Why do you keep chickens and what got you into it?

[Iheartmyhens]

Why do I have chickens? Mainly because I can!
I am in southern California, never had chickens before, but I moved in with my boyfriend years ago in LA County and we can actually have hens(no roosters). The egg quality can't be beat! The taste of eggs from backyard chickens is SO much better than anything you can buy in the store.

One of my man's first valentines day presents for me was to build a chicken coop

I should also add that one of the main reasons my boyfriend wanted to get chickens again was for the nutritional value of the eggs. We have both gone low carb over the past few years, and a large part of that is eating as many unprocessed foods as possible. From what we have read, the nutritional value of grass fed beef is higher than corn fed, & I'm sure that the nutritional value of eggs from free ranging hens is higher, even with a bit of scratch or other suppliments.

Also, cooking an egg destroys some of the valuable health benefits of eating them-since we know where our eggs are coming from it's much safer to add a raw egg to a smoothie etc if we choose to do so than an egg bought from a store.

 

[Break an Egg]

My husband had chickens in NM, and when we moved into the house we are in now he was saying we should get some because out backyard is huge and he said I would love them.
I thought he was crazy. lol
I did some research here at BYC and I loved the varieties there were of chickens! I bought 3 EE chicks at a feedstore and fell in love.

My first three are gone now, thanks to a hawk

and a stray dog

but they will always be missed, and they have insured that I will always have chickens in the future.


I was actually asked this question on easter by a friend of my mom. I told her that chickens are cool pets that lay me breakfast.

 

[joedie]

We live on a small farm and a few years ago my DH said he'd like to get a "few Chickens". Well, I took that idea and ran with it. Last year I got 32 pullets (one turned out to be a rooster but thats OK. I'm now waiting for 20 plus BCMs that are being hatched by Bishops. I don't know why I even ordered these because I have a hard time selling all the eggs that I have now. I really like the chickens. They are very entertaining creatures and I also think the eggs are much better for you. After reading The Omnivores Dilemma, we now grow organic heirlooms, have added 6 Scottish Highland cattle to the farm and are trying to be more self sufficient. I want to know where my food comes from and what it ate. So I guess the chickens meet a little bit of a lot of needs.

 

[Mrs. Green Thumbs]

Your going to get a lot of great responses to this thread from the people here. I can say from where I am (just getting started) and as a person that hmmed and hawed over the decision that I am thrilled with my choice to go for it. I was nervous about the responsibility, I was worried about the work, and I was afraid of the cost. Well I have found so much more than just meat and egg's that we benefit from our chick's. We enjoy the entertainment, these creatures not only have a different personality and behavior from breed to breed but also from individual to individual. All my girls are VERY different in their behavior. We have also see compassion and kindness in these bird's even protectiveness in one that we believe to be a roo. There is so much to enjoy, there is nothing like watching them scratch and play tug o worm or dust bathe, or to watch a fist sized chick peck at a chihuahua. Then you get to thinking to yourself... all these years chicken's have suffered for my breakfast, for my cake's. They suffered and how did I repay them? They weren't even appreciated for there massive sacrifice of any thing resembling a life. And to top it off... what is actually in each egg or chicken breast I buy? Antibiotics? Hormones? who know's. And to top it off I'm a gardener, the poo that my chicken's produce is very valuable to me. I add it to my compost and after a few month's I have fertile rich compost to add to my garden.

Positives:

Respected animal that I depend upon for food and companionship

Healthy family because I'm not feeding them food that could be tainted with chemicals.

Less carbon foot print. My food came from my back yard, it travels by foot about 24 feet from the hen house to the frying pan... how far have those grocery store egg's come to make it to the plate?

More nutrient's for my garden.

Negatives:

Of course you still have to rake up and clean out the coop.

ummm...... can't think of anything else







now... as far as cost has gone, if you take your time and stay adamant about recycling old used product's you can save a lot of money. So far Iv spent under 100 bucks for the brooder, chick feed, pine shaving's, small feeder small water container, heat lamp, a rabbit hutch we are going to convert into a very nice coop, and fence slats to build a chicken run. I expect to spend around 100 bucks to finish the coop, the run, and a chicken tractor.

 

[SmartyChick]

Our friends were moving to the city and couldn't take there 7 chickens, so they called us up and it was all downhill from there.

 

[rooster0209]

I married a farmer and we live out in the country!

The wood ticks were so bad, my poor doxie came out of the trees with 36 on her. I read about guineas and thought I could raise those. The next spring, I ordered keats. DH fixed a corner of the hog house for them and by summer time they were doing their thing and completely maintenance free. The ticks were almost gone! I decided, hey if I can do guineas, I can do chickens. DH converted one side of the hog house for the chickens, I bought a bator and some friends gave me eggs to hatch.

Just so you know, when we got married DH gave the chicken coop away. He just knew there would never be birds on this farm again. (his mom grew up in our house)

 

[Makenziejh]

My Freashman year I joined FFA. My Advisor told us about our SAE project. No one was doing anything very interesting with their project, they all did something on their dogs or their job. I went home and asked my mom if we could get some chickens for my project. I honestly didnt think she would say yes, but she did!

I was so excited. So I got the chickens and then I joined 4-H so this year Im going to show them at the state fair. I love my chickens, they are an excelent sorce of entertainment and love, not just eggs

 

[Zahboo]

I got them for my Highschool FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience. We have to have 20 hours of ag stuff. I didn't have a clue. I tried a rabbit and god that thing was EVIL! He's smack his feet on his cage and charge at you. I think he was abused, we got him off CL. So we gave him to a rabbit rescue. I still needed 18 hours after the rabbit! I searched craigslist for the little ponds so I could do a landscape and saw Dominique chickens for FREE, coop included. I figured HMMMMMM get to save my money, raise a few stupid birds and get this over with. Maybe eat them once they're grown. Well I fell in LOVE with them! Rosa, Tosa and Kosa LOL. They were sweet but ALL turned out to be roosters. I got them at 3 weeks and didn't know ( I think the guy knew though) So anyway, I got into bantams and am hooked. I love bantams more than standards so traded flock for flock and now own Silkies and cochins. They are my little fluffy sunshines and are easy to care for, keep my mind busy and hilarious to watch.

 

[moderndayhippy]

The aha moment for me was while watching the movie Food Inc. I knew that we could do better for our personal food supply, and part of that plan was eggs, which goes along with eating less meat. So I went online, looked in our area for chickens, and found someone selling on Craigslist. He turned out to be a great man, and we got our 5 girls from him. We will be getting 3 more Aracaunas from him in the next few weeks too.

Our girls give us eggs, so in turn I feel that we should take excellent care of them. We just built them a nice roomier permanent run, and we give them lots of fresh grass, worms, and their pellets too. I also clean their coop once or twice a week to make sure that they aren't walking around in their own feces, out of respect for them.

They are a little spoiled, but they're worth it to me.