why did you start keeping chickens

[DaraD]

Fresh eggs but I have loved my chickens since they were small fluffy things I would continue to do it with out the eggs.

 

[bruceha2000]

Chicken's are the foundation of a farm. the beauty of all the colors and styles of chickens are breathtaking and who can resist a baby chicken?

That is kind of where I am. Start with the chickens, then add other farm animals that require more daily attention. My daughter is an emotional vegetarian so any animal we raise will either be a pet or provide non-meat products. The omnivores in the family won't be eating any animal she knows personally. I think that limits me to eggs and fiber.

Bruce

 

[shutterfly]

Cute bird .... what kind of chicken ?

 

[CSYohman]

Honestly, my son caught one in a contest at a local Sportsman's show. You catch the chicken, you keep it. We had recently moved to an 18 acre farm, so we went ahead and brought her home. I fell in love with her and wanted more Of course the eggs help too

 

[maidenwolfx80]

Honestly, my son caught one in a contest at a local Sportsman's show. You catch the chicken, you keep it. We had recently moved to an 18 acre farm, so we went ahead and brought her home. I fell in love with her and wanted more Of course the eggs help too

I have heard of this and always wanted to try it lol or at my age watch my kids do it

 

[MemesChicks]

I was in Wilco with my little daughter (she's 19), and it was chick days. I've been there before during chick days, but that day, my little girl was with me. It went something like this: "oh please, Mom...they're so cute!" After promising to take care of them (and I've always wanted chickens), we brought two home. Well, she kept her promise until the girls moved outside. I got two more a couple months later, and my chicken family is doing great. My daughter visits them every now and then, but I'm the one who scoops the poop...I don't mind a bit. She thinks I'm funny. I love all my girls!

 

[Bill1976]

I wanted to keep chickens in the garden in the hopes they would keep the snakes out. I live in an area where we have two different types of Rattlesnakes; the Western Diamondback and the Mojave. I usually find at least one of them in the garden every summer.I figured some chickens running around "investigating" strange things would drive the snakes out. Towards the end of this summer, I was in the garden throwing out some scratch and the two Easter Eggers I have completely flipped out, flapping, squawking and creating quite a commotion in between two rows of corn. I went over to see what they were complaining about and there was a four foot WD Rattler all coiled up. I'd have never known it was there had the chickens not warned me. So, even though they didn't keep it out of the garden, they certainly let me know it was there. The eggs are a nice bonus too.

 

[Ashburnham]

When I grew up in suburban Melbourne in the 1950s everyone had chickens in their backyard.
My father had them beyond my earliest memory.
I started breeding my own when I was about 13. Even when I was a University student in the 70s
I had a couple of chooks in the backyard of our student share house.
Over the years I have also bred ducks, geese, guineas, quail and peacocks.

I currently have about 40 assorted chooks running around my farm.

 

[Ashburnham]

Here's where the fascination began and it has never ended. Me aged 2 or 3 in the 1950s.

 

[DianaMallory]

When I was a child we would go visit my grandmother and she always had chickens. And she made the best fried chicken I have ever had! When we would arrive at her house there was always a bowl of fresh fried chicken on the table waiting for us. I had no clue that she killed her own chickens at the time. I would always beg her to go collect eggs she always told me no, she said it was to dirty in the coop for kids. And she said her chickens were easily spooked and if you spook the chickens you won't get any eggs. When we were outside playing she would always yell out the door watch for snakes and don't scare my chickens!
So when my oldest child {now 29} came home with a permission slip to bring home baby chicks from a school science project I said sure. Well they only had one left and I read that you should have more than one because their chance of survival is greater. Which led me to the feed store and I bought my first chicks. When the were old enough I let them free range. I had 8 golden comets who laid lots of eggs. I decided to coop them up not thinking about predators used chicken wire on my coop and something broke in and killed them all.
I moved and my son {now 23} came home with a permission slip for chickens. This time I decide to go big with a flock, we lived on a 9+ acre farm. My son brought home 2 and I went and bought 25 Golden comets and 2 ducks. When they were ready to go outside not thinking about predators again, I put them in a quantum hut and closed the ends off. I put the ducks in a different building. The next morning it was a over for the chicks. Something dug under the hut and killed them all! I had parts and pieces everywhere! Which brings me to now.
Unemployed to much time on my hands and searching the Internet for greenhouses. I ran across a site that said chicken coops. So last spring I kept looking at this monstrosity of a temporary greenhouse on my back deck and told my husband that it was coming down and getting moved to a different spot and it was going to become a chicken coop! He laughed it off. Then the next week I went to Tractor Farm and supply store. And Hubby wasn't laughing anymore! I bought 6 and went back the next week and bought the last 5 they had. And hubby got real busy with the hammer and nails! And that is what brought me to BYC. I was reading everything I could on the computer to refresh my memory of how to care for chicks and I found this site. As the coop went into construction I started reading on predator proofing! I live in the woods now and there are loads of predators here, so I have to take extra precautions. I will not and can not free range my girls. They get locked in every night and their run is completely covered with hardware cloth. Including six inches into the ground! And there is a motion light on the coop. So far we have been lucky or educated I am not sure which. I want to thank BYC and all the peeps here for all the help and support!