What are the cons?

[jnjross]

the coops never big enough,, and what ever you do don't go with a dirt floor, biggest mistake i've made chicken wise. getting ready to pour a slab.

deck poop!! isn't that crazy, it like a superpowered chick magnet.

 

[fargosmom]

In spite of our best efforts we've gotten some mice in the coop, so now I have to be on rodent patrol. And we noticed many more flies in the yard than before. And you can't just go away for the weekend or whatever - you have to make sure someone's around to keep an eye on the chickies. And did someone mention poo?
But they're sweet and funny and their eggs are yummy - and I don't think they hold it against me that I eat all their hard work.

 

[fushalilly]

Ive always had a small flock of no more than 5 hens at a time. The ONLY cons is that getting out to the coop everyday to collect the eggs can be a pain in the tush. Also, if you dont eat them all, they take up space in the fridge. Other than that, having hens has been the best thing ever for me!

 

[Uzuri]

I'm not going to really say these are "cons", just more "crap you've got to put up with when you have animals".

- going out to the coop rain or shine, in -10 degree weather, fog, ice, snow, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and heatwaves to care for your charges.
- finding someone to watch them if you need to travel or are injured (sick? Bah! Put on your coat, take a hankie, and get out there and feed)
- worrying about predators
- waking up at 3:00 am and not being able to remember whether you latched the coop door or not.
- worrying about culling
- tracking chicken droppings on the carpet
- getting pecked in the head

Oddly enough I actually kind of like scooping manure. Maybe it's the thrill of the hunt, I don't know.

 

[bibliophile birds]

as others have said, it's really that they are COMPLETELY dependent on you- no one else is going to care for them as well as you do.

most people just won't understand what you are doing. that means that no matter how excited you are about how big your chickies are getting or how many eggs they laid, no one else (except the people on here maybe

) is going to care, especially the 3rd time you tell them.

most people aren't going to be willing/able to look after them if you go out of town. there are TONS of people i know who i would trust with my dogs and cats. there are maybe 2 i would trust with my chickens- only 1 of which i would trust with chicks. most people aren't going to realize that when you say the chickens HAVE to be let out at 7:30 EVERY morning, that you actually mean HAVE to. it's not like a dog who, worst case scenario, will poop in the floor if you aren't up. stress from being hungry or thirsty can really affect their health and their egg production. oh, that's another thing- don't make it out to collect eggs and the chickens might crush them or eat them. chickens who start eating their eggs are NOTORIOUSLY hard to break of the habit.

mostly, it's hard to drag yourself out of bed at 7am on Christmas morning to walk the 1/4 mile out into a field (my chickens are in a mobile wagon), in the snow, to feed and water... only to realize that you forgot to empty the waterer the night before and it is now frozen, which means you have to walk it back to the house, de-ice it, and carry it back out. by the time you get back, you are too cold and tired to feel like opening presents... but you have to anyway because the family is counting on you.

even with all that, i wouldn't trade my chickens for anything... except maybe more chickens! they are fun and rewarding and, yes, extremely addicting. whatever you do, build your coop about 2x as big as you think you need. you will almost surely end up filling it.

 

[possumqueen]

What I'm seeing on this post is that keeping chickens is like having kids. hmmmm

The only con I can possibly think of is getting hooked on BYC. No one understands me when I talk about THAT! They laugh at me, for Pete's sake! As if I were being -- oh, I don't know -- silly, or something!

 

[Keri78]

Ok..I've had every kind of animal known to man when I was growing up so that's where I'm coming from. I NEVER in a million yrs. thought I would love chickens..I really never paid them much mind at all. Well, last summer I decided to get 4 yes 4...chickens(hens) for laying eggs. Though it would be thrify of me to have my own eggs and it would be a great experience for my boys(11yrs, 4yrs, 2yrs, and 1 yr.) WELL...little did I know when I started researching them that I was about to enter an "Alternate Chickie Unniverse" that I had NEVER experienced before!(LOL) Somehow I got my poor Hubby on board and after hours spent online I ended up with a side yard full of the cutest little balls of fluff you've ever seen! Well, one chickie tractor led to another and that led to a regular chickie barn and well need I say more..."I'm OFFICIALLY the CRAZY CHICKEN LADY"

in my neighborhood(not really we live on a farm...but we do have distant neighbors)!!!(LOL) Soo...you wanna know the funny thing about it is that I don't care and I'm lovin every minute of it...along with my boys! We just get sooo many hours of enjoyment out of them. They all free range during the day and we lock them up at night. My 4 yr. old loves collecting the eggs in the morning before breakfast and letting them all out to free range for the day(so that's not an issue). My neighbor loves collecting the eggs if we go away and she gets to keep them so who doesn't love free eggs! We went away for a week in Dec.(when we got the HUGE 3ft. blizzard unknowingly) and they made out just fine! They were snowed and their water was frozen but they just ate the snow! I keep a large rubber bucket of water in their barn and another large bucket of feed and it lasts well over a week. If we go away I just leave their trap door open(I know it's a risk) and they go in and out as they please. They are the easiest cheapest outside pet that I honestly know of. My little roos are a riot and even though they can be fiesty with each other at time it's still hard to decide who we want to rehome...b/c they are so cute! I keep hay in our barn and in the hutches that are attached to the chicken tractors and change it once a month. I just added lanol.stick tyles to the wood floors so it's even easier to keep clean. They are really self sufficient little creatures and have just soo much personality and charm about them! I can't imagine my yard anymore without my sweet chickies all running up to us and wanting to be petted! WOOOPS! Was I supposed to give you a con??? Oh yeah...I'll go with addicting like everyone else! Blessings,Keri

 

[greenbeandreams]

I'm a newbie and started with a flock of 5. We're down to 2 and I think one is sick so we'll see. My biggest con has been the worry. Chickens get different kinds of sicknesses than cats or dogs and also have stuff that aren't anything wrong but

because I don't know much about having chickens. In other words, in my experience, it has been a VERY steep learning curve with a fair amount of heartache along the way.

 

[BigSkyChickens]

The "con" for me is emotional attachment / worry. We started with five last spring, one turned out to be a roo, and one dropped dead of a heart attack.

Both losses made me sad, but accepting that "chickens come and chickens go", makes chicken farming much better for me.

It's difficult to avoid attachment when you raise them from chicks (darn their cuteness!), and get to know their individual bawk-bawks and personalities. I felt rather weighed down by the responsibility the first few months (obviously I don't have children).

 

[ace6175]

We have 9 hens & a rooster - just about 9 months old.
Cons:
chicks in the house! couldn't wait to get them out in their coop! 1 chick became ill at 5 weeks and had to be culled.
I bought all pullets, but had 3 roosters. Had to have my DH do the deed - it was tramatic (but they were delicious)
Poop doesn't dry in cooler weather! went from cleaning the coop about once a week in the summer to every day.
Worrying about them when it's cold outside. I'm cold in a heated house - and they're in an unheated coop.
Worrying about the hawk sitting in the tree watching them.
Having someone take care of them if you go out of town.

Of course, they give me eggs and hours of farm TV...