why did you start keeping chickens

[cochins1088]

My father one day randomly said, I found an add on Craigslist for chickens. I had never even thought about chickens before, but it sounded like a good idea to me. I still don't know how he got my mother to agree, but either way we got them! 11 cochin hens, 1 beautiful rooster, and 2 little bantam hens that were thrown in for free. Later that fall I bought myself an incubator and our flock went from 14 to about 36. I then had to sell some of my roosters. But the real chicken math started when I figured out that I could order eggs from show quality birds online. Finally, my parents gave me a limit to the amount of chickens I can keep since they pay for the feed. I can only keep 20 at a time, that is much too small of a number, but it's an amazing hobby that I will always enjoy. If I get stressed with college work, I go down the barn and sit with my chickens, many of them will jump up onto my lap, and my one little silkie named Joey will even snuggle with me and he loves to have his back rubbed.

 

[CuteTxChicks]

My DH finally retired, and we bought a place in the country with this dilapidated old coop. Wanting to save money and be self-sufficient to a certain degree we raised a large garden this summer. Anyway, there was this coop just begging to be filled with chickens... So, TSC had their chicks at Easter. Lost quite a few to predators, but finally got it figured out. I now have 2 RSL's and 3 BR's that are laying daily. (got the first egg from the last of BR's today!) I also have a few younger ones (2 more BRs and 2 BOs). Of course, there is also the non-productive stock.. Cats and dogs and horses.

Chicken math has struck though, and we already need to build a new (larger) coop and run!

 

[tuesdaylove]

I rescued a baby chicken from my school, and once my mom said I could keep her, I wanted to get her a friend. Well, one friend turned out to be five bantams, and now another big hen...

 

[LaynaDon95]

My mom had been wanting chickens for years but
1) we had JUST moved and she was not ready to take on the responsibility
2) she's not much of an animal person and wasn't sure if she even wanted to take on the responsibility at that point
I have always loved animals, but had never been allowed more than a fish because she though I wouldn't take care of them and we lived in a house where most animals weren't allowed. As I said, we had just moved and finally had a house where we were allowed animals. I was bored as the neighborhood we moved to was further out in the country and there were no kids my age. I had nothing to do most days when I was done with chores and school (I'm homeschooled) and I wanted animals BADLY. I offered to take care of a few hens that way, I would have something to take care of and my family could benefit from the eggs. We didn't have a great deal of money to spend on it, so I set to work gathering pallets and scrap wood to build the cheapest chicken tractor I could. I got chicken feed from a family friend for my birthday and a pair of RIRs from my grandmother. I was thrilled! I set to building 2 more chicken tractors an got a couple hens from another friend, and some bantam chicks from another friend. Now we have our coop built and I don't even know how many chickens I have! I think I have about 40. And 8 muscovy ducks, 2 dogs, 7 cats/kittens, 2 rabbits, and a baby squirrel. And I love it!

 

[Barrdwing]

It started quite some time ago when I was in junior high. Mom was always putting us into extra classes after school to squeeze just that much more knowledge into our little heads. One of these was titled "Chicken and the Egg." So after six weeks of learning about egg development, going to the local bird farm to pick out our eggs (I chose a green one and a funny long skinny brown one), incubating them, and weathering the devastating loss of all but four chicks at pip . . . nobody else in the class could take the chicks. By this time my sister and I were convinced we had to have chickens. So we sweet-talked Dad into letting us take the four, promising to help him build a chicken coop.

Dad never does anything by halves, and he designed this 6'X8'X12' coop that was built like the Rock of Gibraltar. We built as fast as we could, which wasn't all that fast considering the size and strength of Dad's helpers, while the chicks grew steadily from cardboard box to guinea pig hutch. The poor things had developed a stoop by the time the coop was finally ready, but eventually learned how to stand up straight. Three of the chicks were pullets; Truffles the rooster was quietly rehomed when he began to crow, as the neighborhood CC&Rs did not allow chickens.

So we had our illicit chickens, and before long we had our first really good eggs, and that was definitely it, the chickens were there to stay. The next year we added a few more chicks from the feed store. We discovered how useful they were for tilling the garden. I discovered how much work it can be to muck out a chicken coop, and also that a 60-pound dog can eat her weight in the chicken manure you just finished spreading on the garden. But all in all it was the most fun ever. Chicken Little, one of our firsts, lived to be thirteen years old, and was a joy and a delightful pet. All in all the Chicken Project lasted about fifteen years.

Fast-forward <ain't tellin'> number of years. When I met my husband-to-be, chickens were part of the pre-nuptial disclosures. I don't think he had any idea just how many birds we were going to end up with, though! Currently we're at over fifty chickens, and seven peafowl. Loving every minute!

 

[kellypepperk]

So we had our illicit chickens, and before long we had our first really good eggs, and that was definitely it, the chickens were there to stay. The next year we added a few more chicks from the feed store. We discovered how useful they were for tilling the garden. I discovered how much work it can be to muck out a chicken coop, and also that a 60-pound dog can eat her weight in the chicken manure you just finished spreading on the garden. But all in all it was the most fun ever.

This is precious! Our pooch loves poo, too! Yuck!

 

[ilovedragons2]

I started keeping chickens when the neighbors chickens wandered into my yard and decided to stay. As they disappeared, I bought a coop and run to keep the remaining hens protected. After they escaped and eventually the rest disappeared I got my own chicks. I've learned a lot the hard way, but thanks to BYC I've gotten better at caring for my "peeps".

 

[Lots A Cluckin]

I have always for as long as I can remember, wanted farm animals, Cows, Goats, Chickens, Horses...etc. and about 8 months ago I started talking about wanting chickens because I thought chickens would be a good and easy start to my farm....my plan was to get 6-8 hens (that plan failed with in 30 min.) After I started researching chickens, I found that there were so many different breeds and colors and those 6-8 chickens soon turned to 16 then 25 and I ended up with 57, sold 9 roosters and 6 chickens died due to the condition they were in before I got them, so now I have 43 chickens, 36 hens and 7 roosters. and next march I will begin my Self Blue (Lavender) Cochin project....so the reason I got chickens is because one, I want a farm with lots of farm animals and chickens are a good start. and two they are so beautiful, funny, and they each have their own personality and make their own decisions...and as a plus they lay eggs!!!! and can produce offspring which can be sold or kept to lay even more eggs and they also produce meat but I would never use my current chickens for meat because I have become too attached to them to eat them...but I do hope to one day grow a few meat chicks.

 

[craftydrae]

I have always wanted chickens.. when I was five years old, I stole an egg from our local garden store from the chicken coop they had there and placed it under my armpit. I was dead set on hatching that egg and wanted that chic so badly. After two weeks or so I ended up dropping it. That was a very sad day for me and I promised my self that when I was all grown up, I would have my own chickens. Well, now at 29 years old and two kiddies of my own, we have close to 50 heritage birds and three pairs of ducks...lol..
Some people get addicted to drugs, or booze but me, well it's all about those fluffy butts! Home grown eggs that taste like nothing you can buy from the store and that good old chicken TV.
They are so much fun to whatch and the kids love it too! It gets them out side and teaches them to be kind, gental and responsible little farmers. It took me a week to build the free range run, the coop and then came the first six pullets... then it was four more.. and then by the time a month or two went by we had ducks from a farmer in the south end and two stunning roosters along with more, yes.. more hens!!! There is something so satisfying about being a chicken farmer. Providing your children and family memebers with fresh free range eggs every day is amazing. In a time when there is a food crisis it is a wise journey to take on and very, very rewarding. Not to metion the poop for our garden beds and providing our neighbor hood with fresh eggs from our farm stand!!! yippie! Good times all around!

 

[PekinBantam]

I've always loved chickens, but where I use to live in Canada we weren't aloud to keep them (Because we lived in the city). But then we moved to the Philippines and SURPRISE!!! My Christmas presents from my uncle was chirping, I opened it and there they were, two fluffy chicks. Ever since then, BOOM, instant chicken addiction, hehe! Now we keep a flock for fresh eggs every morning.