Why do you guys choose to have backyard chickens?

[aoxa]

There really is nothing like grabbing an egg that's still warm and using it right then, is there? Still makes me giggle.

No, there really isn't!

I still feel like a kid searching for Easter eggs when I go out to collect my precious fresh happy eggs!

I never want to support factory farming again. Those whole food companies may buy from better factories than regular supermarkets, but I guarantee that the chickens aren't as happy as mine, and that makes a difference to me.

Anyone ever watch the movie Fresh? Changed the way I live.

 

[mandelyn]

After start up costs I spend $25 a month. More than I'd ever spend on eggs. But I "save" $5 because I get $30 worth of eggs during poor laying... and not sure yet when they're all going... I'll likely be passing a bunch on to family around April.

You don't even have to eat eggs to have a healthy diet, we could have just stopped eating eggs in general. But I LOVE my birds! They are good pets, and they live outdoors year round... no mess in the house. I just like birds though.. from Emu to Parrots. Chickens and ducks in the back yard is the pet that gives back! I have yet to see my dogs pay me back with anything other than love. Or the cat. The fish tank... well I don't know why I have them. Something to look at and the water noise is nice.

My favorite thing to do is go out back to the firepit with a book on a sunny day, let all the birds out, and read, watch, and listen. They'll come visit me.. duck nibbles on my foot.. chicken flying into my lap... very relaxing! Then I gather eggs, and make a quiche for dinner.

 

[activia]

Yes funny I've watched the fresh movie last night but knew most of it already. I have a CSA where I get all my meat from a local farm that raises their animals on pasture. I also get a few dozen eggs however I need to supplement. The eggs at whole foods that I buy are PASTURE raised, they are not from an industrial farm. When I have to buy eggs and cant make it to whole foods I buy the best they have at the supermarket, organic, cage free.... although I'm not thrilled about it. I also supplement my supply of eggs with local eggs from farmers markets in the summer. I get most of my veggies in the summer from farmers markets, but the winter is much more difficult. I keep trying to do better. I'm buying more frozen organic veggies to save on cost and eat less conventional produce. In terms of dairy I also buy only raw milk cheese, pasture raised butter, and a little organic cream for my husband's coffee. I do not buy ANY processed foods. The other "other" things I buy at the supermarket are.... Olive oil, apple cidar/wine vinegar, salt and spices.

You guys would greatly benefit from this site if you haven't seen it already. You are half way there already I'm sure
www.marksdailyapple.com
This is how I live my life... I'm Paleo/Primal. Which is why I want to get into chicken raising. I believe in what I eat, I want to nourish my body and not fill it with chemicals/hormones/antibiotics. I believe a healthy body is disease free (if you watched the fresh movie you will see the animals were disease free as well) I want to live naturally the way we are meant to. I cook all my food and go out to eat less then once a month. I do not believe humans body's are adapted to eat grains and especially not vegetable oils or any processed food. Most modern diseases are caused by our diet/lifestyle. Walk a lot, sprint occasionally, and lift heavy things.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

For me, my hobby farm is just that - a hobby. I'm nowhere near breaking even, let alone making a profit, but it's still cheaper and way more fun than my previous hobby, sport rocketry.

Amen to the comment on mental health! People say how dogs and cats help humans' stress levels, but I find watching chickens being chickens much more relaxing. I'll take a magazine to read on the porch, and end up reading one paragraph 20 times because the birds are more interesting.

So, I would take a holistic approach rather than look solely at cost savings (or lack thereof) by keeping chickens.

 

[harveyhorses]

Started out because I wanted fresh eggs, and my grandparents had them when I was little.
Now I can't imagine not having them. When I work in the garden, they are right there with me. I am just doing soil amending and stuff with my raised beds, they are mini tillers. They are so good for me, just happy being hens. I know some are friendlier than others, but mine are curioius about everything. They mostly don't hurt my cats, (one of them has a really irrisistable tail when it twitches) friends ask if I have seen some show or another, I don't watch TV much any more.
They ground me. It broke my heart when I lost one, (I think she had a bad heart)
Do I save money? Probably break even, but the intagibles add up. My garden has never been as productive as last year, and this year I hope will be the same.

I am 50, single and am caregiver to my disabled brother, and work fulll time at a law firm.

 

[brewdaddy]

I had been lobbying my wife for a while to get Ducks, not chickens. Chickens were a compromise and the selling point for her was when I told her they eat a lot of bugs...

Being avid gardeners, this did the trick!!

We had a HORRIBLE time w/ slugs and snails for years, and after we started our girls free ranging in the back yard near the raised beds, the slug/snail problem went to ZERO.

If you are looking at saving some money preparing for your long term needs - take up growing your own garden and get some chickens - they go hand in hand!

As is said above, factor in the great tasting eggs that you merely have to go out and gather, the great fertilizer, pest control and never underestimate the joy of Chicken TV - it's been worth every penny.

It takes all of a two minutes to gather the 3-5 eggs per day we get (5 hens), and I deal with the feed/water twice a week, about 10 minutes each time. I clean the coop/run more often than needed but even that amounts to about 20 minutes a month...

mj

 

[Clay Mudd]

I'm curious. I was into it because I care about high quality food and would love to practice it.. but after reading all this stuff I'm starting to get turned off. It seems like a lot of cost/effort/time to maintain a flock with a lot of risk and not a lot of payoff. I can go to whole foods and get really good quality pasture raised eggs for $5 a dozen, a local farmer $4. I know I can give them slightly better feed then them... but is it really worth it?

Lots of good responses here, and I agree with most of them. But the biggest reasons for me are

1. What Fred said about chickens as part of the gardening process. My flock provides fertilizer, but control, and tilling. That's actually the notion (by way of studying permaculture) that got me off the fence and down to the feed store to buy my first chicks.

2. I'm not so sure that Whole Paycheck thinks "really good quality pasture raised eggs" means exactly what I think it means. And when I see "organic vegetarian-fed chicken" for sale, I want to slap somebody.

3. Food is just such a fundamental thing that I want as much control over it as possible.

4. The little monsters are such a hoot to watch.

 

[activia]

So much to learn about gardening,I have yet to be that successful!!! This sounds great though. I do have a lot of knowledge to get, and a lot of habits to get into it. Its a bit overwhelming, between learning about chicken raising, to learning how to train my dog how to protect and not eat them, to learning how to garden better, to learning how to have a meal worm farm....I wish I knew someone local that could show me their farm and teach me. Then could come to my house and guide me..

I buy Vital farms (http://www.vitalfarms.com/) eggs from whole foods if I can't get them from a local farmer that raises them free range on grass. I've actually seen them running around and you do have to go egg hunting for them. So it is possible to buy high quality eggs.

No I dont buy vegetarian fed cafe free eggs. That is crap!

 

[HEChicken]

I haven't read every response but for me, well, actually I grew up in a family that kept poultry so the idea was nothing new to me but I went years as an adult without them. A few years ago I started back into it for much the same reasons you stated in your original post - better quality eggs for my family. Initially, my goal was that they would pay for themselves. I downloaded Steve's Chicken Tracker (I can give you the link if you need it) and entered EVERY expense into it. For that reason I tried to keep my startup costs really low. I got a coop for free off freecycle and made my own feeder and waterer, that cost me a total of a buck for both (see my page for details). I entered all other costs - the first chicks, feed etc into the tracker and it calculated my monthly as well as annual expenditures.

The tracker also tracks income. So, the following year when my chicks started laying and I had a few excess, I sold the eggs to local people, and by the end of year two, was pleased to be able to record a monthly income of $3. That doesn't sound like much BUT - it was after all expenses AND, my family's eggs were free.

Somewhere along the way though, they became a hobby about which I am passionate more than just a dispassionate way to feed my family better. I find the personalities charming, their antics entertaining, the sounds they make soothing, and the sight of them free-ranging my backyard calm-inducing. I love having an outlet for all my leftovers, the great, free fertilizer for my vegie garden, the hard-working little tillers (i.e. over the winter they till and fertilize my garden to ready it for spring planting). And of course I love collecting eggs. I get great pleasure out of breaking open an egg and seeing that gorgeous orange yolk and know exactly what went into making it.

DH and I have just purchased 10 acres and my desire to increase my flock paid a large part in that decision making process. By the time I build a LARGE coop, and add to my flock this year, no, there is no way I will probably EVER recoup my expenses. But my outlook has changed. Now I am not just looking at it as a way to feed my family, but as a hobby. I've had a lot of hobbies over the years and every one of them has cost a significant amount to maintain so - I now approach it from the point of view that this is a hobby and I am willing to spend money on my hobby.

 

[Tressa27884]

I probably shouldn't answer this right now as I just found my very first hen dead and I am DEVASTATED!

It's good I don't have a gun or I'd shoot my ****** dog - and worst thing about it is it's MY fault.....

1. They each have their own personality and they 'know' you.
2. The variety of eggs; blue, green, brown, red, pink, speckled, oh yeah and boring old white.
3. They are fun
4. They steal your heart
5. Easy fun maintenace [15 minutes twice a day and then about an hour once a week - if you don't deep litter]
6. Fresh eggs are WAY better than store bought
7. I barter my eggs for all sorts of things
8. Did I mention they are fun?
9. They eat spiders and I HATE spiders
10. They eat mosquitos and I HATE mosquitos
11. My kids dig them
12. Until you have them you can't appreciate just how cool they are.