The truth about backyard chickens

[gamamachik]

I agree GET THE CHICKENS!!! You will love them so much!!!

Welcome

 

[GardeNerd]

There are pros and cons. Some of what you heard before posting here is very true for folks who aren't crazy about keeping chickens. If you neglect the chicken chores or yard, the nay sayers will be right. If you take care of them like pets, they aren't any grosser than a dog or cat or any more destructive.

I have lots of posts on my blog about how much it has cost for me to raise our chickens organically, the breakdown of expenses to produce a dozen organic eggs at 1 1/5 years into it, the mess, the garden alterations, and more. I wrote most of it for my friends who talked about how quaint my garden and chickens are and that they want to do it to. I have talked a few friends into it, and a few others out of it. I put all the good and the bad with chickens in a city yard in the blog. It is linked at the bottom of my signature.

 

[new chick 203]

I'm relatively new at this, but I started this whole thing for the exact reasons you have. Little did i know I would fall in love with them so much. All my friends and neighbors thought I was nuts, and in a few short months I've won them over. People have this Green Acres, hillbilly, depression era image of chicken keeping that they need to get past.

Being a gardener, you have to like the pros side of chickens. They eat weed seeds and bugs and give you free fertilizer. I don't find it too hard to keep them out of the veggy garden or away from young easily dug up plants.

I think the key to controlling the smell/poo thing is proportion of space to amount of chickens. I keep a small flock and I give a quick clean up of the coop everyday and it takes no more time than picking up the dog poo in the yard each day. I honestly have no poultry smell in my yard.

Good luck!

 

[True Grit]

I got chickens because looking at chickens made me happy and my DH said he'd enjoy building a coop. We don't even eat eggs. If you don't like animals in general don't get them for the eggs. You won't save money. Trust me.

 

[Xanthro]

As others have said, you will NOT save money having chickens. The cost of feed to produce an egg will be greater than you could buy that egg for, and that doesn't include the cost of the chick, coops, runs, or anything else.

A chicken eats about 1/2 lb of feed a day. A 50lb bag of feed is about $13. So, it's about $13 per month, and you'll be lucky to get 20 eggs per month. So your at 65 cents per egg just in feed costs, or $7.8 per dozen.

That said, there's are compelling reasons to raise chickens. Their eggs taste great, much better than you'll buy in the store. They'll eat your organic waste, so there's less trash created by your household. They provide plenty of amusement and fun.

Think of eggs as just a bonus.

Keeping chickens also means there is less demand for battery chickens. There reason why eggs are so cheap, is that batter farms get feed in bulk and pay a fraction of what you'll pay, the chickens are not treated well, and after a couple of seasons of egg laying, and thrown into a chicken wood chipper and become dog food. Even those organic "free range" eggs you buy, the chickens are a commodity. To be culled immediately with a slip in production. It's the opposite of a quaint farm life. Because battery farms only care about production numbers, and fractions of a cent per egg make huge difference in profit, they only use a limited number of breeds. By keeping backyard chickens, you help keep alive breeds that may otherwise go extinct.

So, while it may cost you more per egg to keep the chickens in your yard, you gain a friendly pet that will amuse you, you reduce animal suffering, you help keeps breeds from extinction, you reduce your impact on the environment, and you get eggs that taste better than any you've eaten before.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I agree with most of our BYC friends on this thread, except that it isn't necessarily true that you won't come out financially ahead. In all the decisions you make, you will have a few considerations to make and the costs for each will vary. I am making money with my chickens. They paid for themselves a long time ago.
There are a lot of tricks to that, but that is my experience. Sorry it doesn't seem to be everyone's.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

You have recieved sound and wise advice !

My husband tolerates the chickens

, my adult daughter hates stepping in poo

so will only come in the front door ( I would too if I owned $200 shoes

), my adult son also tolerates them

and my daughter-in-law loves to see the new babies

... that said, they all love me and they know how much joy the chickens bring to my life

(I can feel my blood pressure coming down when I sit and watch them), so if I ever need any help with my birds, any one of them will step in and help

(my daughter just puts on a pair of my Wal-Mart shoes).

I don't think you will ever regret getting chickens!

Just Do It!

 

[AKsmama]

I agree with everyone else- you will never save money having your own chickens. Don't let anyone tell you a free-range chicken can fully sustain itself on free-ranging. It is only a supplement to a good quality feed. But yes, you certainly can control how your flock is raised and managed. I've only had my chickens for four weeks, but I already love every single one. I had no idea they could be so funny, personable, and entertaining. There is nothing like watching a spurt of food running, or "chicken keep-away" as it is fondly called. Just watching them scratch and peck and dustbathe and simply be chickens is awesome. Do your research- there are lots of good websites and books chock full of information on keeping chickens. Know what breeds would best suit your family and living situation. Know your local laws regarding not only roosters, but keeping chickens in general. Some cities/towns/villages have very strict requirements, while others have none at all.

If you do decide to go for it, you won't regret it!

 

[CalebtheChicken]

Just repeating what others have said before, chickens are fun and if raised right can be VERY good pets, they are very clean animals (for example they try and keep their feathers as clean as possible), they aren't cheap (I spent over a $1000 on the coop alone), they carry no more sickness then any other pet bird, and you will never buy eggs again (if you get a good layer breed).

 

[Tropical Chook]

Those who are telling you all the bad things have never kept chickens. If they had, they would be telling you the real facts. If your chickens stink, you only have yourself to blame, and to be honest, I don't even know how you would be able to make your chickens stink even if you wanted to. The coop/run can get smelly, but only if you don't take care of it properly. We're in the middle of our monsoon season, so there's plenty of rain, and silly me built the coop/run on low ground. Even with the run getting flooded, it gets smelly for about a day and then it's fine again. If you're going to let your chickens free range, you would need an awful lot of them before poop on the lawn becomes an issue. After all, the heat of the sun soon dries the poop out, and before you know it, it's been returned to the earth.

Kids love chickens, and it's very educational for them as well. Also, it's great being able to go out and collect your own eggs. Not only do you know what's gone into them, but at the same time you also know you're not supporting some disgusting egg production facility where hens are kept in cages they can't even turn around in. Above all though, keeping chickens is a great hobby because you can always find something to do.

Will you save money on eggs? Some say no, but I say it's possible. At present, my eggs are costing me less than they would if I bought them from a store. Of course if I include everything into the equation, then no, I'm not saving anything, but if I look at what my layers are costing me on feed, then sure I'm saving.

People say it's a wonderful feeling when you get your first egg, but for me it's just as thrilling even now after getting eggs every day. Let's just say it's nice not to see eggs on the shopping list anymore, and it's nice to eat good fresh eggs. No matter what anyone tells you, home grown eggs are better than store bought eggs.

Lastly, you say you're into organics................well then keeping your own chickens is certainly the way to go.


Now go and get yourself some fuzzybutts