What Type of owner are you?

[slguy]

Are you hands-on, love your chickens, all have names, you're more concerned with cuddling and petting them than the eggs they lay?

Or are you more purpose driven? You have the stickers about germs, washing up, if the chickens don't lay - you put them in the freezer?

I have seen some interesting posts and comments here - we just came home with 3 RIR and 3 Golden Sexlinks. So far, very lucky - no aggressive behavior, they are intermingling, didn't realize they were going to chirp this much - lol - the RIR get amazingly loud when you carry one of them away from the flock.

Had to do a search about sleeping this morning because it seems thats almost all they have done in the last 20 hours.

I even had the naive notion that "my chicks wont be messy" - that lasted about 5 hours, already poop on the feeder, bedding in the water trough.

I think the RIR are within 2 weeks old, the GSL appear closer to 5 weeks old. When is a "Safe" age to bring in a clump of dirt for them to peck at?

 

[mrscjj]

I'm completely hands-on! Trying to get my babies to bond with me. I'm a second time chicken mama and snuggle with them a few times a day. I'm a little rusty and it's been years since I had babies, but my last babies we had in the coop from day one. The feed you have should already have "grit" in it.

 

[cscigu]

Hah, I'm completely hands-off. Don't get me wrong, I look after them, and take good care of them, but they started as purely bug eating egg machines. I've grown more interested over the years, and now really like raising new breeds, etc. Luckily, the chickens are about as free range as you can get. I let them out at dawn, and lock them back up at dark. We live on a farm/ranch, so they keep the bugs down around the house and garden very well. They roam far and wide as they please. Can't get too attached, we lose 3-4 a year to hawks, coyotes, etc. We give away lots of eggs, which is fun.

Probably because of the free-ranging, we've never had a bit of problem with disease. They drink out cow troughs, the duck pool, scratch up the cow manure, peck the salt blocks, etc. The also have access to our compost/leftovers pile (no meats or oils), which they love. People ask me about their wide appetite, and I just tell them chickens won't eat stuff that will hurt them. (I think)

 

[Forevermore5413]

I love my chickens everyone has names but I haven't found too many chickens that are very friendly

 

[BonRae67]

All in hands on. I can pick up and love on every one in the flock. They all have names and each one has a different personality.

 

[kmartinez]

I am a mixture of both, the only chick that was allowed to be named was my roo, I have 5 light brahms i order one of them a roo, so i handled them all cuddled them more so than my other 12 . I was playful with them to giving them cuddle time but the brahmas got most of the time. Now that i know who my roo is he gets picked up at least everyother day for a petting and treat. He so sweet and wants that attention that when i open my coop door he ould run to me when i opened the door . Hubby had to put about a foot and half boards accross so he couldnt rush the door, so now he jumps on top of those boards waiting for me to pick him up.

My others still come to me to be hand fed when i got treats but i do not handle them much only the roo gets the extreme loving cuddles and hugs. and that is because i want him friendly so he dont chase anyone out the coop or run LOL I heard roos do that so I try to focus my attention on him for loving. The others are 16 hens so they for eggs and reproduction so i don't have to bring in outsiders. any roos hatched i will butcher and any hen that is not laying. I already have leg bands to mark the layers. I got my chicks for meat and egg purposes I am tired of purchasing organic meats it is expensive.

 

[Drewnkat]

I would say combination.

I handle my chickens so they are used to it. I feed them treats (kitchen scraps from making salad, fruit pieces, that sort of thing), and I carry the rooster around in a humiliating manner to keep him from seeing me as something to be dominated. Unfortunately, it has so far only worked for his perception of *me* and he still chases/attacks others who come in the yard if he feels like it.

Each of the chickens has names, and while their primary purpose is eggs, we do intend to use them for meat once they are no longer productive. One of them is about to hit the limit of my patience, as she has developed an egg eating habit. She's directly affecting my egg supply for my family, and that's not OK. Also eating all those eggs has made her fat, so... these chickens are here to feed us, one way or another.

We just successfully incubated 13 eggs from our easter eggers, so the rooster may also have a replacement. We'll see how these guys grow up, no final decisions to make yet.

I have another couple dozen eggs waiting to go into the incubator, see what happens. The plan is to possibly sell some straight run chicks, which would help cover feed costs, contribute to the coop expansion fund. And then I could keep more of the EEs. I'm such a sucker for those blue and green eggs!

 

[azygous]

Just for the record, I'm a "chickens are family" keeper. All have names, and I know most of them from the unique sounds each makes, and don't really need to see them to know which chicken is coming up behind me. They demand both food a hugs from me and I gladly supply both.

 

[WindyHillFarm]

Our chickens have always been "family." They have names, and we spoil them rotten. We don't mind letting them hang out in their old age. They've spend their life giving us eggs! People are often shocked when they find out we don't eat our chickens. We've talked about raising some just for meat, but I don't know if we'll do it. Having to butcher, defeather, etc. is a lot of work, and it costs less to buy fresh chicken from another farm just up the road. Kind of weird to look at our girls running around while BBQing one of their distant relatives!

 

[prostar]

Of my eight chicks only one has a name...the others...I'm waiting for names to manifest or something lol. I'm horrible at naming things.

Yeah they're going to be layers. Yeah I handle/terrorize em to get them used to me (say terrorize cause they're still young. They'll come up to me alright but the second you try to pick them up nope!!! Ah well it's only been a week) and yeah I spend some time watching "chick TV" (hey it's entertaining)