why did you start keeping chickens

[AndyCap]

Why did i start keeping chickens?

It was a saturday morning after a heavy thunderstorm on friday night and far too many beers. I staggered out to hang up some washing and found this little thing in my garden. (Note, apologize, but i was still in boxer shorts, i was hungover)



it followed me around and peeped at me and i thought it was the cutest thing ever. I have no idea where it came from, but started reading as much about poultry as i could, and found this great site.

Looking back on the early days i am surprised my first chicken survived. i left the poor thing outside with a bowl of scratch and water all day, it could only have been five or six weeks old . He turned out to be a beautiful rooster, and he introduced me to the world of chickens on that fateful hungover saturday

 

[TallChickMagnet]

Why did i start keeping chickens?

It was a saturday morning after a heavy thunderstorm on friday night and far too many beers. I staggered out to hang up some washing and found this little thing in my garden. (Note, apologize, but i was still in boxer shorts, i was hungover)



it followed me around and peeped at me and i thought it was the cutest thing ever. I have no idea where it came from, but started reading as much about poultry as i could, and found this great site.

Looking back on the early days i am surprised my first chicken survived. i left the poor thing outside with a bowl of scratch and water all day, it could only have been five or six weeks old . He turned out to be a beautiful rooster, and he introduced me to the world of chickens on that fateful hungover saturday

 

[Bingfajardo]

I wanted fresh, free range and fertilized eggs which i believe is much healthier than those sold in the market. And i like eggs a lot i can up to 4 eggs daily! Don't believe the crap that eggs are loaded with bad cholesterol. i am 53 years old and my BP is 120/80! LOL

 

[Chambertin]

I got chickens because most of our town has chickens, and we all get each other interested in them, and 10 minutes down the road we have a rare and unusual chicken breeder (she breeds rare and unusual chickens) and they looked so fun, it was just too hard to resist!

I'm quite confident that All chicken people are "rare and unusual" in one way or another.
hehe

I bought a couple chicks and turkeys because my mother in law was thinking of having a chicken farm. I was pretty convinced she didnt knew exactly what this meant and wanted to start small. I really never expected them to survive the first couple weeks, let alone last long enough to lay eggs.
The turkeys are scheduled for a November sendoff, but the chickens are here to stay. After adding 22 more I still think there's enough space for a couple extra interesting ones. Apartment is getting crowded, luckily the coop is done.

It has been quite a change, but I love it.
Now my business plans are to start a farm. Hopefully eggs first then meat and exotic breeds. I just hope I can make the money needed for property. Back to work!

 

[JNB]

For me it was a little Nostalgia.... I had raised chickens on my parents farm when i was little and really had a lot of good memories from it. I had lived in the city for some time and was now living back on the family farm. I loved fresh eggs and wanted something that was mine.. to do in my time.. My daughter was turning into a teen ager and didnt need me as much

Thats how I got started. I kept doing it and got more because I found that I get so much peace and such from caring for the birds and watching "chicken tv" Not to mention I really learned about and liked that I could have an active part in what my family and I were eating.

 

[tomecarsley]

Prepper mindedness. Trying to be self-sufficient, at least starting. In the learning and study stages. Eggs, composted poop for an eventual garden. 6 hens, and they kinda grow on ya after awhile. Wanting more land to have more chickens!

 

[UnlabeledMama]

Hmm, so many reasons ... my husband was laid off last year and I decided once he had a job again I wanted us to be more self sufficient. My mom and grandmother used to have chickens so my first steps have been gardening and chickens. It also makes me feel better to see where our food comes from! I also want my children (6, 3 and one on the way) to have the responsibility of raising their food. People should know that food comes from more then the grocery store and what goes into that plate of food.

We split an order of 50 brown egg layers from Murray McMurray Hatchery with a couple other families and 56 came in the box so we ended up with 22! They are 5 weeks old now and my daughter adores them and we are all quite fond of them - even my husband who was just doing it to make his pregnant wife happy!

We can't wait to get eggs from them this spring!

 

[PGRanch]

I started because I have loved them my entire life! My dad kept chickens and I spent most of the day with them, hunting for bugs for them in the woods.

Now I finally have my own ranch and flock. Life couldn't be any better

 

[RangingChicks]

It seems that there aren't many people who stick to their original number of chickens that they wanted in the first place......

 

[Canadian chicks]

Well I'm sixteen-years old but when i got my first chick i was only three and i went to my papa's and he had chickens and pheasants and quail and ducks. I love animals so much that he let me take one of his chicks but i didn't really know how to take care of it and we lived in the city so it only lasted two weeks and then died i think it was because i never heated but i didn't know it was living in a box in my closet i thought it was fine. In the spring of 2012 (this year) i was only fifteen-years old and Ive wanted animals for my whole life and Ive always been taking care of my dogs and cats so I asked my dad if i could get animals we moved to the country eight years ago and we have three acres of grass and trees, so he said there was no reason not to if i had the chicken coop made in time for our towns annual fur and feather show (Mount Forest fair grounds, people bring there animals to sell and trade and just show there prized animals). i bought four chickens and then two weeks later my friend who also got some gave me four more because he realized that he bought to many. Then last month in the fall fur and feather show (there is two of them in a year) i bought seven more and eat the eggs that the girls lay and i had two roosters so i bargained them to my neighbour for him tilling my garden he ate them. i figured that i would eat my hens when they stopped laying eggs but it kinda hard to tell which ones lays eggs and which ones don't so i don't know how i will tell within two years who has stopped laying eggs but that's OK I'm fine with just keeping them as pets my moms not to excited to eat them anyways.