"Why the heck do you have chickens?"

[Elmochook]

Me, too!! Only thing is, the main thing I did destructive damage to was my elbow and wrist. Tendinitis stinks. But I have a nice duck house and pen to show for it--and another eight months of recovery left, according to my hand surgeon. Unfortunately, the tendinitis isn't the worst of it, but the torn and subluxed stuff wasn't from the power tools.

Ouch. Glad you have a while to recover. Sending healing energy your way.

 

[Elmochook]

We have free pallets on craigslist here in New Orleans all the time. Good luck

Oh yes. Im on cl every day looking. My feed store saves them for me too now.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I got my first little chirpy box of 6 in April because at the time I was pregnant and wanted something to keep me busy. I ended up losing the baby a couple months after that but i still had my chooks and my sweet little only child... So yeah, i admit i use chicks as a fluffy little filler of the hole in my heart. This new batch is here around the time the new baby was supposed to be here.

I have since been asked why i like them... Why i keep getting more etc...?
What made you decide to start raising chicks/chickens?

So very sorry for your loss! So glad you found something to distract you for now! Chickens are so funny and fun to try to keep a head of, as they are so smart. I had my first hen when I was about 8 y/o. Found her down the street from my Grandmother's house in New Orleans (people have always kept chickens in our city and still do) My Grandmother made me go house to house and ask if anyone had lost a chicken, as I left to find out if I got to keep her, My Grandmother yelled "If they say yes it's their's, make them tell you what color it is." (it was white LOL) I think she really wanted to let me keep her. And I got to keep her. Fast forward 45 years and my DH and I along with DD who was about 8 at the time got a backyard flock that we have had over 6 years. I can't tell you how much our flock has ment to all of us, even some of the older folks in the neighborhood. Good luck to you I hope you enjoy you flock as much as we have ours.

 

[Coop's Coop]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Many of us have been there too. So hard. But I bet chickens are great therapy for it.

I've always wanted a few backyard chickens but it was my 12yo son that got this started. My son's 6th grade science teacher decided to incubate some chicks in the classroom ( great teacher). Of course all the kids wanted to take the chicks home so he kept begging me to sign his permission slip. I told him that if he researched the best breed of chicken for our suburban secret chicken farm then we could get a couple of chicks, but that we would try to make sure they were hens and the right breed who like to be cuddled. Well he spent hours researching! He used all of his birthday money and good grades money and some of his savings to buy the chicks and the used coop. He bought a Speckled Sussex ( she's the coolest bird ever) and a Buff Brahma ( super sweet girl). Then we decided that we simply MUST have Silkies! So now we have two splash Silkies as well....chicken math! 4 is our max that our coop/run/yard can handle so here we are with our miniflock! I love them! They get daily cuddles.

Now his science teacher is incubating duck eggs! I gave my son a huge NO, don't think about it! Lol!

 

[lazy gardener]

Possibly weird question but do you know what the hand tool you use to gather hay thats growing if you dont have a tractor?

Scythe. I have my Dad's scythe. There's a satisfaction of using one. It has the long grass blade, and a short bush blade.

Me, too!! Only thing is, the main thing I did destructive damage to was my elbow and wrist. Tendinitis stinks. But I have a nice duck house and pen to show for it--and another eight months of recovery left, according to my hand surgeon. Unfortunately, the tendinitis isn't the worst of it, but the torn and subluxed stuff wasn't from the power tools.

Bodily injury is one of the curses of an active life style. However, I'll gladly take that pain instead of reaping the results of a sedentary life style. I have knee and hip issues, bilat plantar fascitis, have had shoulder surgery, and hands and wrists pay the price for my activities. Back, sometimes, neck always due to being rear ended when I was in my 20's But, I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in.

I had my first hen when I was about 8 y/o. Found her down the street from my Grandmother's house in New Orleans (people have always kept chickens in our city and still do) My Grandmother made me go house to house and ask if anyone had lost a chicken, as I left to find out if I got to keep her, My Grandmother yelled "If they say yes it's their's, make them tell you what color it is." (it was white LOL) I think she really wanted to let me keep her. And I got to keep her.

One of my first hens (in addition to the bantam chicks hatched in 6th grade) was a broiler hen that fell off a truck on her way to the processing plant. She was a fat old biddy with a mean streak a mile long. We had to feed her with a piece of PVC through the chicken wire, b/c she was a biter. Of course, I took such biting seriously when I was a kid, but now, I'd simply walk through such a biddy, and not give her the satisfaction of "the bite".

 

[Ursuline Chick]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Many of us have been there too. So hard. But I bet chickens are great therapy for it.

I've always wanted a few backyard chickens but it was my 12yo son that got this started. My son's 6th grade science teacher decided to incubate some chicks in the classroom ( great teacher). Of course all the kids wanted to take the chicks home so he kept begging me to sign his permission slip. I told him that if he researched the best breed of chicken for our suburban secret chicken farm then we could get a couple of chicks, but that we would try to make sure they were hens and the right breed who like to be cuddled. Well he spent hours researching! He used all of his birthday money and good grades money and some of his savings to buy the chicks and the used coop. He bought a Speckled Sussex ( she's the coolest bird ever) and a Buff Brahma ( super sweet girl). Then we decided that we simply MUST have Silkies! So now we have two splash Silkies as well....chicken math! 4 is our max that our coop/run/yard can handle so here we are with our miniflock! I love them! They get daily cuddles.

Now his science teacher is incubating duck eggs! I gave my son a huge NO, don't think about it! Lol!

I love that your son used his own money, (especially good grade money) sounds like DD, who used 2 years of high school scholarship money to buy a truck this year as she will be driving soon. It's 10 years old and she is so proud of it as all her hard work at school provided the money to buy her truck. You sound like you have a great son, good luck with your chickens!

 

[DaviJones]

Y'all gotta get a SAWSALL! I'm IN LOVE WITH IT!

I love Sawsalls! It's the only reason my coop cost less than 25 dollars(needed to buy screws and hinges, free lumber though!)

 

[sunflour]

Thank you! I always wanted chickens too since i was a kid and i played in my grammas abandoned hen house.

I used to love to walk barefoot in my grandad's chicken yard

I lost my little boy at 8 months pregnant.

So sorry

I have always loved birds. All types. But never felt good about having something decorative.

When I moved to a country rental space a few years back, I was able to put in a garden. I asked if I could have a few chickens, and the landlords said yes. I had chickens brooding in my city apartment a week later before I even moved up to the new place.

Fast forward 6 years, and I now am a full-time farmer with a new flock of 50 arriving next month.

The birds are the best.

, sorry I missed your Welcoming. Brooding in an apartment and now increasing to 50 newbies, that is truly chicken math

 

[Coop's Coop]

I love that your son used his own money, (especially good grade money) sounds like DD, who used 2 years of high school scholarship money to buy a truck this year as she will be driving soon. It's 10 years old and she is so proud of it as all her hard work at school provided the money to buy her truck. You sound like you have a great son, good luck with your chickens!

That's awesome! I think they care for their things more when they have to work hard to buy them. My 12yo is just like me...a critter lover!

 

[Angela Thomson]

I LOVE DUCKS! They are the messiest creatures on the planet! I am thinking about buying an incubator and trying to hatch a call duck.
'Why the heck do you have ducks'!! HAHA