Why did you get your first chickens?

[ChickenCrazy8]

I wanted a pet and a friend of my family suggested chickens. She gave me two to have over the summer and I was totally hooked!!!! I learn't a lot the following summers and then I convinced my dad to build me a year round coop and I now have 6 chickens

 

[katsdar]

I got my first 4 chickens because this man dropped them off in my yard,they were older and guess they were not producing eggs the way he wanted and I had to take care of them, house them and feed them, learn about chickens since I never had any before yeah that was last year and I only have one of the original 4 left, but I have their offspring 16 birds later and getting ready to hatch more, I know crazy.

 

[chicken geo]

Well, started with me taking a pic of baby chicks in a box for my daughter from tractor supply. Then, I was bought 3 from a roadside farm. I have my hens on a farm that I used to hang in my younger years. The owners girlfriend bought me 8, 16 week old hens, then I bought 10 more hens from a local guy. So, at this point I wanted chicks...so I mail ordered 20....raised those...a friends neice was doing a school project on hatching eggs...I gave her 8 of my eggs....5 hatched...I gave her those before the project as a learning curve before she got the mail ordered eggs that I had ordered for her... 6 hatched. ..I have those....I won in a raffle a combination of 9 at a poultry show...one of the bantams decided to go broody...so she hatched 5....all in all...a few went missing...sold 10....now I have 24 eggs in the incubator ready to hatch out in time for the 16 mail ordered babies showing up the 2nd week of march...phew!! Sorry so spotty but thats the way it is!!!

 

[BC Chickens]

We bought our farm with the intention of having horses. After moving in we met one of our neighbors who had layers and sold these great farm fresh eggs. So after a while of buying hers we thought "Heck, we have plenty of room and no horses yet - why don't we get a few chickens and a coop and raise our own eggs?" We bought 6 Golden Comets and 6 Buff Orpingtons from our local TSC and a cool looking coop and off we went. The eggs were and still are great. Except now there are 3 additional coops, 350 free ranging EE's, 75 more on order for next month and 41 eggs in our new incubator which include 13 lavendar Orpingtons for variety. Oh yeah - we did finally get 3 horses who begrudgingly share their pastures with the girls

And we love them all!

 

[BullChick]

I like how so many of us started at TSC, just looking around.

 

[Scoutmedic]

My daughter and my wife decided they wanted chickens. After months of convincing, I gave in and we purchased some chicks at a local feed store. I converted an old wooden bunk bed into a coop and built a small pen next to the house for our new chicks. And that's how it all began. Now my daughter doesn't do much with them and my son has taken over the responsibility for daily care. My wife and I love sitting out with the girls while having our morning coffee.

 

[samsr]

We got our first chicks because we had moved out to some land and I wanted a way to occupy my little girls time while adjusting to country life, as it is. I wanted to teach them responsibility and have some fresh eggs also. My wife though I was nuts at the time. Now she is settling into a routine with the original chickens and we have more chicks to join them this spring. Everyone enjoys going to the coop and collecting eggs and caring for them. I also wanted to show my girls where some of their food comes from. (not the grocery store). They are a great source of peace and tranquility after a hard days work or if my littlest one is having a bad day. They are great entertainment as well.
It amazes me to see big city kids that dont even know where an egg, hamburger or even vegetables come from. I didnt want that for my kids. Thats a few reasons. There are many more but I dont want to write a novel here. LOL

 

[judyki2004]

I grow up in a country but never care for the freerange chickens of my grandma and even ours... sometimes they where fun to watch specially when they have just hatched chickens, but most of the time, for me they where sort of annoying & noisy creatures that make a fuss for anything and even 'announce' a future dead with their noise... it was not until two years ago when i started to play with the idea of having some hens for eggs and a rooster, just because they are cute . I started a backyard garden a year early and chickens was the next step. After months of planning , daydreaming and buying materials little by little , I spend the Christmas vacation of 2011 building a tiny and cute coop inspired by BYC coop section. In january 2012 I get my first 2 layers and a gorgeous rooster... and the rest is history! I love my chickens!

 

[Ellochicken]

I got my 6 wonderful hens in Perry Iowa at a store called "Orscheln's", and from the start they were quite unique.
Sunshine & Dandy- (Short For Dandelion) are my 2 Buff Orpingtons. Sunshine is the fattest, but after handling her, I noticed that it was her freakish amount of feathers! Dandy is my sweetie girl, she squawks at me whenever I go let them out, and when I sit down, she will make her way over and just hang out by us (She is at the bottom of the pecking order, so she looks to me for protection).
Star & Pepper- My two Black-Sex-Links, I got the name 'Star' from the little white tips on her black wings when she was a chick, and she still has them to this day. Pepper is my fastest hen, I've nicknamed her "Roadrunner" because I have to corner her in the coop and lunge at her just to check on her! (She was pecked a lot since she was 2 weeks old, so we like to keep an eye on her for any signs of pecking).
Penny & Spicy- My 2 wonderful, beautiful Rhode Island Reds. Penny is at the top of the pecking order, keeping the others in check and ruffling her feathers in mock-anger when I hold her, but I know she loves me, she falls asleep in my arms every time that I hold her, and is dealing with some pretty nasty frost-bite right now, and I've taken care of it (Lathered her comb and wattles with petroleum jelly). And Spicy, I tear up every time I think about her now! She was attacked by a small grey dog named Gus at the age of 3 months, and she died in my arms

, she was the funniest bird, she would amuse us by strutting around and playing with our dog and chasing him around! And boy it was funny! How many people get to see a chicken chase a dog in their lifetime?! Well, my remaining 5 girls are turning 1 year old on April 19th, so we're planning a day filled with chicken treats!

Thanks for reading my story, sorry it's so much!

-Ellochicken

 

[chickierookie]

For a science fair project I had to get an incubator. And can be expensive, so my dad didn't want me to use it just once sooo..... he let me hatch chicken eggs in the incubator.