The road to quitting chicken keeping?

[Danny188]

Thank you for all the replies, the kid with the business is also quitting chickens do to the rising feed costs taking alot of the profits out of it. I live in an area where animals are valued well, most people would mean well when getting them but they don't all know what they are doing. I think I'm going to try facebook marketplace to sell the whole flock sometime this week or next week for a fair price. I got home at 9 today from work and all the chickens were penned up in the barn so I assumed whoever put them away had counted. 30 minutes later I went out to collect eggs and it was completely dark out. I counted and one was missing I have a broody that likes to make nests all around after she jumps my fence the first time she was gone for 5 days before she came back to get feed. The second time a found her within 5 minutes of looking in a place that they have layed eggs previously. Looked for an hour tonight and couldn't find anything. I have raccoons on trail camera and have had a fox on trail cam 2 months ago. I hope she makes it. These are the stresses I can't deal with right now.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Good luck finding her, Danny. Also with placing your flock.

 

[Danny188]

I found her in the barn in the morning, she must have gotten out of the pen somhow and was hiding.

 

[Iveta]

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I'm trying to make up my mind about if I should quit chicken keeping or not. Nothing bad has realy happened except for a dog killing 6 of my 23 a year ago. Since then I have hatched more and am back to 22 hens and one rooster. I'm in high school and tired of having to be home to put them away, and if I'm not home worrying about somone in my family putting them away. Its just stressful worrying about them and what I am going to do when they get to old to lay eggs. 16 of them a 2 years old and 7 of them are a year old. I have been trying to distence myself from them to detach myself. I still have afew that I'm attached to. I'm not worried about selling them to someone I'm worried about how they will be treated and protected. I know everything will die in the end I'm just worried about how they will live before they die. I can control what I do but I can't control somone else. When 3 years rolls around ilI don't know if anyone will want them so its sell them now or put them down/butcher them next spring. I'm thinking I should jump the gun and sell them now before fall rolls around. $150 for the hole flock doesn't sound like a bad price especially with the 7 one year olds. I think I'm going to sell them all or nothing so I don't get stuck with our rooster. I could care less what they do with him but don't want to know. I don't know how do you guys cycle out your old hens, have any of you gotten rid of hens but are still on this site that can help me out. I feel like the first week will suck but then I will start forgetting about them.

I feel for you! I have much smaller flock,more like pets to me and since I am home all the time (but my lifestyle has to change soon) I am so concerned about them and whether another person would understand their huge personalities and whether they'll show their personalities to someone else. When a friend come- one time they literally hid away and pretended to be not there..if I ship to mom and dad the bigger birds would they treat them like pets?..the duck needs water and goof around. My favorite one got used to sleeping with me so that one is a keeper..its too snuggly and attached to me to let it go ..cant you just regroup them this way? So that the number and responsibility is manageable between faves to keep, some for family to handle, and some to sell or give to adoption because you dont want to put them away?...