Why do you raise chickens?

[chicken pickin]

I Love keeping Chickens. We started in Feb of 2012 Ordered our 1st 12 chickens All sexed pullets The thought of a rooster frightened us a little as we just moved into our new house(didnt want neighbors to hate us). We built Coop number 1 for our soon to be egg laying girls and all was well. They were the best pets by far we have ever owned. They have names and come when called my kids can all handle them fantasticly. Chicken Love struck us. Because we loved our chickens so much it was hard to think of chicken as food but I knew If I wanted to get more into chickens Id have to get passed that and why not teach the kids more. They were already seeing that our eggs come straight from our chickens right in our yard, breakfast served fresh every morn. So we took the next step and while at the local feed store I picked up the last 4 Broad Breasted White turkey poults they had for the season This was in June 2012. I gave 2 poults to our friend and we raised the other 2 for Thanksgiving and christmas dinner. In July 2012 I thought hey we are raising turkeys for meat may as well order some cornish cross chickens for meat also. So I did that too, 25 of them. In July 2012 I also decided I was going to miss my White turkeys When they went to freezer camp So we went to a local breeder and picked up 5 Bourbon Red poults to raise for eggs and breeding. We will sell eggs and poults and raise a few poults for our own table. In Sept we processed our White Turkeys and all 25 CX and had a freezer FULL of meat. But now all my babies were gone So the next week I went to a local chicken swap and while browsing I told myself no buying chickens. Well.... I came home with Four 6week old Japanese Bantams. I soone realized I had 1 pullet and 3 roos and was like oh no we have to get rid of at least 2 Roosters. My next thought was they are so tiny they will need more heat in the winter. DING I know they need a few big girls to house with. So on craigslist I went and found Marans chicks for sale locally. I went to pick up 2 day olds and came home with 4 I ended up with 3 pullets and 1 rooster. SO now my chickens are getting bigger and I decided I cant part with any of my rooster(sorry neighbors) So I built a Bantam house and I have the Marans house and the original big girls house and the Turkey house and the meat chicken tractor and Im picking up a grow out pen from a friend. Oh and to add to my chicken crazy My DH very nicely bought me an incubator for and early Xmas gift. We hatched out 15 chicks from 16 eggs on christmas eve. They are 2 weeks old in my bathroom brooder and Silly me I just set another 24 eggs in the incubator a few days ago. I think coop num 5 is gonna be just around the corner.

So I voted on the poll and when it started less than a year ago My answer would have been for eggs. Now it is for every answer ALL OF THE ABOVE.

Oh yeah my total -

20 chickens -16 hens 4 roosters

had 15 chicks sold 6 = 9 chicks in brooder

24 eggs in incubator

5 Turkeys

And a freezer full

 

[spotsplus]

I've had chickens about 7-8 years now. I have 16 right now and mostly I have them as pets and egg layers. I love to get the fresh eggs but I give most of them away because except for me my family isn't that into eggs. I love to just watch them out in my yard. I enjoy going to watch at shows and other chicken events. I currently have a mixed flock of different breeds- mostly bantams. A few years ago I had my two incubators running year round and hatched out Orloffs, different color D'Uccles and D'Anvers, Polish, Dutch, Cochin and Seramas. I enjoyed doing that. Each spring I order chicks and keep a few and sell a few. I live in a residential area so we can't have roosters so I have to order chicks rather than hatch them out. My favorites are bantam Cochins, Old english, Sebright, D'Anvers and D'Uccles.

 

[BrendaJ]

I started watching videos on where our food comes from.. yuck. I am making small changes & started with eggs. My eggs now come from happy girls on my property & not a gross factory.

 

[Roxannemc]

Ive lived in the country !% years every springs ticka are allll over an on us daily.Last spring i bought * chicks delved into every aspects of chicks and breeds colors..fell in love with lavender orp then other colors breeds bought an incubator as couldnt find los near me....incubator equals hatch addiction equal thirty chickens and counting.Hope to hatch and sell chicks to pay for feed coops runs

 

[TallChickMagnet]

You get some chickens and discover they are so much fun and you keep getting more chickens or you discover a new breed that you just have to have and get more chickens... basically it means you want more chickens! For example: I started with 4 chickens and stopped with 107 chickens.

x2 - This is chicken math... they keep multiplying...

 

[VincentVanCrow]

I've been vegetarian for over 10 years now and my main reasons initially were because I disagreed with factory farming. Cutting meat out was easy but I'm not organized enough to become vegan. Too much effort. So I want to have eggs that I know came from happy birds, my girls and roosters are spoiled and loved. I feel no guilt eating their eggs as I know they don't care if I take them and they are happy and living the way a chicken should live, feeling the sun and the wind, scratching in the dirt and foliage, eating bugs and grass and getting as much snuggles and petting as they want.

Plus they are just so darn cute and entertaining. And they appreciate my fine rooster crowing imitations, which, for some strange reason, no one else in the family is impressed by. Go figure.

 

[poultrygirl2000]

We raise chickens to eat and sell their eggs and because its fun!