Want to raise chickens but have heard they are "very messy and stinky"

[cheshie]

So I am interested in raising pet chickens for the eggs. Friendly little creatures who I can love and care for, who will return the love by providing me with the freshest eggs possible. I have absolutely no experience with chickens and would need to learn a lot first. When I mentioned the idea to my husband and my mother, they both responded by saying that their grandparents had chickens and that they are dirty, stinky creatures. Can someone please tell me how much work is involved, and whether I can expect to stink up my entire neighborhood with maybe a dozen chickens? Thanks!

 

[speckledhen]

They are only as dirty as you allow them to be. Actually, chickens spend a lot of time grooming and they prefer to be clean. If they are not tended to and their environment allowed to become filthy, they have no choice. My coops don't smell bad at all; you just have to keep on top of it. I thoroughly enjoy my flock! I started with close to a dozen in an 8x8 coop. It was always fresh-smelling and pleasant.

 

[greathorse]

Quote:
Yes that is why so many people keep chickens in their back yards. They are stinking filthy creatures, only people that enjoy this kind of nasty life style can enjoy this hobby. If the folks you are with find that keeping chickens provides you with a dirty food product you will have a long uphill battle to have them understand that these creatures are quite clean and the effort to keep down odor and so forth is quite minimal.

 

[Lobzi]

Nope

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

We have about 200 right now and there is little to no smell. When it rains we get a bit of a stink but that goes away when the sun comes out. We have 11 breeding pens, a hen house, roosting house and a large outdoor run area. It takes 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the afternoon and up to an hour at night to care for them. We never have a complaint from our neighbors. In agreement with speckledhen, if you let them get bad then you can expect a bad return. They are really not hard to care for. And for what you put into them you can expect a better return. many of ours will jump into our laps and want to be petted. Others follow us all over. They are a great pet and have their own personality. They are a fairly intelligent animal and can be taught basic tricks.

 

[Illia]

Absolute agreement with speckledhen - In fact, most people in my experience who call them dirty and stinky either have never had chickens or don't care enough for them to actually clean their coops and take care of them.

My girls and boys never stink, as I clean their coop all the time - And since their run is 3 acres large, they only use the coop for sleeping at night. (their nesting boxes are in a seperate building)

The only "stinky and messy" phase they ever have is their first couple months when they have an odd, orangey, gooey poop on occasion that smells REALLY bad. But, of course, it passes and is also cleanup-able.

 

[drumstick diva]

Chesie are you allowed to have chickens in your location? If you are serious about having them please do alot of research on BYC , there is a wealth of information here on probably everything about chickens you would want to know. It would be better to start small and test the water before you commit to a dozen or so chickens. Welcome to BYC.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Chickens poop, like any living creature. If they live in filth, they will be stinky. It would be like having dogs and never scooping the poop in your yard. Ew! Just make sure they have enough room in coop and run and keep the coop clean. It doesn't have to be hard. I clean my coop once a week and it's never stinky. I have about 30 chickens.

 

[suburbanminifarm]

If someone keeps a horse in a stall in his own waste--never cleaning it-- and then complains that the horse is dirty and stinky and stands in his own excrement, that person would be called a moron.
Hang out here on BYC, you'll get all the answers you need and

and welcome to chicken keeping!

 

[paddock36]

Quote:
I was going to say the same thing.