Why are we raising chickens?

[aart]

Can you tell which two are not laying?

Back two?

 

[GC-Raptor]

Back two?

Correct.. GC

 

[Shadrach]

I don’t keep chickens. My job is to look after them, and other animals, for other people who do keep chickens.
I was brought up in the countryside and spent most of my youth on a farm.
I’m fascinated by chicken behavior.
I like chickens better than I do people.
I understand chickens better than I do people.
I’m very attached to them. I’ve given them all names. I’ve recently more or less finished writing a book about the lives of the chickens here.
I kill and eat one every now and then. I don’t buy chicken, or any other meat with uncertain provenance. I eat wild boar here that the local hunters kill and butcher.
I eat eggs if I’m not letting a broody hen sit on them.
I don’t kill because of age, or loss of productivity. I’ll kill if one is terminally sick, or unable to live a free range life due to injury and if I need to manage a particular group.
I nurse those that I can.
I now care for the injured and sick for a couple more smallholdings on this mountain.

I live with the chickens here. During daylight hours there is at least one chicken within reach, often more. I have chickens in my house most days.

The number of chickens here varies between twenty and thirty; I would like to be able to let them breed more, but I can’t house, or feed more.
I’ve been doing this for eight years now.

 

[lavender2015]

There is debate in my house over why we have chickens. I like the life and companionship my flock offers. I like to watch them grow and interact and just be chickens. My husband likes this too, however he has more of an economical point of view. He sees all the money and time it takes to raise them. We make a little from the eggs we sell to help offset the cost of feed, by no means are we making a profit.

But what happens when they slow or stop laying? I would prefer to let them live out their life. My husband sees something we feed and get nothing from and would prefer to cull them for the freezer.

He grew up on a farm and I did not. That has had a tremendous impact on our lives as we do not share the same view of life and death (when it comes to our animals). I can’t find the line between pet and stock. I prefer everything to live and in the world of farming that is just not realistic.

My husband and I have laid out somewhat of a plan to raise a new flock every year and cull the oldest flock at around 3 years of age, like a cycle.That way we have them through the laying years and are getting the most from our investment by stocking the freezer.

What do you do? What is the purpose of your flock? How do you manage your attachment and feelings toward the animal you have raised and now have to kill?

 

[path.otto]

Do try a broody hen, incredible fun to watch!

@Mrs. K, I have a New Hampshire and a BO that regularly go broody on me. It is hysterical to watch my normally docile BO growl and hiss whenever anything gets near her and when I remove her from her nest to "time out". Generally, she's back to normal in a couple of days. The NH likes to peck at me on her best days so it's hard to tell when she is going broody. I usually have to wait until I see she won't leave the nest box.

 

[olivigus]

My chickens are definitely “pets” rather than livestock. It’s been interesting because I never had pets that I related to more as a group than one on one. Our hens all have names, and some of them stand out a bit more than others because of their personalities or experiences I’ve had with them, such as watching them raise chicks or nursing one through an injured foot, but they are definitely “The Chickens” and my overall experience of them is as a flock. Even the ones I haven’t bonded with as much as individuals are still very much a part of my enjoyment of them as a whole.

I thought a lot before I got them about whether I was willing to run a retirement home for old hens, and decided that any creature that had plopped out several eggs for me each week for three or more years deserved a nice pension. My oldest girls turn four this month, and are still laying pretty well. I skipped adding to the flock last year, but I had added a few new chicks each of the previous springs, so have some still in their peak laying years and we get a good supply of daily eggs. Although if I add four this year (which I’ll do if someone goes broody), I’ll be up to 24 chickens. They have a big yard with room to roam during the day, so the coop is really just for laying and sleeping, but 24 will pretty much max out the current roosting capacity, so I’ll need to stop.

We cover some feed costs by selling eggs, but it’s not a break-even proposition. It definitely costs me to keep them, much like any other pet, but I get a lot of pleasure from them so it feels worth it to me. I guess the surest way to know you’ve got a pet is when you’re willing to shell out for vet bills. Like when Bernadette had an impacted crop that wouldn’t yield to any home remedies. I call her my $400 chicken now. She is one of my favorites, but I probably would have done it for any of them. We’ll see if I feel the same if down the road I’m still providing for 24 non-laying feathered compost generators, but I suspect I at that point I’ll just build another coop and add some youngsters.

 

[donnavee]

Ours are definitely pets. We enjoy the eggs, give extra to family and the food bank. Currently have 30 with about 8 oldsters who are yard ornaments. My husband and I both just enjoy having them around. We figure the entertainment and the yummy eggs offset the cost.