Why are we raising chickens?

[feathermania]

We wanted chickens for their eggs and their eggs are delicious. But they have turned into so much more! They are a lot of fun to watch and they follow us everywhere. My hubby threatened to cull them if/when they stopped laying, but he's also getting hooked on them. They have become our pets with benefits (eggs). They aren't our children (our son wouldn't stand for that!!) but they are now pets like our dogs are only the chickens don't sleep in our house because they have a house of their own.

 

[Morrigan]

We first started raising chickens for eggs and meat. Quite honestly, I didn't expect how much pleasure I would derive from them for their entertainment and hobby value. I would still say my chickens are primarily for eggs and meat, but the joy of raising them is a huge bonus, and a couple of chickens have crossed over into the pet territory.

I've also found that predators and reproductive disorders have reduced the number of old layers I have, and thus far I haven't had to cull strictly for age-based unproductively. At this point, I only have one hen that is 6 years old and she, almost from the start, was one those who had earned pet status. I do cull extra cockerels, hens who are bullies, and chickens showing signs of poor health. I also raise a batch of meat chickens every fall. Butchering is never fun, but as long as I eat eggs and meat, I feel better about knowing how the animals involved are raised, and how they meet their end.

 

[Tinkey71]

I have really enjoyed having my chickens well beyond giving me eggs
However, for me there is a line between livestock and pets. I care for my chickens, but also accept that they may someday end up in my freezer.
Maybe it comes from living around farming and hunting much of my life and seeing the mindset of “taking an animal’s life to provide food is ok,if you do it with respect for that life “
I feel in a lot of ways it gives more respect than buying meat at the store and having that disconnect from the thought that it was also a life once

 

[No More Empty Nest]

I'm sure that number of chickens and where you live have a LOT to do with how you view your chickens. I live in the city, we're allowed 4 hens, no roos. We also are not allowed to butcher them. The law doesn't say no butchering on site it just says no butchering. So send them out for butchering? I have no idea if that's included or not. It appears that city chickens are automatically pets.

So anyway, I have them for eggs and for fun. My Mom and Dad grew up on farms and my Mom had 7 bantams that she was allowed to keep as pets. The stories I'd heard of her bantams had entertained me for years. She's passed away now going on 10 years ago. When I found out we were allowed backyard chickens I had to get bantams of course. Makes me feel close to her.

 

[The Green Bean]

I keep my chickens as pets, and to observe genetics - I don't eat meat, but I do eat eggs. I have 67 pet chickens (!) currently, the most I have had at one time is 80. The layers and the retired layers plus a few meat-type hens and mixes I have taken as pets free range over six acres with a livestock guardian dog, but I have an all-rooster flock of twenty odd birds (everything from a Brahma to leghorns to bantams and several mutts) who are kept in a spacious (half acre) grassy run or they would cause havoc with the hen flock. I also have some hens and cocks in smaller runs, mostly bantams and silkies, these are my breeding birds and they are paired to produce specific ornamental traits in their offspring. Almost all of them have names (there are some who are virtually identical, and they are the"twins" or the "triplets" etc), and the oldest, a bantam rooster named Elliot, is fourteen. I have laying breed hens and notice they don't last as long as ornamentals and roosters always outlive the hens of any breed, but I do have several 7-9 year old layers. They produce about four eggs a year now, but as long as quality of life is good, this is their home.

I also have a small assortment of other supposed-to-be-eaten farm animals which I have made pets, including a steer bought at a 4-H auction, saved from becoming steak by his extremely friendly demeanor. The girl who raised him was too attached to see him sold for slaughter, and I overheard and did an impulse buy I don't regret. He is very sweet, and the girl still visits him.

I rehome excess birds from my hobby breeding programs as pets, they are very well socialized and I have no issues finding good homes for them.

I am competent at euthanizing birds when the time comes, but don't do so otherwise. The very old birds, if they haven't been on medication that I would worry might remain in their system, are given to a neighbor who does raise meat birds, and they become stew - which is fine by me, as it is a better use than they would get otherwise.

My personal mantra is kindness. For me, that's making everything a pet. I understand this is not possible or reasonable for all people, but it makes me feel fulfilled.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

We raise both hens for eggs and meat chickens for food. 2007-2015 we only kept laying hens but I had mentioned how I hated having to buy chicken from the store as it sucked so we started buying what our local feed store calls 'Slow White Broiler' chickens, which true to their name grows slowly like normal birds. This year I plan on buying 7-8 so that we don't lose too many and so that I can possibly breed them.

I have no attachment to the slow broilers as they are just dumb birds used for food. Only time I feel something for them, is when they seem sick and I do not want sick meat to eat so I try to make sure they get better or just cull and throw them away.

I love our laying hens so much that they get names and once they stop laying, we let them live out their life as my parents don't mind. Currently our 5 oldest hens are just about 2 years old this year so I expect them to slow in egg production. 3 of the hens are in my profile picture.

My dad grew up on a farm so he's used to culling chickens.
My mom didn't but doesn't mind us culling meat birds.

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

I had my cycens for interest and the eggs. I may have suggested my father that they ate stink Bugs. He got to enjoy them as well. HIS father would look at them. Had never seen a CoChin before. Had memory loss, so always discovered them again next time he was Out Side.

 

[Serin]

I have no attachment to the slow broilers as they are just dumb birds used for food. Only time I feel something for them, is when they seem sick and I do not want sick meat to eat so I try to make sure they get better or just cull and throw them away.

I don't have chickens, but this sort of mindset is something I cannot understand. They are both the same animal. If you eat one and have one as a pet it's one thing to avoid attaching to the ones that will be eaten, but you shouldn't act like one is lesser than the other. They all deserve respect, and they all feel the same things. The laying hens are just more fortunate - and I very much doubt they are any more intelligent. The way we interact with different animals can make us think one or the other is "smarter" when really, it is just more interactive, usually more socialized, and so comes across as such.

I have a fancy pigeon as a pet. She is a sweet, beautiful creature. But that doesn't mean I value the wild, plain street pigeons any less, as their lives are just as valuable as my pet's - they are just in less fortunate circumstances.

 

[KikiDeAnime]

I don't have chickens, but this sort of mindset is something I cannot understand. They are both the same animal. If you eat one and have one as a pet it's one thing to avoid attaching to the ones that will be eaten, but you shouldn't act like one is lesser than the other. They all deserve respect, and they all feel the same things. The laying hens are just more fortunate - and I very much doubt they are any more intelligent. The way we interact with different animals can make us think one or the other is "smarter" when really, it is just more interactive, usually more socialized, and so comes across as such.

I only meant that I'm not sad when we have to butcher them. They get to free range with our other birds. I do respect them because they provide us with good meat.

 

[Spartan22]

I raise chickens for all of the above mentioned reasons, but the joy of hatching - seeing life formed to fluffy innocent fragile chicks and raising them to complete the cycle were a surprise unexpected bonus. Everyday is like Christmas morning finding magnificent eggs packed with protein.