raising your own chickens: pros & cons
I've been flirting with raising chickens for awhile and am wondering if those of you who have (or do) can share - the pros (fresh organic eggs!!) and the cons (like, rats? raccoons? foxes? finding a dead chicken...? what to do with all those fresh organic eggs??)
I'm quite serious here and would love to hear your experiences.
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23 Comments:
I don't have experience - just a word of advice. The first thing to do is make sure that your area is zoned for keeping a chicken coop.
Having fresh eggs up the wahzoo doesn't seem to bother Martha Stewart any - I think it would be a "good thing." (Groan.)
To be honest, I'd love to raise chickens because I could never farm something I'd have to kill.
Good luck!
therealchiffonade at 8:36AM on 09/23/09
If I did not live on a campus I would totally have chickens! Some varieties are so beautiful!!
PoorOldMama at 8:47AM on 09/23/09
OK then, now back to reality. Chickens need to be fed like everyday, no breaks, no holidays, no "hey I'll just let them fend for themselves for the day", no weekends away.....EVER.
Chickens smell to some degree as does chicken S#!% to a larger degree. Fresh eggs....mmmmm..... you'll have those right after you find them! Chickens love hiding eggs so it'll be a fun little game in the winter when you're freezing your haggis off. Then there's the fun little game of finding out how "old" the eggs are. (more on this later)
Chickens are animals, animals eat stuff, lot's of stuff, that stuff is called food, that food is expensive. Living in the country and sleeping in, ah, sounds nice..... not anymore with your new walking squawking alarm clocks .......hello 4:30!!!
Look, I know it sound all "little house on the prairie" and shit, but the reality is animals are work, chickens less so than others, but more so than little fluffy the cat who will be trying to "play" with the chickens every chance he/she gets.
Either way you go, bon chanc.... and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Figuring the age of your eggs:
Gently place the egg into a bowl of cold water. If it:
sinks to the bottom and stays there, it is about three to six days old.
Sinks, but floats at an angle, it's more than a week old.
Sinks, but then stands on end, it's about two weeks old.
Floats, it's too old and should be discarded.
Keep in mind this is to tell the age of an egg, not if it is good to use or not. That is another test entirely.....
Pavlov at 9:23AM on 09/23/09
we've had chickens for the past 25 years, and while they do not require a huge amount of time, you have a few things to consider.
a pest proof coop - meaning that nothing can dig in or under your coop. we used to have sturdy wire (small squares, don't know the name of it)
stapled along the bottom of the coop so nothing can dig up from the ground. i learned the hard way, i had a weasel dig up under and he killed and maimed so many of my chickens.... now we have a cement floor which is better because it's impermeable and easier to clean.
ventilation and light are also important. if you put a light in the coop you'll get eggs pretty much all year (they require 14 hours a day for eggs) unless it's super cold...
the best thing is to get a book and do some reading.
our chickens are truly free range, meaning we let them out at about 6:30 am (you have to be willing to get up early) and they are out all day long.
they go in by themselves at dusk and we have to close t hem up.
we feed them some corn but mostly they eat bugs, grass and whatever is out there. and fresh water... yes, sometimes a fox will appear and get a few or a hawk will get a few -- and even an owl will kill at night if the chickens are roosting in a tree. it's part of nature. if you have a dog around he may be able to discourage the fox from hanging around.
the upside are the best eggs you will ever eat. we don't eat our chickens so they do manage to have a great retirement program here.... it's fun watching them .... they do have personalities and when we have chicks it's really something to watch.
pooch at 9:28AM on 09/23/09
I'm envious!
yayfood at 10:29AM on 09/23/09
@pavlov-you are a font of information!
@pooch-i'm so jealous!
i'd love to raise chickens & pigs.
i'd never be able to kill them though.
i literally feel too guilty to cut herbs from my garden...(i grew them from seedlings-they're my babies!)
pooroldmama is right about the beautiful varieties-i went to the state fair for the first time this summer & was completely amazed.
gastronomeg at 10:39AM on 09/23/09
I have to ask if you have children? You may want to consider the long term effect on them. My sister-in-law, for instance grew up in a family where they raised chickens. In a fit of pure childish affection she named them all Laura because she loved Little House. All 200 of them. Laura.
She's 36 now, and we still tease her mercilessly.
lol--i really have no idea about chickens, but I did read something recently that said that they were not, in thel ong run, more cost effective than purchasing poultry and eggs, but people 'feel' as though they are. If cost is not your concern, but rather quality--then that argument is moot. Or, as Joey Tribbiani says 'moo'. It's useless, like the opinion of a cow.
BananaMonkey at 11:20AM on 09/23/09
If your neighbors are close keep them in mind...The smell and the noise will impact them too.
ericjpdx at 11:36AM on 09/23/09
@Ericjpdx: I absolutely hated my neighbors because they had 3-4 chickens, constantly hoping they would die excruciating deaths. I had to smell the crap 24/7. N-A-S-T-Y. It was that or the exhaust from their yacht they'd run several hours every month.
Cassaendra at 1:42PM on 09/23/09
We live in a very rural area, few neighbors; plenty of room here (it's an old farm property), so that's not an issue. Closest neighbor runs an organic pig farm, and already has chickens running around.
This would be my project, as the two youngest kids still home (teens) wouldn't be around much to deal with this, nor would I expect them to.
The issue is more this: do I subconsciously miss the "tending" a mom does when her kids are young, and are these chickens an attempt at replacing kids with birds? And - - - are they as worth the trouble?
moibec at 1:59PM on 09/23/09
Pav you slay me!
therealchiffonade at 3:16PM on 09/23/09
Thanks, Pavlov for dissuading me from chicken farming as a way to annoy my neighbors. And don't worry Moibec ,some of your kids will probably come home and maybe with their kids like mine did. Full house!
On topic- I have a gardening acquaintance that has all kinds of the most beautiful chickens. She has them for their beauty alone.
janaatwg at 4:09PM on 09/23/09
There's a pretty good article in the latest New Yorker issue; I read it on the subway to work this morning so the timing with your post is right on! http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/28/090928fa_fact_orlean
littlestcapy at 4:18PM on 09/23/09
Hi everyone! I'm the owner of BackYardChickens.com and co-author of the book "Raising Chickens for Dummies."
I obviously have a biased point of view, but I can guarantee that properly cared for chickens are less of a problem than the same number of cats or dogs on a similar sized property. 4-5 hens that are in a proper coop with adequate space (about 6 sq. ft. per bird) and cleaned up after should not smell and should be allowed in any area where people are allowed to keep a few dogs and cats.
We live in a pretty urban / suburban city with 5 hens and most of our neighbors wouldn't even know we had chickens were it not for the fresh eggs that we deliver to them on a regular basis. :)
BackYardChickens at 8:28PM on 09/23/09
the coop only smells if you don't clean it out regularly.... other than that....
i wouldn't worry about the smell.... it's an organic smell anyway... better than car fumes.
pooch at 8:35PM on 09/23/09
I've been raising chickens off and on for past 30 years, and all the comments that I've read so far are good. Pavlov and Pooch know what they are talking about. Don't get caught up in the "romance" of raising your own chickens. They do have to be taken care of daily. Eggs have to be found if your chickens are free range, and having a daily egg hunt can get old in a hurry. They will find somewhere else to lay as soon as you find their nest. Also, you'll have to do something with the poop at some point. You could compost some of it, but check into that more thoroughly because chicken manure is "hot" and it will burn your vegetables and flowers if applied too thickly into your gardens if applied directly.
Also, hens don't make noise, roosters do - at all hours of the night and day. I always order all pullets, and whomever you are dealing with should be able to guarantee that you will get at least 80% females. I was particularly lucky this year, and only got one rooster. If you don't care anything about raising baby chicks from your hens, there's no point in having roosters. If you do want to raise chicks, figure at least 50% of them will be roosters, and what are you going to do with all those roosters?
You could raise them to eat if the breed is a meat chicken, but if you allow them free range, you will never have a tender, juicy bird on your table. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I've never had a tender, free range chicken that was fit to eat no matter how I cooked it. Hens will lay eggs without the help of a rooster.
Now,with all that said, I love my chickens, and I have my favorite ones, too. If they are consistently handled, they become very tame, and even seem to look forward to your company. I had a banty/aracuana cross pullet that we hand raised in the house because of a leg injury. She slept in our bedroom at night on the window sill, and she went camping with us one time when I was unwilling to leave her at home. Chickens are fun, and I wish you a generous share of it!
LanaRae at 10:16PM on 09/23/09
Listen to Pavlov, Pooch and LanaRae. The eggs are wonderful, though. My sister and her husband have a small farm and have chickens. My advice is to talk someone you know into raising chickens and then mooch the eggs.
Oh-- don't forget about skunks finding their way to the coop.
MarvinDog at 1:06PM on 09/24/09
If you like chickens--as animals--raise chickens. I have had friends who own small farms, so I realize this isn't mutually exclusive to raising them for food as well as eggs.
But to raise livestock, you have to enjoy having them around, their way of being in the world, their smells, sounds, and the hard, grunt work of raising them. If you just like having fresh eggs and chicken meat, buy from a local farm. If you're at all squeamish about smells, dirt, bugs, pecking, and yes illness (factor in vet bills), don't get chickens.
HeartofGlass at 2:37PM on 09/24/09
We've had two chickens in our urban backyard for a bit more than a year and a half now. I don't know if it's just our breed, but something that rarely gets mentioned is that chickens molt at least once a year. We have feathers everywhere, and the feathers seems to attract predators. During this molt and during winter months, the chickens quit laying unless you force them to keep going with light bulbs (we don't), so your vision of lots of eggs is only true part of the year. For any number of months, all you are doing is feeding and cleaning up after them like any other non-productive pet/animal.
We also went free range for a while until we also planted a pretty large garden. Guess what? Chickens will eat your garden. There is no distinguishing between tasty grass and your tasty broccoli plants for them. We had gobs of netting and all kinds of craziness going on until we finally decided to coop them. Now we're battling urban predators (cats and coons, mostly) determined to bust into said coop, and the chickens aren't getting as varied a diet as they once did. Continuing to add on or reconfigure the coop takes money and time--more than you would expect.
That said, they can be funny little creatures! They definitely have distinct personalities and can be a good time to watch. But knowing what I know now, I would not have gone down this particular sustainable living road and won't do it again. Fresh eggs are available at our local farmer's market if we want them and, financially, our garden has been far more productive than the chickens with half the work and worry. Just my two cents worth.
shandygirl at 3:15PM on 09/25/09
We just added two chickens to our dog and cat household and we’ve had to beef up their coop security just to keep the dogs from either breaking into the coop or terrorizing the chicks when they rush the wire panels (we used hardware cloth because it’s sturdier than chicken wire and raccoon hands can’t get through). We got them from a local feed store (spring would be your better bet for chicken varieties) and raised them from fuzzy chicks. They’re just over a month old, so we’ve got a ways to go before we know if they’re layers or crowers.
I told my boyfriend I wanted chickens for the fresh eggs/sustainability/eat local aspect, but I think I really just wanted a new pet since we’ve hit our dog limit. He was hesitant at first, but since they like him and are friendly (and I do all the clean up), he’s warmed up to them. So, don’t feel bad if your secret agenda for wanting chickens is so you have something to nurture and tend to. =)
We started with chicks because we wanted them to grow up friendly (and because they’re so cute!) Every day we would pick them up, pet them, and talk to them. It was easy because they grew up inside our family room, so we saw them all the time. Now, when we go to their coop, they still want to sit on our shoulders. Of course, now that they’re outside I feel like I have empty nest syndrome and want new chicks!
I think if you keep your flock manageable you’d be able to go away for a weekend. I check on their food and water every day, but the containers are large enough that they’d have plenty to last them a couple of days. If we’re gone longer than that, someone comes by to check on our dogs anyway and can do a chick check.
The Backyard Chicken Forum has tons and tons of information. Obviously, you won’t find people who have had chickens and decided it was totally not worth the trouble (actually, there are some threads on people who had chickens, didn’t like it, and are wondering if they should try again) but I but you’ll find an answer to any question you can think of.
We’re only a month in, but we love our chickens and I suspect we’ll add a couple more once some new breeds start coming into our feed stores. We’re kind of limited in our chicken sourcing, since we’ll never be able to fill a minimum order from a hatchery (and I don’t want to pay the high shipping for small orders), but maybe it’s an option for you and a good way to get some of the more beautiful breeds.
threedogkitchen at 3:23PM on 09/25/09
There really is nothing more easy or fun than raising chickens. I have a few acres and over the past several years we've had up to 16 chickens at a time. The number of eggs from that many chickens was a bit unmanageable for the two of us, but I never went anywhere without a dozen eggs as a gift and I sold many dozens to friends.
In the part of Canada I live in, we had a real weasel problem and one summer, lost 8 chickens.
You can certainly buy large water dispensers and food dispensers and chickens can be left for a few days. The cleaner you keep their litter, the happier both of you will be. I would like to say I mucked out the coop every couple of weeks, but it probably wasn't that often, but I know whenever I did it, I was pretty happy with myself and it was a much more pleasant experience getting eggs and dealing with the few chicken chores.
There is no comparison between any store bought egg, no matter how expensive and "organic" and one from your own chickens. Keep in mind that chickens only lay for about two years, but can live much longer, we had one that was almost four years old who died this summer but it had been a long time since she had laid an egg.
You really have nothing to lose. Buy a few chickens and have a good time. And they will eat any scrap of food you send their way...bread, toast, fruit rinds, even yogurt and as a treat, I would often buy a bunch of spinach for the girls....they really loved that.
Good luck.
Jilly at 8:34PM on 09/25/09
Hey, I was going to recommend hitting up Backyardchickens.com as a knowledge source. The forums are very informative on all the problems and rewards of keeping chickens, and there are lots of adorable baby chick photos to help convince you. ;-) Feel free to ask questions - people are very helpful and supportive of newbies.
As long as you're prepared for the daily care, chickens are very rewarding. I have 8 chickens that are now about 3 months old, that I raised from day-old. They are very friendly, and will hop up in my lap to say hi. We'll get some eggs from them at some point, but for us that's not really the driving reason. They have become our babies.
Other random thoughts/warnings: Don't expect to save money on eggs or meat - it's not as cost effective for a small farmer. They will help keep the bugs under control, but if you have a garden, it will need to be fenced to keep them out. They will eagerly take care of all your slightly wilty vegetables. It's a lot of fun to raise them from day-old, and it helps them to bond and become people-oriented, but it does mean you'll need extra equipment.
patricium at 8:51PM on 09/25/09
yes, the garden. we have it fenced in... but have flower beds around the house and you know when you try to mulch something? well the chickens love to also spread the mulch around.... so we kind of gave up on mulching.... i personally will always have a rooster or a couple of roosters.... we have about 18 chickens at the moment with 3 roosters. they keep an eye out for the hawk and fox .... they really do watch over the hens .... and i have to say, each rooster has his own set of babes. they are very happy girls..... wink, wink!
pooch at 10:34PM on 09/25/09