Topic of the Week - What is the purpose of your flock?

[meetthebubus]

I thought I could keep some chickens for meat and others for eggs. Got my first chickens a little over 2 years ago and fell in love!

So they are family now (pets lol) and provide eggs.
When I have a tension headache I go outside to sit with them and I soon feel better so I guess health and therapy too!

 

[HuskerHens18]

They are what I call "Pets with Perks".
I don't like the taste of eggs, but my friends and family do.
They're amazing companions.
They're gorgeous to watch.
If you step on my farm, you won't find ONE insect.
They're cheaper to raise vs cats and dogs.
They make me HAPPY

I love chickens

 

[GldnValleyHens]

I take everything back! JK I just went outside to meet the flock while I munched a lemon cupcake. Some hens hopped up on the deck to peck crumbs, and when I turned my head Sylvie the Black Sex-link stole my cupcake! Luckily I grabbed her before she ran off with it and got my cupcake back minus a large chunk, which Sylvie gobbled with delight, loving that vanilla frosting that smeared all over her beak. She's a thief!

 

[Harmony Fowl]

Food for ourselves is highest in the list of purposes. Eggs to sell is next, with birds to sell being a small part of that.

Then? Keeping chickens for the above reasons lets me really enjoy both the entertainment and the breeding aspect that are less concrete. I love the chores, though I long for the day, hopefully soon, when I can just do the chores and not squeeze them into a too busy day. I love the hatching and raising experience. Chickens are perfect in this regard. It’s not a game, but they are almost game-like in their reproductive capacity and lifespans that allow me to see generation after generation emerge. Seeing them happy and healthy and passing their genes on is the most rewarding part even if it is more of a fringe benefit than the stated “purpose.”

 

[lazy gardener]

@aart . This I did not know.

I got chickens so they could provide me with high quality organic manure and compost, till my garden, fertilize garden and lawn, help with insect control. Eggs, exercise, entertainment, mental stimulation, and meat are all secondary benefits.

Hubby says I'm reliving my granola years, and perhaps I am. But, this time around, I'm doing so with more purpose, and better educated.

We live in uncertain times. Raising a garden, keeping a small sustainable flock, learning how to process the food can be a benefit when those hard economic times hit. I am convinced that if every one who could, would: keep a garden and raise a small back yard flock, it would turn the economy of this country around. We would end up with a nation of people who are not dependent on government to take care of them.

 

[Foster's Freehold]

@aart I'm sorry for your loss.

I kept chickens several years ago. Then I had to go to public work and my flock got wiped out by predators so I just let it go.

I lost my mom last year. She was all I had left of my childhood family and it hit hard. With the legacy she left me, I'm going to build a greenhouse and a huge coop. She would like that.

In the meantime, I got chickens again. Cleaned up the old coop and run. I use large breeds for dual purpose. When the balloon goes up, my Freehold will sustain us. Will have to get a goat, but that is so doable in this rural area.

I'm also going to try to establish my own flock genetics. I want a large bird that breeds well and goes broody. To support this, I'm going to go for a multicolored egg basket. There is a swap meet here twice a week that is becoming pretty big so I'm sure I'll be able to sell the colored eggs and grown out culls pretty easy. A lot of immigrants around here like to do their own processing so I won't have to deal with that.

And, Chicken TV is the best. Especially if the flock isn't set yet. I have adults I bought in, juvies and bitties. So integration is the norm in the coop lol. (See my Brave Little Hen posts). I've had to do a lot of clean up and set up on the coop and run so I'm out there a lot and just watch them as I'm working. That's how I found out BigRoo stands guard over the hens when they are laying.

 

[TerryH]

Purpose = happy wife. End of story.

 

[Erin80]

Eggs and pets.
We were getting “straight run” chicks and ended up with a few boys that we had to cull. We realized culling is not for us....so we now order pullets only (which limits which breeds we can get but that’s ok). We have 6 one year old hens and 6 more day old on their way April 12!

 

[llombardo]

Strictly as pets and for eggs. Once they stop laying they will live out their lives. I only started with four. After I do more research I will add to that in a couple years to keep eggs coming. The goal is to always have at least 4 that are laying.

 

[BoyTheRooster]

Egg laying mostly, though we do have a lot of hens who are well past egg laying age that we keep around because they're lovely old girls. We let the older girls that go broody hatch the next generation