Why are we raising chickens?

[CannedMonster]

This is what we talked about doing. Starting a new flock of 12 every year until the oldest is 3, then take them for processing. Essentially a constant cycle of eggs and meat. Part of our discussion is allowing me to keep my own flock on the side of 12 or so to do with what I want. A hobby flock, kept for no particular reason other than i raised them and want to let them live out their life.

This sounds like a great compromise.
I wanted to suggest perhaps your husband would be open to you choosing a few hens that stay and grow old with the flock in order to teach the young ones.
I like having older birds in my flock because they show the younger ones what things are good food, what to be afraid of, and what things they don’t need to be afraid of (the lawn mower, etc).
I haven’t had chickens long enough for them to slow down the egg production yet but we did process a couple of extra cockerels.
That was an unpleasant experience because DH chose to gut the birds before plucking them
Thankfully we have discovered a processor nearby that will slaughter, butcher and package our birds for $4 a piece which I’m willing to pay for if I don’t have to do it myself.

I have found that I have more of an emotional attachment to my birds than I thought I would.
Especially the ones I raise myself.
I also like to play with breeding and genetics so I’m not sure what we’ll do when egg production slows down.
Hopefully I can find some of them homes.

 

[RonP]

After reading the entire tread, I may have a different perspective as to why I keep my birds.

Eggs, meat, or cost, were never a consideration.

My birds are compost and therapy birds...

I designed and built my coop and run to house over 2 dozen birds with safety, ease, and comfort. I have never had more than 14. I do not cull, the old and new, produce compost equally, or so.

I will replace the numbers that pass naturally the previous year, with point of lay pullets, every Mothers day week. I keep the flock at around 12. More than enough eggs for myself and my dogs. All else are gifted to family members.

Many live beyond normal expectations, so be it...

Therapy...
Often I will waste time just staring at the flock.
They calm me and allow me the opportunity to collect and organize my thoughts.

I consider this time well wasted... with never enough.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think it would be curious to divide this data into groups, and see if it changes some of the response percentages. Groups of people that have had chickens less than 4 years, more than 4 years. Groups of people that have flocks of 3-5 birds, or flocks of 10-15, and a group of >15.

I would also be interested in dividing flocks according to climate. With the best will in the world, my birds get so old, crippled, arthritic, miserable cranky and mean by 5 years of age. I take reasonable care of them, I have never gotten a 8 year old chicken.

As for me, I have some that stay, Butter my broody hen, lived until a coon got her, she raised a lot of chicks for me. Stripes, is a EE that is the lone survivor of a massive attack I had a few years ago...but she is starting to look a bit miserable. Others, are dispatched as needed for room for younger birds.

I don't keep individual birds, I keep a flock. The birds come and go in it. I do enjoy them, but I living a long ways from town, depend on them for eggs.

To each their own, but I think that all the different meanings of flock, heavily influences our outlook.

Mrs K

 

[Acre4Me]

I wish I could have had that experience growing up. We lived too close to town and had no room for that type of animal. My older siblings were allowed pets, I was restricted to fish lol 4H is a fantastic program!

Our oldest, whose already out of the house and living in another state, desperately wanted a cat their ENTIRE childhood, but I'm allergic (including hives, so no cat ever will live inside my home). So, oldest is a bit miffed that we adopted a kitten for the tween from the humane society once we moved here. There is a barn with a heated/insulated workshop as part of the barn, so cat has a comfy home away from our home. We also only had fish previously...we lived in town and would not have been able to have anything beyond cat/dog/fish too. Previously, I had been under the impression that 4-H was mostly ag and animals, so didn't look into it for oldest. But, have since realized that 4-H covers a lot of topics, many of which are not ag or animals. 4-H has been a positive experience!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

My flock are my pets...I love the eggs I get.. but that really isn't my priority.. I just Love them!

 

[BantyChooks]

I like having older birds in my flock because they show the younger ones what things are good food, what to be afraid of, and what things they don’t need to be afraid of (the lawn mower, etc).

x2

 

[BantyChooks]

I think it would be curious to divide this data into groups, and see if it changes some of the response percentages. Groups of people that have had chickens less than 4 years, more than 4 years. Groups of people that have flocks of 3-5 birds, or flocks of 10-15, and a group of >15.

I would also be interested in dividing flocks according to climate. With the best will in the world, my birds get so old, crippled, arthritic, miserable cranky and mean by 5 years of age. I take reasonable care of them, I have never gotten a 8 year old chicken.

As for me, I have some that stay, Butter my broody hen, lived until a coon got her, she raised a lot of chicks for me. Stripes, is a EE that is the lone survivor of a massive attack I had a few years ago...but she is starting to look a bit miserable. Others, are dispatched as needed for room for younger birds.

I don't keep individual birds, I keep a flock. The birds come and go in it. I do enjoy them, but I living a long ways from town, depend on them for eggs.

To each their own, but I think that all the different meanings of flock, heavily influences our outlook.

Mrs K

I also would like to know the data here.

I've had birds for more than four years (five, to be exact,) and my flock is always over 15 birds. Climate is cold. I had a 9 yr old EE once... she was most definitely not in perfect shape. I have a few regrets about her still. She was an unique bird.

 

[centrarchid]

I am a long timer with a lot of birds in a moderate climate. My keeping is first started as a heritage issue followed by permiculture approach, educational value, self-determination, meat and eggs, and a few as pets to boot.

You could also break things down by how replacement birds are sourced.

Most chicken keepers I see have a hard time going beyond years.

 

[LulaBell]

Honestly, there's no one single reason. Every time I'm asked, my answer changes a bit. I started with them because of eggs, but my reasons grew. I keep them for meat, companionship, breeding, showing, and yes, eggs. I admit freely to playing favourites with my flock—a few of them are treasured pets that will live out their lives here, and some are hatched with the intention of butchering.

I love how chicken keeping can be as simple or as complex as I want. There are so many facets of their care and physiology that I will never run out of things to research and experiment with. I love hatching them. I love seeing them grow up and explore the world. Social dynamics of the flock are fascinating too and a few hours a day of watching them will yield much insight. You can hyperfocus on, say, the exact mechanics of gas transfer in the lungs, or you can zoom all the way out to the history and domestication of the chicken.

As for the aspect of butchering—I wasn't ready to do it for a few years. I took my time, but once I was ready, I did it. Large amounts of technical research helped, 'cause I'm just that kind of person. Give me something simple and I'll turn it into a 10-page opus complete with diagrams, lol. Nobody can 'make' you ready. You have to come to your own conclusion, and if you decide you want to do it, that conclusion has to be firm so you don't wimp out once you've got the bird in the cone. Knowing how to cull your own birds is a necessary part of owning them, IMO. Even if you don't want to process them, you're going to want that skill when you have a terribly injured and suffering bird that has no hope of survival and is going to die anyway, only slower and in a more excruciating manner. I realize this might be a rather charged statement, but I believe that if you have a bird that is suffering and you watch them die slowly for your own feelings' sake, you are failing at the promise of kindness to them that you made when you took ownership. In the "wild", a predator would have killed them quickly once they started to fail. We protect them, so we have to take on that duty too.

I don't enjoy butchering day. But it's a part of how I choose to run my flock. I hatch them, I give them a really great life full of grass and bugs to chase, and then they die quickly and provide food for me and my family. I don't turn into a huge, emotional process, I do it quietly, cleanly, and with awareness that this is a life that I am taking and I should not let it go to waste but rather to a continuation of my own. As for what happens when you get attached, well, that depends on what you've decided. Me, I try in general to have a greater share of logic when I decide who needs to go. I look at factors like egg production, health, age, and build. Emotions aren't a good way to run your life in general. There's still a few birds that I like more than the rest due to unique behaviours or colouring, and I keep them, because why not? An extra three birds won't break the bank. Chickens are a hobby, after all, even if I do try to make them pay mostly for themselves.

You could debate forever on the ethics of it, but I don't have the time or patience to do that over and over again when I have already hashed it out with myself, which is all that really matters. The bottom line is that you've got to be comfortable with the choice you make. There's nothing wrong with keeping them for pets, and there's nothing wrong with keeping them for meat.

Edit: I think the human concept of "living out a life" is kind of sketchy as a whole. I don't want to "live out my life" if it means I'm in a wheelchair in a nursing home, rotting away in mind and body. I'd kill myself first. Humans have a fear of dying in a way no animal does—maybe we should learn from them and quit worrying about measuring time and start enjoying things like worms. Wait, not worms. That's ONLY for ducks.

Very well said! Thank you for commenting

 

[chicknmania]

We dont kill them. They are pets with names and we care for them as such and it is interesting to see just how long they do live. Eggs are just a bonus. We eat them, sell them, and donate some to wildlife. We sell our peacock feathers. Our birds live out their lives here. The older birds are companions for the flock, extra mating partners for the roosters, help watch for predators. And even the old hens lay an egg or 2.