Why did you get your first chickens?

[MsChickenMomma]

I got my first chickens two years ago. Three years ago we lived with my grandparents. My Grandfather had two cows, two miniature horses, two goats, 8 cats, and about 36 chickens. All of the animals were in very small pens. The chickens all lived in a 10x7 coop, and they had a 14x10 run. Their run was all mud, and the manure in their coop was a foot deep, and they all had close to no feathers because they picked on each other out of boredum. It broke my heart to see those poor chickens like that. The other animals didn't have it any better. It made me sad to see them like that, and know that there wasn't anything I could do to help them. I tried cleaning their coop once, and my grandfather told me that I was messing up his system and to get out. It didn't go well living with my grandparents, and they moved out. They found homes for all of the animals except the cats and the chickens. My grandfather was considering weither or not to just cull them and be done. I was mortified! I begged my parents to let me keep them, and they agreed that I could, even though they were in bad shape.

My dad and I made the chickens a bigger coop, and we started free ranging them. Some of the chickens were very sick, and passed away within a few months of me owning them. The rest grew new feathers, and became very happy and healthy. Except one hen. I named her Henny. She is half blind in both eyes, and she can't jump, roost, or scratch for bugs. We moved a year after my grandparents moved out. I was aloud to pick 13 chickens to take with me, and we re-homed the rest. I kept Henny, 11 other hens, and one roosters. Two of the hens I took with me when we moved were attacked by two raccoons this past spring, and one passed away from what we think was heart failure. I currently have 2 roosters, and 13 hens. Half of the hens I have were my grandfathers. It took me two years to get those hens back to almost perfect health. They are almost 5 years old, and still lay an occasional egg. My other chickens were ones that 3 of my grandfathers hens hatched after they came into my care.

I am proud to say that even though I was 12 when the chickens came into my care, I saved 30 chickens lives, and made them better, and happier. My chickens are my best friends, and they seem to love me too. They were terrified of me at first. Now I can walk up to them and pick them right up and they just nestle right into my arms.

This is the story of how I got my chickens. I will never regret saving them.

 

[Chickens R Us]

I had wanted and talked about getting chickens for a couple of years before I talked my DH into letting me get some. Chick Days at our local TSC helped convince him. He told me he was not going to have anything to do with them and was not going to help at all. So after he helped me build the coop he said that's it no more help. After that he helped me build a chicken tractor he decided we need a bigger run also. When they first started laying eggs he would go several times a day to check for eggs.It was several weeks before I got to get the eggs, every day he asked me How many eggs today? but he's not helping. Then one day he tells me we need more hens because some of my friends want eggs. We had to butcher 2 of our roosters because they were mean' he really enjoyed the fresh meat, now he wants to get meat chickens so we have to build another coop. This spring we will be getting 6 SLW 2 Leghorns, 2RSL, 2BSL 10 CX and 10 sagitta plus the 10 we already have. I think they call that chicken math but don't tell the Hubby because he doesn't want anything to do with chickens. LOL

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I got my first chickens two years ago. Three years ago we lived with my grandparents. My Grandfather had two cows, two miniature horses, two goats, 8 cats, and about 36 chickens. All of the animals were in very small pens. The chickens all lived in a 10x7 coop, and they had a 14x10 run. Their run was all mud, and the manure in their coop was a foot deep, and they all had close to no feathers because they picked on each other out of boredum. It broke my heart to see those poor chickens like that. The other animals didn't have it any better. It made me sad to see them like that, and know that there wasn't anything I could do to help them. I tried cleaning their coop once, and my grandfather told me that I was messing up his system and to get out. It didn't go well living with my grandparents, and they moved out. They found homes for all of the animals except the cats and the chickens. My grandfather was considering weither or not to just cull them and be done. I was mortified! I begged my parents to let me keep them, and they agreed that I could, even though they were in bad shape.

My dad and I made the chickens a bigger coop, and we started free ranging them. Some of the chickens were very sick, and passed away within a few months of me owning them. The rest grew new feathers, and became very happy and healthy. Except one hen. I named her Henny. She is half blind in both eyes, and she can't jump, roost, or scratch for bugs. We moved a year after my grandparents moved out. I was aloud to pick 13 chickens to take with me, and we re-homed the rest. I kept Henny, 11 other hens, and one roosters. Two of the hens I took with me when we moved were attacked by two raccoons this past spring, and one passed away from what we think was heart failure. I currently have 2 roosters, and 13 hens. Half of the hens I have were my grandfathers. It took me two years to get those hens back to almost perfect health. They are almost 5 years old, and still lay an occasional egg. My other chickens were ones that 3 of my grandfathers hens hatched after they came into my care.

I am proud to say that even though I was 12 when the chickens came into my care, I saved 30 chickens lives, and made them better, and happier. My chickens are my best friends, and they seem to love me too. They were terrified of me at first. Now I can walk up to them and pick them right up and they just nestle right into my arms.

This is the story of how I got my chickens. I will never regret saving them.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I had wanted and talked about getting chickens for a couple of years before I talked my DH into letting me get some. Chick Days at our local TSC helped convince him. He told me he was not going to have anything to do with them and was not going to help at all. So after he helped me build the coop he said that's it no more help. After that he helped me build a chicken tractor he decided we need a bigger run also. When they first started laying eggs he would go several times a day to check for eggs.It was several weeks before I got to get the eggs, every day he asked me How many eggs today? but he's not helping. Then one day he tells me we need more hens because some of my friends want eggs. We had to butcher 2 of our roosters because they were mean' he really enjoyed the fresh meat, now he wants to get meat chickens so we have to build another coop. This spring we will be getting 6 SLW 2 Leghorns, 2RSL, 2BSL 10 CX and 10 sagitta plus the 10 we already have. I think they call that chicken math but don't tell the Hubby because he doesn't want anything to do with chickens. LOL

That's a cute story!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I just realized that I accidentally quoted my own post, rather than edit it like I was trying to... Sorry!

 

[Gatorbob26]

How do I strt my own thread?

 

[EggsBeesSeeds]

a friend of my mom's had been raising chickens for about a year, and after visiting her and doing some research of our own, we decided to get some of our own. our reasons were that store bought eggs are produced by chickens that are horribly mistreated, and thousands upon thousands of male chicks are slaughtered without any chance at life. the sheer wastefulness and disregard for the sanctity of life disgusted us. another reason we chose to get our own chickens is that fresh laid eggs are much more nutritious than store bought eggs. so eventually we bought the materials to build our own coop, and ordered 4 chicks.

today, our girls are 8 months old. we love them to death. we never thought we'd become so attached to our chickens. they all have so much personality. they make us laugh and smile every day. they are especially precious to me because I suffer from severe depression and anxiety. spending time around them has helped me feel a lot better. whenever I'm around my chickens I feel much calmer and it allows me to take my mind off my troubles. they've helped me get through some really tough times.




and just for fun, here's a picture of my Silkie-Polish cross and I. she's our alpha hen, even though she's the tiniest! she's very sassy and loves hearing herself talk. We have three other hens as well. An Australorp, Matilda (she's my favorite.), a Cochin, Vera, and an Easter Egger, Edith. They're all my babies.

I have to say, that is one of the coolest looking chickens I have ever seen.

Note to self: breed Polish/Silkie crosses...

 

[BullChick]

I had wanted and talked about getting chickens for a couple of years before I talked my DH into letting me get some. Chick Days at our local TSC helped convince him. He told me he was not going to have anything to do with them and was not going to help at all. So after he helped me build the coop he said that's it no more help. After that he helped me build a chicken tractor he decided we need a bigger run also. When they first started laying eggs he would go several times a day to check for eggs.It was several weeks before I got to get the eggs, every day he asked me How many eggs today? but he's not helping. Then one day he tells me we need more hens because some of my friends want eggs. We had to butcher 2 of our roosters because they were mean' he really enjoyed the fresh meat, now he wants to get meat chickens so we have to build another coop. This spring we will be getting 6 SLW 2 Leghorns, 2RSL, 2BSL 10 CX and 10 sagitta plus the 10 we already have. I think they call that chicken math but don't tell the Hubby because he doesn't want anything to do with chickens. LOL

OMG! Sounds familiar!

 

[gillyfleur]

In 2009 my first posting was:

We have had accidental chickens for 8 years now. I have a friend that has a 20 acre farm and a very happy flock of chickens that are so free range that she has to occasionally retrieve them from neighbors' farms. She wanted to add some new chicks to her flock about 8 years ago and thought it would be fun for my 8 year old son to raise them as a project. She didn't really give him any parameters on type of chicken, so when we went to the local farm supply store, the ones he fell in love with and brought home were three mixed bantams. These he lovingly raised by hand, named them Fuzzy Slippers, False Alarm and Lookout and sent them off to live in their new home when they were about 12 weeks old. My friend was very gracious, even though mini bantam eggs were not what she was interested in selling. However, she realized quickly what a great chick raiser my son was and every year he had 6-8 new chicks to raise, usually Araucanas (no more small eggs). In addition, we would do the occasional chick "rescue" when one of her hens would hatch out some babies and she was going to be out of town and couldn't look after them herself.
That is how we ended up with our first full-time chicken residents. One hen hatched out 5 babies, but the local skunk got three in one evening. My friend brought over the two left and we started raising them. One was fine, the other limped on one leg. They turned out to be brother and sister, with the hen being the injured one. My fiance started calling the roo Ren and the hen Stimpy. The names stuck. A friend that is a local equine vet wanted to test his new portable x-ray unit so we volunteered Stimpy, curious what was wrong with her leg. Turns out she seems to have an ACL injury. This doesn't slow her down at all, she hops on one leg, balances on the injured one, flies into her coop every night, roosts, lays eggs and scratches in the dirt just fine. Ren is a beautiful roo with an amazing patchwork of colors on him. He was incredibly tame when he lived with us, he just took exception to any footwear that was out of the ordinary, i.e. regular flat, enclosed shoes were fine but he would try to attack your feet if you wore farm boots or sandals! My friend's son was setting up his own farm and had a flock of hens, but wanted a tame rooster because his new wife was somewhat timid around chickens. My friend offered to give us back the last survivor of our original three bantams if we would let her son adopt Ren.
Thus we reunited with our little banty hen, Fuzzy Slippers. After a bit of research (on BYC and other poultry sites) I figured out she was a Belgium booted d'Uccle in the mille fleur coloration. The amazing thing is, she still remembered my son and still has a special language she uses just for him. Lots of soft chuckles and coos.
This is getting long, but I just wanted to add that before having our girls in the back yard, I had the typical attitude of someone that lives far from the land might have towards chickens, that they are filthy, stupid animals that really were only good for eggs and casseroles. I have since learned that chickens are smart, sweet, social, loyal, useful, beautiful, clean and very pleasant companions. I have cared for a friend's parrot on occasion when she was traveling and find chickens to be not very different in temperament or intelligence. Not that anyone I try to tell this to believes me.
I will close by adding a pic of Fuzzy Slippers (she is now 9 and going strong).



To update, Fuzzy Slippers is still going strong (she is 13 now and still gives us an occasional egg, but she has also started crowing (apparently common in geriatric hens) and now prefers to live separate from the main flock. Our poor dear Stimpy was killed 3 years ago by a neighbor's Jack Russell terrier that dug into our yard. By then we had gotten a few Silkies and the dog killed 4 of them also. Our flock now consists of 4 d'Anvers (soon to add more), 4 Silkies, and (in addition to Fuzzy Slippers) 5 4-year-old d'Uccles and 6 d"Uccles hatched by my own hens last summer. My bantams work my garden soil for me and keep my yard pest-free. My son is now 21 and helps me care for our chickens when he is home from college. I have gone from a complete neophyte knowing NOTHING about chickens to being in the beginning stages of setting up a serious breeding program with my little Belgium bantams. Did I ever think I would end up being a crazy chicken lady? Surely not, but I'm enjoying the heck out of it and the feathered kids are always making me laugh. Who could ask for more?
Here is a more recent photo of Fuzzy Slippers and a current photo of one of my babies from last summer.

(Chicken with rice)

 

[turtleboy127]

Ive always wanted chickens idk why, then one day i was at burger king and looked out the window, THERE IS A ROOSTER in the middle of the parking lot ( i live in the city) i captured it and took it home (i was about in 6th grade), and after that ive never had such a good friend as him , we would go on walks, go on bike rides, everywhere, and every morning i would wake up and go in the garage to hangout with him in the morning :""). sang songs to him to fall asleep in my arms. Then one day he started to attack everyone , so I ha to get rid of my best friend. I will always remember my first chicken, now I have 3 more which aren't so close as the first one but still love them