The truth about chickens

[homeinspectorman]

16. They become telepathic. The more you read of others problems on this site the more apt you are to start experiencing the same thing. My girls had never laid an egg while sitting on the roost. Read about it here, and guess what? Yep, three mornings in a row I have an egg on the floor.

 

[heather112588]

You may find that some people - family, friends, coworkers - don't get as excited about your chicken stories as you do.

so true

 

[Hoosierchickengal]

Everyone heads for the hills the week you process and package your broilers, then show up the next week for a BBQ.

A true friend indeed is the one who helps you package 75 broilers for the freezer!

Oh, and in most areas, plan on doing the butchering yourself. Most meat processing places don't do chickens.

 

[Beekissed]

If you free range all the time, the birds get used to freedom and it becomes almost impossible to keep determined rangers in your perimeter fence. If water can go through it, they can!

 

[ParrotsNPullets]

Laying hens, pets or not, will get old and stop laying. Chickens can live a long time, so buying replacements and still feeding/housing non-laying hens can get expensive! Be prepared to have a 'retirement' plan in mind for when your hens pass their prime if you don't want to stew them. There are a lot of people here on the forums with great ideas on how to feasibly keep elderly hens in retirement.

And be warned, selling/giving away old hens or unwanted roos usually means they end up in someone else's stewpot!

 

[Luke13:34]

YOU will decide that having chickens is a good idea.
YOU will do all the research and find the right breed, right hatchery/breeder, right coop plan, right feed..
YOU will build a brooder in your garage being as resourceful as you can
YOU will spend your hard-earned money on way more chickies than you 'need' just to meet the minimum order
YOU will take the day off work to wait for the post office to call
YOU will wipe the pasty poo off their buts, encourage them to eat and drink and spend hours in BYC asking about the slightest peep or feather out of place
YOU will cry when one chickie dies
YOU will spend hours watching over the babies as they grow- and stress over precise temperature control every hour
YOU will build the coop and reinforce your run to withstand bears and zombies
YOU will place the girls in the coop and stay up all night wondering if you put them out too soon.
YOU will shovel your way through three feet of snow to feed and water them in the worst blizzard since 1905
YOU will call farms and check craigslist for the best price on hay
YOU will drive to the feed store and haul 50 lbs of pellets
YOU will sit with them, play with them, be pecked by them and chat with them
YOU will clean their poo
YOU will wait the impossible wait and sing the egg song with them as they start laying

... and ALL your friends and neighbors will line up for FREE EGGS just as soon as they start popping them out.

 

[perchie.girl]

Luke13:34 :

YOU will decide that having chickens is a good idea.
YOU will do all the research and find the right breed, right hatchery/breeder, right coop plan, right feed..
YOU will build a brooder in your garage being as resourceful as you can
YOU will spend your hard-earned money on way more chickies than you 'need' just to meet the minimum order
YOU will take the day off work to wait for the post office to call
YOU will wipe the pasty poo off their buts, encourage them to eat and drink and spend hours in BYC asking about the slightest peep or feather out of place
YOU will cry when one chickie dies
YOU will spend hours watching over the babies as they grow- and stress over precise temperature control every hour
YOU will build the coop and reinforce your run to withstand bears and zombies
YOU will place the girls in the coop and stay up all night wondering if you put them out too soon.
YOU will shovel your way through three feet of snow to feed and water them in the worst blizzard since 1905
YOU will call farms and check craigslist for the best price on hay
YOU will drive to the feed store and haul 50 lbs of pellets
YOU will sit with them, play with them, be pecked by them and chat with them
YOU will clean their poo
YOU will wait the impossible wait and sing the egg song with them as they start laying

... and ALL your friends and neighbors will line up for FREE EGGS just as soon as they start popping them out.

 

[wingsofglory]

Great post Luke 13:34.

And all that stressing over every little thing about the chicks is a WONDERFUL HEALING from the current state of life otherwise.

 

[wsdareme]

Luke13:34 :

YOU will decide that having chickens is a good idea.
YOU will do all the research and find the right breed, right hatchery/breeder, right coop plan, right feed..
YOU will build a brooder in your garage being as resourceful as you can
YOU will spend your hard-earned money on way more chickies than you 'need' just to meet the minimum order
YOU will take the day off work to wait for the post office to call
YOU will wipe the pasty poo off their buts, encourage them to eat and drink and spend hours in BYC asking about the slightest peep or feather out of place
YOU will cry when one chickie dies
YOU will spend hours watching over the babies as they grow- and stress over precise temperature control every hour
YOU will build the coop and reinforce your run to withstand bears and zombies
YOU will place the girls in the coop and stay up all night wondering if you put them out too soon.
YOU will shovel your way through three feet of snow to feed and water them in the worst blizzard since 1905
YOU will call farms and check craigslist for the best price on hay
YOU will drive to the feed store and haul 50 lbs of pellets
YOU will sit with them, play with them, be pecked by them and chat with them
YOU will clean their poo
YOU will wait the impossible wait and sing the egg song with them as they start laying

... and ALL your friends and neighbors will line up for FREE EGGS just as soon as they start popping them out.

OMG, you hit the proverbial nail right on the head! And emphasis on the FREE eggs.

 

[terrilhb]

Luke 13:34 everything you said is so true.