What hooked you on chickens?

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

I found robin eggs at our cottage brought them home and wanted to raise them, so I remeber from 1st grade we used incubators to hatch chicks, so I look on ebay and found incubators but I saw hatching eggs too!, so I searched up on it, begged my dad and got silkie hatching eggs and 3 Hatched then I joined this forum and all you enablers made me get more!


But im happy about it.

 

[FarmerDenise]

When I was very young, my aunt lived just outside of the city and her landlord/neighbor had chickens. I was not allowed to go near them. I don't know if it was for my safety or theirs?

Then when I was a teen, we moved to the country. A neighbor a couple of miles down the road had chickens running loose all over. I sometimes helped his daughter look for the eggs. It was great fun.
I love the clucking noises they make. It always makes me feel peacefull.

 

[brooster]

Here is my chicken story.
I got a magizine in the mail from some science store. they had that dumb little yellow dome incubator with 6 quail eggs. My grandma had quail and i thought they were really cool. I begged my mom and all i got was NO! I started looking at incubators and quail hatching eggs online. I ordered several magizines. I got eggs cartons, and mcmurray. I reallywanted to get some quail. when i got the mcmurray magizine i started to look at all the cool chicken breeds, then i was looking at the brooder kits from egg cartons. I asked my mom if i could build a little hut simmilar to the henhut in the mcmurray mag, and get some broilers to take to the fair along with my pigs. She agreeded to that. YEA! Then i tried to throw in some birds to keep for eggs, and i realy wanted a rooster. She agreed to that too! We started to build a little 8 by 3 coop, we made the frame from some scrap wood and put a front an a back on it. We then set it aside for a while. Well i didnt think it was big enough and started looking at sheds. She said NO, who is going to pay for that? I was going to get a new bed, and get out of the little twin. Then she gave me an option! A bed or a shed. A shed of course! We started to look at sheds, and decided it would cost less to build our own coop. We started right away. we decide on a 4 by 8 coop using siding from a barn that was going to be torn down. Well getting the sideing off the barn wasnt easy, and we decided to get plywood siding, and somewhere along the lines 4 by 8 turned into 6 by 8. We worked on the coop for about a month and a half, and we finnaly finished. I could of got a bed for around $350 but she gave me the option and we spent $700 on a top of the line, coustom, brand new chicken coop. Triple layer walls, insulated floor and roof, 11 by 13 run, chicken door, dutch person door. And dont forget electricity! We got our chicks form mcmurray. We got 1 buff orpington roo 2 buff orpington pullets, 2 light brahma pullets, and 20 broilers. I read the Storeys guide to raising chickens, and found BYC! I ended up winning resreve grand champing pen of three roasters! And Second place Showmanship. My babies already have thier own babies, and i am not done yet. Next year we are getting more broilers, and building a broiler pen (which i am paying for this time) we are getting an EE, and barred rock pullets with them. And we are getting a pair of call ducks, i just built them a pen (which i payed for) And we are getting Millie Fluer d'Ullce hatching eggs in the spring for my Hova-Bator i got for christmas along with a duck book a new chicken book.Well thats how i became interested in chickens. INTERESTED with chickens what am i saying, I am Obsesed with chickens!

Here is my coop

Oh yeah, she wants the millie fluers, she wants the barred rock, she thinks my broilers taste good, and she thinks call ducks are cute. And she wante dto pass all of that up. She said after we get this spring birds thats it only broilers from here on out. But we will just see about that. Although she might start giving the feed bill to me!
Wow that was a really long post

 

[silkiechicken]

Well.. it all started with gold fish. My parents let me bring home two fish from a wedding in a bowel... then it grew from there. Bowel, to huge tanks, to mice, to hamsters, to parakeets, frogs, turtles and salamanders. Then I wanted more. Kept some stray cats and asked for a goat. Goat was a no go, so I asked for sheep... also a no go... then I asked for chickens and ended up with 12! That was 10 years ago.

I always wanted a silkie... but oddly enough, didn't get one till about three years ago.

 

[dutchman]

My addition started almost three years ago. My wife and I built our new house out in the country, After living my whole life as a city boy. So my father-in-law asked me if I would like to have a few chickens, not knowing that there was a chickenholic learking within me, I said sure. Now I have around 60 standard and banty. Going tomorrow to pick up about 10 more bantys, mostly roos. Somebody please help me , I cant say no. My wife calls me chicken-hawk. I want everyone I see !!!!!!!!!

 

[okiechick57]

Brooster.............. can I please please please HAVE your henhouse?

 

[nccountrygirl]

I want it too, can we share?

 

[Dbl T in CO]

My neighbor has chickens and she shared all the benefits of having them. In the summer there are lots of bugs where I live. Especially crickets and grasshoppers. She told me chickens could help in that area. So I started researching the different breeds and settled on Buff Orps. What a breed! Great personalities and layers. I've had all 5 girls lay in one day and still get 3 eggs the next day. I live on a ranch but work in the city. City folk think I'm off my rocker when I talk about the Golden Girls. They just don't know what they're missing now, do they?

 

[okiechick57]

Quote:
sure Laura....you can use the run.........

 

[nccountrygirl]