weird question for a newbie...

[MaggieRae]

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Sigh. I remember those days...

 

[Ridgerunner]

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I'm confident there are a lot of people on here that keep chickens purely as pets. There are also a lot of other people that keep chickens for a lot of other reasons and not just for meat or eggs. You will see many posts on here where people care very deeply for their chickens and you'll see some where they treat chickens more as livestock. It is a very diverse group on here and I think we get along very well considering the different goals we have. But that is why you have to pick and choose the answers that fit your situation because each situation is different. I do not keep chickens purely as pets but I have learned stuff from people that do. I hope some of them have learned stuff from me. I really don't want to lose you from this forum. I'd hope to learn something from you.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Haha thanks guys

I understand that everybody has different lifestyles and beliefs. It's just reeeaaaaaally tough for me to read some of the things I've read on here. I know that it's a reality and how some people make a living. Just like a lot of you probably grew up on farms and with a certain mentality, I grew up with all of my aunts and uncles on my mother's side being vegan and animal rights activists! I think that I just see non-human lives a lot differently than most people do. Regardless, I love chickens and can't wait to keep my own. I'm eager to learn so I think I'll stick around for a while

 

[big greg barker]

As I read through this thread, I have to grin a bit. I was just going to get a couple chickens back in December. Well, I found a person that had 22. I took them all, of course. That wasn't good enough though as they are three years old. I have 50 chicks coming Friday. I will take the older flock and disperse it to friends and relatives, thereby infecting them with the chicken addiction I seem to have come down with. All except the lone wyandotte that came in the first flock. She will stay here as she just grew on me more than the rest.
That is how you deal with the older birds..............

 

[sjarvis00]

I grew up with grandparents that had farms. I remember helping collect eggs. I decided to get chickens for practical purposes as I have 5 kids and we go thru alot of eggs and of course meat. Thought it would be easy to kill and eat them but even though I grew up around chickens I never thought about having dinner at the grandparents and eating one of the chickens I had played with. Eating chicken from the store is so much easier than killing and fixing it when you feed and care for it! But when the time comes that is what will happen, 5 kids dont feed themself.

 

[GoldenSilverLaced]

I love my chickens and treat them like spoiled pets, even though we technically got them both for the eggs and because I love birds. I grew up in NYC and we always had numerous pets of all different species, especially parrots. I now live in IL (not in Chicago) and am engaged to a sophisticated farm boy.

He sees the girls differently than I do, but he treats them like pets as well (although he doesn't spoil them the way I do, and refuses to let me bring them back into the house). We will be keeping them once they stop laying, until they die natural deaths (or otherwise -- but we won't be culling them); we will most likely add new chicks to the flock after the girls get older to keep up egg production.

It is hard sometimes as a city person-turned-country girl (I seriously intend to live on a personal [not-for-profit] farm and have plans to do so) to think about butchering my own meat, and I don't know if I will be able to myself. Certainly not to birds, especially after living with the girls.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

So at what age do they stop laying? I saw someone mention 1-2 years. I thought they laid longer than that.

 

[chickenguysmom]

I have two that lay. They will live out their natural lives. They are 4-5 years old. One doesn't lay so well but that has nothing to do with age.... she is a broody hen. Molt, rest, lay, sit, rest, molt, rest .... oh you get the idea. The other is not broody at all. She lays 3-5 eggs a week. Great for an old gal. Hendersons list her as laying 3 per week. Don't count out your chickens just because they are old. I laugh at the broody hen she just hatched out two chicks (donated eggs) and I think she is like a grandmother with those two chicks.

 

[Rivka]

My son did FFA. 26 chickens we kept from a day old.This was the hardest thing he ( we!) learned. But the were meat chickens, not egg layers. By 8 -10 weeks they are huge, can't breathe. So we culled 6. Just had to do it. Took it to a place that processes meat mainly for different cultures and ethnicities. We were worried pulling up that we were way out of our place. My husband speaks Spanish I don't. How wrong I was. The people there are so kind. They spoke English just fine. One of my friends in FFA watched and said they treat the chickens real good until their death. For some reason this was important to me. So we became friends with the butchers, even traded some chickens for their services. I relate the above story butcher details to show that having preconceived notions about cultures is stupid!

Now I have 3 egg layers. 1 RIR and 2 Ameracuna. I can't imagine EVER eating them! I LOVE seeing them and watching them. I think when the time comes, I will have them processed and give to a family member. So I guess it is different for me in egg layers/vs meat birds.

 

[Jennie5193]

I'm in a simular situation about what to do when I need to keep up egg production, but don't have room to keep the older hens.

Here's the thing. They're chickens. I eat chicken. I will have a clearer conscience eating a chicken that I've had for 2 or 3 years knowing that throughout her life I've kept her safe, comfortable, and with as much sanitation a chicken can have.

That chicken that comes from the store was kept in deplorable conditions and never knew anything about the word "comfortable", not to mention the fact that it's feet never touched *dirt*. I still have to eat those chickens because I have no place that I can raise meat birds, but I do have layers that will need to be eaten just to make room for egg layers down the road. They will be respectfully put on the table and eaten with a lot less guilt than the ones "from the store".

My Papa grew up during the depression and he had a saying that I am comming to agree with more and more: "If it doesn't lay eggs or give milk, I'm not feeding it!"