guy that worked for my sister told us that all his chickens were getting killed. That guy had 30 to start and we took the last six...now we have about 18 chickens.

 

[joebryant]

I was on YouTube browsing something about England (love that country) and came across Blue Orpingtons. Became fascinated with them. The more I read about them, the more... Anyway, here I am.

 

[featherbaby]

I have always loved big showy peacocks. I got a wild idea that I might get 2 or 3 for lawn ornaments in my very residential neighborhood. I visited a few breeders locally to look at them. Somewhere along that crazy train I realized that the noise alone would get me voted off the street, or possibly arrested. Then someone told me that they will roost in the highest trees far, far away and I could never get them back. Well, I've seen my money fly away before and I didn't want to do that again.

While I was looking longingly at the peacocks, these cute little chickens in bunny suits waddled past me. I inquired about them whereupon the breeder (crafty lady) scooped up one of the little fuzz balls and put her in my arms. Thump! went my heart, zzzzzziiiiiipppppp went my wallet, and off I went to board the train to Crazytowne. And then there were 12! And then I ordered 6 eggs to hatch this week! Toot......Toooooooooot!

My good friends have a 12 year old son who was interested in them also. Dad foolishly offered to build two coops (one for me and one for his son). He made me the most amazing coop I've ever seen. I call it the "Coop de Ville" because it is truly the Cadillac of all coops. It is up on legs so that I can see, clean and play with the Silkies without bending down and hurting my back. They are eye level with me and race for the opening every time I come by, to see what yummy treats I brought. Yesterday I brought some small red worms given to me by another BYC member/friend. They had never seen worms before and as odd as it may sound....they actually looked puzzled. I never knew chickens could have such expressive body language. It took almost an hour of coaxing and reassuring for them to even try them. Go figure! Now mealworms are a different story.....that's "Chicken Crack" to them.

Well it's changed my life. I'll never look at another store-bought egg without thinking how much better mine taste. Somewhere between 6 and 8 pm every night I go play with chickens instead of watching the (frightening, depressing) news on TV. I always have funny stories to tell friends (at least the ones that don't run away when I begin to recite the latest cuteness). I have met the most wonderful, amazing, interesting, loving people both locally and on BYC who are just as chicken-crazy as I am. Wow! I am SOOOOO BLESSED!

 

[mangobingo]

Well, I haven't actually got my hens yet, but I'm getting there. I think it's a result of two things converging - a practically lifelong horror of factory farming, coupled with getting a bit older, buying a house with a little bit of land, and realising that yes, I can grow my own *good* food and why not keep my own animals as well? Sort of a zen-like back to nature thing, but sticking it to The (industrial agriculture) Man at the same time, if that makes sense. Plus, chickens are cute.

 

[matthewschickens]

I wanted to start a small business