The biggest problem raising chickens (an other livestock for that matter)

[woodmort]

In my checkered career of raising chickens, bees, ducks, geese, guineas, horses and rabbits I have found one huge problem--winter. During the warmer--aka nonfreezing and snowing--months it is fairly easy (and fun) to house, feed and water most anything. But once one has to push through freezing temperatures, darkness and snow to provide sustenance and shelter it becomes less fun and more work. Before you take on this kind of "hobby" consider this and make sure you can provide for your animals under adverse circumstances. Too often I'll read about someone who has abandon their animals because they found it too hard( and expensive) to care for them during the winter months.

 

[azygous]

You're so right, @woodmort ! But you have to admit, having animals to care for is sure a good way to give you incentive to get out of bed on a freezing cold morning and get moving. If not for my chickens, I'd turn into a fat slug by the end of a six-month long winter.

 

[woodmort]

azygous, while I agree, and it does keep me moving too, but some people don't take this into consideration when they buy those cute little fuzz butts in April only to have them turn into giant PIA's in January. Of course I grew up with it so was semi-prepared. Many are not thus a word from the wise.

 

[Kris5902]

Agree! You have to realize when you take on any animal that no matter what 365 days a year, you have to provide for it’s needs. And winter is the worst. April~August my cattle forage, in September light feeding starts, by November it is their primary food source.

Guess what I do on Christmas Day? Feed the animals... this year it was almost noon before we got to breakfast and presents. If there’s snow I don’t need to move my chickens, but this January and February with the unseasonable cold and no electricity I was watering my chickens by hand in little containers every 2-3hrs during the day, and they refused to leave their overnight roosting boxes.

It doesn’t matter if you’re sick, tired, depressed, or even hungover. You have to take care of them. Every day. Regardless of weather. Bad weather might even mean more work for the same animals. And boy does it make scheduling a vacation more interesting. It’s easier to find a cat or dog sitter than someone to take care of your 5, 10, 20, 60 chickens! If you’re talking numbers of 100+... good luck.

Look before you leap, I suppose. I do believe I’ve just delayed my Hawaii vacation by another decade or two, but I’m ok with that... mostly.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not about winter but I think it kind of follows your theme so maybe not a hijack. It's a story my wife tells so I don't think I'm breaching any confidentiality. My wife is a city girl but was glad to try the "homestead" thing as a hobby when I retired and we moved to the country. She got into making cheese with goat milk and located a lady that could provide it. After a couple of months she decided she wanted her own milk goat.

We had an outbuilding I could convert and I could build a coyote-proof electric fence so I said OK but with one provision. She had to help her friend care for her milk goats every day for a month. Just once a day was fine, not twice a day like it would really be but 30 consecutive days. She needed to learn what she had to do to take care of her goat. She needed to learn how to milk her goat because she would need to do that twice a day, every day.

The main thing I wanted her to learn was how much keeping an animal like that ties you down. It's animal cruelty to not milk an animal when it needs to be milked. You can't sleep in. You have to plan you daily activities around milking. Having animals means accepting responsibility for them. Who are you going to get to do that if you ever want to take a vacation? As Kris said, it's hard enough with a few chickens. You can't board them, you need a sitter.

Her plan, which she now admits, was that I'd be the one taking care of them. I knew that as soon as she mentioned a milk goat. I knew I was never in danger of that happening if she first had to actually do 30 days straight taking care of goats.

 

[Conan]

You're so right, @woodmort ! But you have to admit, having animals to care for is sure a good way to give you incentive to get out of bed on a freezing cold morning and get moving. If not for my chickens, I'd turn into a fat slug by the end of a six-month long winter.

My sentiments, exactly. No sleeping in and lounging around in the morning when you have to get up, open all the coops and barns, and feed all the critters. There is no better incentive to get up in the morning.
Also, the fat slug comment cracked me up. My mom uses that term a lot.

 

[centrarchid]

Investment in your critters is not always about adhering to a regimen. Sometimes it can be responding to alarms during periods of inclement weather at any time on any day. I love the 2:30 AM Wednesday lightening storm with down pours so heavy you can not find the gate and the fence charger is knocked out. And you are feeling poorly from having Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. You got to fix things anyway.

 

[Kris5902]

To mention one other thing that I’ve seen come up a lot here. Veterinary Care. Not always easy to find for livestock, and even “backyard pet chickens will fall under most veterinarians definition of livestock... are you prepared to take a lot of that on? Culling animals that are terminally injured, treating “gross” things like canker and bumblefoot, and mites. Or dealing with, and you all can slap me for even mentioning this, an “aggressive” rooster, or an abundance of cockerels?

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

I think I drove near Oxford not long ago; I should have askt to see your set up.

 

[SueT]

how much keeping an animal ties you down

To me, this is the hardest part, feeling tied down. If we're home, which we are most of the time, no problem. But when something comes up, such as visitors, traveling, special events, emergencies, delays....someone has to be here to take care of the chickens at specific times. i have one neighbor I can impose on in a pinch, but wouldn't ask her to do daily chicken chores for more than one day. We live too far from town to hire a kid to do it.
Each year I see threads by people who didn't think of this in advance, and find themselves in a bind. To me, this is a harder situation than dealing with winter.