Pros & Cons of raising a few chickens...
I live in a village up here in New York State on the Vermont border. Herself is thinking about raising a few chickens...three or four she says. She,( me ), plans on buying one of those small chicken hotels from Tractor Supply.
I know nothing about chicken except they taste good. She's looking for eggs and meat.
What do I need to know. Should I try and talk her out of this?
-
Not that hard. Keeping the varmints out is paramount. They’ll have some good literature at T/S.
3 -
They're quite affectionate!
Keep the vermon at Bay, and if you want eggs in the winter, they'll need a heat lamp.
3 -
Aside from the possibility of becoming infected with Salmonella, Listeria, or E.coli from coming in contact with even healthy chickens or their poop, you will get free eggs and meat. 😕
6 -
Tried it here. Coyote , fox , raccoons and the neighbors dog ate chicken. I gave up.
0 -
Cheaper to buy chicken when you want it and eggs when you need them. Don
12 -
Pros, satisfaction of seeing them grow and produce a commodity, eggs and meat for the table.
Cons, keeping them healthy and alive, varmints love eggs and chickens to.
Keeping them on your own property, chicken poop and the noise they can make.
Got to feed and water them daily.
Good luck with your endeavor.
3 -
I have raised and had chickens for 18 years. They are easy to care for and fun, get a dozen Rhode Island reds you will have the best jumbo eggs you ever ate. after six months of age. Do not get the overpriced coops at TC. Make your own, use scrap lumber and chicken wire for a cage. A ramp to a roosting 2x4, fresh water and feed in the winter is all you need. I fenced in an area of about 1/4 acre for my chickens. During the summer cracked corn is candy for them.
If you clip their wings two or three times they learn to not try to fly out of the fence. Unless you grow veggies you can let them roam in the summer but they are hell on fire eating tomato's and other veggies you want for yourself.
Some will die for no known reason, so a dozen is a good start. If getting bitties (baby's) use any home made box enclosure you can build for next to nothing. A heat lamp is a must, this is the best time of year to start a flock. You DO NOT need rooster for them to lay eggs but I have "BIG ROO" to keep the girls company and make racket. Make sure they have fresh water and food. Hang the feeders otherwise they play king of the hill and crap in the food. Use fine wood chips in the baby's room, cleaning it often.
Do not wash eggs, there is a antibacterial coating on them that keeps cooties out of the eggs. They live 7-10 years. Vermin are a problem so closing them in at dark will keep them from feeding possums, coons and weasels. If dogs attack my chickens, they never make it back home, just sayin'.
18 -
Well, it's good and bad. Love those range eggs but you better have a varmit proof house and I mean varmit proof or you will find them dead in the AM. At my age not a chance in hell would I do it but did for many years as a kid and in my middle years/
0 -
They lock you in for daily chores. But I love eggs.
3 -
And, as a bonus, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit, it is awesome fertilizer for your garden
0 -
back story We ( as in my wife ) have had chickens for as long as I can remember back fist batch she wanted (a short time after getting married ) to butcher as her dad always did . she got to attached so it never happened now that was a long time ago whlie she at work one day I cleaned house DRT .
but since then they have all been pets no one gets capitol punishment
skip ahead we have turkeys geese ducks chickens in two separate pens ( other wise the roosters just plain beat the hens to death doing what roosters do ) wife makes pets out of them all
we have lost some to racoons even a mink once yotes pace around the pen but have never got to them they could easy but just do not try I find that odd but oh well good for the poultry
+ side if you eat them you know how there were fed and how old the are , of course the eggs we give away so many eggs even feed them back to the chickens after boiling the eggs and mashing them into tiny pieces we eat maybe a dozen or two a month counting what's used in cooking
down side no matter the weather you have to make sure they have food water and shelter ( ours have nice living quarters ) and feed them I would guess 40,00 a month easy on cracked corn and layer crumbles ( ball park 10.00 a bag ) I stop by the day old bread store get a grocery cart load of bread for about 8,00 they love it
JMHO for all the years of having them trust me I rather pay the 1.50 a dozen for eggs at the store than mess with chickens
we have enough cats about 13 or 14 ) and four dogs to take care of the pet situation
0 -
You will be the protector/security guard of HER chickens.
That is just one hint.
6 -
I love having chickens.
This is their house. It is an old "play house" we picked up cheap! Heavy as hell, but secure!
IMAG0012
Explore mercury_hess' photos on Flickr. mercury_hess has uploaded 3825 photos to Flickr.9 -
Buy her a hatchet and write her name on the handle. See what her expression says.
How do YOU feel about offing a few chickens?
6 -
My first coop was a portable one, made from scrounged and scrap lumber. I had oak rails from a library installed to hold the fence, about a 6X10 foot area. Every three days or so I pulled it another 20 feet with my tractor to fresh grass, the chickens ate no feed during the spring, summer and fall. Grass and bread from the day old surplus store was all they got. I made sure they had fresh water every day or so.
I have given hundreds of dozens of eggs away. I eat three eggs every morning for breakfast and if being lazy will make eggs for dinner too.
Raising chickens is easy, they just do their own thing. It is fun to watch them tear a trapped mouse to bits eating every piece of it. Bugs are gone, weeds and grass is mowed too.
During winter I use a heated dog bowl to give them water, I feed them pellets costing about $100.00 for the winter months. It is well worth it to me.
3 -
I have had a few always less than 6, off and on for the last 25 years or so, I like the fresh eggs and enjoy watching them.
They are not much work, let em out of coop in the morning and put em back in before dark. Water and feed while you do that.
If you start from the chicks in the box with heat lamp as mentioned, when ready to go into their permanent coop which should be fenced in unless you are gonna free range them (meaning poop everywhere) make sure you place them in to the coop for a couple of days, then when you let them out to the fenced area, they will be accustom to the coop and know it is "safe" and will go back in to it, else good luck trying to chase them in if they are just set free in the fenced area.
I built a coop 20 plus years ago and just rebuilt it (new plywood, roof, shingles and wire) at the end of last year, currently have two hens that started laying last month and as mentioned, you don't need rooster unless you plan to raise more from the eggs and then will need an incubator... easier to go to feed/tractor store and buy a few more if you lose them to other critters and you will...
Good luck, I do enjoy watching them and they can be affectionate like said above.
3 -
OK :
Easy answer for Me !
Neighbor has the chore / fun of raising Chickens !
and :
I get all the free eggs I can eat !
Thanks !
3 -
dcon12: 31515665909787/comments/31515636583835
Cheaper to buy chicken when you want it and eggs when you need them. Don
Yep
Typical price of a box of 60 eggs runs around $4 here. Whole chickens cleaned and plucked 80 cents a lb., 10 lbs of leg quarters cost $3.79.
I know chicken * makes good fertilizer, but 50lb bags of triple 13 cost $15 they dont stink or have to be shoveled
0 -
chiefr: 31515665909787/comments/31515637580699
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11257582#Comment_11257582
Yep
Typical price of a box of 60 eggs runs around $4 here. Whole chickens cleaned and plucked 80 cents a lb., 10 lbs of leg quarters cost $3.79.
I know chicken * makes good fertilizer, but 50lb bags of triple 13 cost $15 they dont stink or have to be shoveled
Store bought eggs have yellow yolks, and are pretty blah tasting.
Fresh farm eggs have bright orange yolks, and taste amazing.
Same goes for home raised eating chicken. Broilers, or fryers, which are different from egg layers, taste a lot better than store bought. I let the eating chickens out into a big pen every day, where they eat grass and bugs. I start cutting their feed with corn about 1/2 way through their 10 week life, and slowly up the corn until it's 100% of the feed.
Mmmmm. Fresh chicken.
6 -
If you saw how commercial egg producing chickens are treated you would get your own flock. The commercial operators sell the hens when egg production drops. You can buy them for 2 bucks. The sad thing is they can't walk. The cages are too small for them to move around in. I bought four from a local egg farm. It took them 10 days to start walking and going out with the other chickens. I think the freedom blew their minds a bit.
6 -
A buddy of mine had chickens for years and he always kept a pair of Guinea hens with them. Guinea hens are about the most effective 'watchdog' you can have as far as alerting to predators. Russ would hear the Guinea's acting up and would head out with whatever firearm was handy. I don't think he ever lost a chicken to a predator when his Guinea's were on the job.
They also lay some HUGE eggs.
6 -
cbxjeff: 31515665909787/comments/31515650649755
Aside from the possibility of becoming infected with Salmonella, Listeria, or E.coli from coming in contact with even healthy chickens or their poop, you will get free eggs and meat. 😕
The chickens we have, Rhode Island Reds, two of them, we didn't ask for. They just showed up here, in need of TLC, and we took them in and got them healthy. They give us eggs pretty regularly. One of them is very friendly, actually a pet.
I've never worried much about zoonotic diseases. I've always heard that turtles carry and pass on Salmonella, but I've kept turtles off and on for 60 years or so, and I've never been very conscientious about washing up after handling them, and I've never caught Salmonella. So, I don't worry about catching something from the chickens.
One day we came home and found one of our chickens outside the yard, badly injured. She could not have gotten over the fence by herself, so we think a hawk or a black vulture got her, and carried her outside the yard, and then found her too heavy to fly with, and dropped her on the ground. The chicken had a broken left leg, a broken breast bone, and some nasty puncture wounds in her back. I thought she was a goner, but not so my little bride. We moved a small coop into the house, and Doctor Dawnie set to work rehabilitating this injured bird. After about 5 months, the chicken is back to pretty much normal, and walks with only the tiniest limp.
21 -
Good luck, I hope you do not have a bird dog.
0 -
I enjoy the harvesting of these beauties. My chickens are totally free range so I go on an egg hunt daily. One of the easiest critters to raise for a mini farmer.
15 -
select-fire: 31515665909787/comments/31515652440859
Good luck, I hope you do not have a bird dog.
We have three large dogs. Two are Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd crosses. One is a light coat (almost white) Golden Retriever. They leave our chickens alone.
When Dawnie found the first chicken, the one we call Doris, she was outside the fence. Dawnie picked her up and brought her into the house. The dogs were curious, but they soon figured out that the chicken was welcome here.
The second chicken, Lucy, was inside our yard when we first saw her. We let the dogs out to potty and they also found Lucy. Even though Lucy was a chicken just like Doris, she was strange to the dogs and they were VERY curious, chasing her around the yard, trying to get a sniff. Of course, Lucy was in a panic, and making the loudest shrieks I ever heard from a chicken, and she ran from us as well. We put the dogs in the house and I got a landing net and caught Lucy. She had nearly no feathers, but she has healed up nicely. She has settled into living here, but she still tries to avoid contact with us, unlike Doris, who will come when called, and who has even jumped up onto my lap just to visit.
I like our chickens, and when/if we get a larger coop, we will probably get a few more.
9 -
Guinea hens are good watch dogs as stated above, but they are also the noisiest critters on earth.... my neighbor has 20 or more and they come over to my property and it drives me nuts! Think twice before getting them, personally I think I'd rather loose a chicken once in awhile than have any dam Guineas around all the time....
3 -
David Nunn: 31515665909787/comments/31515620892187
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11257993#Comment_11257993
We have three large dogs. Two are Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd crosses. One is a light coat (almost white) Golden Retriever. They leave our chickens alone.
When Dawnie found the first chicken, the one we call Doris, she was outside the fence. Dawnie picked her up and brought her into the house. The dogs were curious, but they soon figured out that the chicken was welcome here.
The second chicken, Lucy, was inside our yard when we first saw her. We let the dogs out to potty and they also found Lucy. Even though Lucy was a chicken just like Doris, she was strange to the dogs and they were VERY curious, chasing her around the yard, trying to get a sniff. Of course, Lucy was in a panic, and making the loudest shrieks I ever heard from a chicken, and she ran from us as well. We put the dogs in the house and I got a landing net and caught Lucy. She had nearly no feathers, but she has healed up nicely. She has settled into living here, but she still tries to avoid contact with us, unlike Doris, who will come when called, and who has even jumped up onto my lap just to visit.
I like our chickens, and when/if we get a larger coop, we will probably get a few more.
Bird dogs have a natural instinct to go after birds.. chickens included. Sisters black lab whom I hunted with , had chickens scattered all over the yard one afternoon. He killed almost all of them, went in the the chicken house and some were on roost.. which later they died from shock.
0 -
select-fire: 31515665909787/comments/31515638587675
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11258014#Comment_11258014
Bird dogs have a natural instinct to go after birds.. chickens included. Sisters black lab whom I hunted with , had chickens scattered all over the yard one afternoon. He killed almost all of them, went in the the chicken house and some were on roost.. which later they died from shock.
Is a Golden Retriever a bird dog? If so, ours puts the lie to your statement about bird dogs. Ben is the gentlest, most humble and unassuming dog I have ever seen. He thinks anyone should be his friend, and any animal should be his playmate.
6 -
We love our chickens.
9 -
I have raised chickens on several occasions over the years. Did Bantams back in the 80's along with a couple Guinea's. The Guinea's were great protectors and they would eat ticks so well I never saw one when we had them. Did 6 Rhode Island Reds about 5 years ago and enjoyed them a lot and had great luck for the first 2 years. Then it seemed after that I would lose one a month to racoons or possums until I only had one left.
One chicken isn't a happy bird. They are very social critters. I gave her to a neighbor who had a fair size flock.
I have found it to be very hard to introduce new birds to an established flock. They pick the crap out of newcomers. Also, if a bird is injured even slightly, the rest will pick the poor wounded one to death.
I had success separating a hurt Golden Sebright that had survived a hawk attack by separating her from the others and nursed back to health in a large dog crate that I kept in the basement. Kept her there an entire winter and released her back to the group. She not only did well but became my shadow for the rest of her life! I named her Girty and I hate to say it but I miss that chicken to this day!
12
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
39 comments