Who Else Keeps Chickens?

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Ive found myself becoming a small farmer over the past year.. I was a construction worker, a sheetrock hanger to be exact, and my health started to fail me and I couldn't hang with the young bucks anymore. So I bought some baby chickens, with hopes of making a profit. Since that day last spring I've worked on one coop or another, built this or that, and moved chickens around every day.. of course I've been smoking right on through. There is quite a market for chickens in my area, and they sell for 30 to 50 bucks a piece.. I believe I'm mostly selling pets, but hey it works. I sell a few a day and squeak by.

Does anyone else keeps chickens? or as my friends down there say chooks?

 

[coming to_falling too]

I have a good friend who does. Both chickens and a few guineas. He just had 19 more hatch out a couple weeks ago. He doesn't sell or trade them though just uses them for eggs and such. He does have quite a few head of cattle, too.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I have a good friend who does. Both chickens and a few guineas. He just had 19 more hatch out a couple weeks ago. He doesn't sell or trade them though just uses them for eggs and such. He does have quite a few head of cattle, too.

I've been meaning to pick up some guineas. They say that you don't really have to feed em, they rid your place of insects and eat for free.

 

[coming to_falling too]

I've been meaning to pick up some guineas. They say that you don't really have to feed em, they rid your place of insects and eat for free.

Yeah they're good about controlling insects and snakes, as well. They get spooked easily though, it's not uncommon for the chicks to be run to death if you don't separate them from the rest.

 

[crashthegrey]

I keep chickens, or the original pipe cleaner. Though I don't use their feathers for that. Lol. I also have ducks, rabbits, turkeys, goats, a sheep every year, and some other animals.

 

[puff_not_snuff]

Hello Funkhosen, you have been missed. Your chickens look like nice companions. Do they like to cuddle?

 

[kola]

Guineas are horrible to raise. They are super-loud and go off like a car alarm. They are banned in a lot of areas because of it. My neighbor had some. After about 3 days I had to go over there and have a talk with him. If you like your neighbors avoid getting them. Ducks may be much better choice.

I'm off-grid and have a pretty solid homestead set-up. I always run chickens ..just for eggs as none of them end up on my tables. I have made the choice not to butcher my animals and mostly eat fish (fresh caught by myself) When my hens get older and stop laying they live their lives out with the rest of my flock. I treat my chickens like family but that's just my thing.

If you are making your money by selling young chickens look into getting good Roosters and incubating the eggs. But I dunno' I think you can buy baby chicks for under 5 bucks online and have them delivered to you in a box. It may be cheaper than going through the incubating process (from a cost and time thing)

I make my dough selling the eggs as I contracted with a few big restaurants up here. Weekly deliveries and a pretty good return on my investment.

2 Big things: Know how to keep parasites off them (Diatamaceous Earth is what I use, in their feed and externally and sprinkled in their coop) and read and learn about egg-bound Hens (life threatening) because sooner or later you'll encounter it.

All my chicks get socialized with me from day one. They are tame AF. I am a huge fan of Buff Orphingtons for many reasons...esp. as they are a cold weather bird and mellow (good layers too). They all love to be picked up, walked around and they'll sit on my lap. Pretty fun creatures to hang out with and observe what they do all day. I'm retired so I can do that.

 

[didimauw]

Those are some good looking birds! I'm shocked. I entered this thread expecting to be disappointed. Well Im kinda disappointed that I wasn't disappointed. Good job! When I think chickens, I think gross dirty birds. Not in this case!

 

[kola]

forgot maybe the biggest thing. Protection.

Build the best bear-proof/critter proof coop possible and fully enclose their roaming area (including the top) And keep t clean. No reason to have dirty coops/dirty birds. That's how they get sick.

 

[CallMeSangy]

A neighbor of mine likes living self sufficiently like that. like a prepper or what have you. solar panels as well, though i'm fairly sure he still pays for his own electricity. He's got a chicken coop out in his back yard a ways that one can hear a rooster going in the morning. honestly isn't annoying in the slightest. His hens lay so many eggs i haven't bought a carton of eggs in years, as he just gives away his extra eggs. i'm not much of a country guy so i was surprised at first at the multicolored eggs that he would drop off when he had too many. they may vary in size, but the taste was always better than store bought.

 

[mso489]

My wife grew up with chickens in n.e. Missouri. We live in a medium sized N.C. city, and backyard chickens are a sort of trend here. When I walk around the block, i hear the neighbor's brood clucking away. Roosters aren't allowed because of their dawn crowing. My wife's stepdaughter and her husband keep chickens on their horse farm in N.J., and we often hear them over the phone. When we call a tech helpline on occasion, we get a tech person in the Philippines, and hear their chickens clucking away.

We were amused to see "chicken saddles" featured online. A chicken saddle is a little fabric cape that ties over a chicken's back to keep them from getting pecked by other chickens.

In town here, before the pandemic, they had an annual tour of chicken coops in town that was quite interesting. Some people have half their yard fenced off for the purpose.

The N.C. State Fair has a large tent full of chickens of all varieties. About half of them are so unusual and elaborate that I would not be able to identify them as chickens without the labels and explanations.

 

[username]

I did in high school for my FFA project since I took agriculture biology it was fun. My favorites were the araucana with there blue tinted eggs. We had about 6 chickens from what i remember 2 of the araucana two road island reds and two more i cant remember the breed. It was fun and I would do it again if i could.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Your full of chicken $hit!! Seriously, looks great. ??

 

[puff_not_snuff]

I prefer eggs from small producers based on yoke color alone. I do wish they could figure out a better system than running all those male non-egg producing chicks from being sent through a shredder. Seems so wasteful in the very least.

 

[Reggie]

I have 9 Barred Rock hens strictly for eggs. They are a good to have with the price of groceries now. 7-9 eggs a day.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Those are some good looking birds! I'm shocked. I entered this thread expecting to be disappointed. Well Im kinda disappointed that I wasn't disappointed. Good job! When I think chickens, I think gross dirty birds. Not in this case!

Gotta keep a closed flock and only bring in birds from a good hatchery.. As soon as you cab, you gotta hatch your own.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I prefer eggs from small producers based on yoke color alone. I do wish they could figure out a better system than running all those male non-egg producing chicks from being sent through a shredder. Seems so wasteful in the very least.

Good to see you buddy!

Mine eat grass non-stop, plus good feed. This makes for good orange yolks and tasty meat.

My extra roosters get turned into tacos and enchiladas.. I think. A guy in a big hat with pointy boots buys em by the truckload.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

Hello Funkhosen, you have been missed. Your chickens look like nice companions. Do they like to cuddle?

Oh yea you can hug em.

 

[kcghost]

When I was much younger we used to keep 10-15 chickens and one rooster. Then one day we decided to add an Aricana rooster. He had to kick hell out of the much bigger rooster to establish some kind of rights to breeding the chickens. It gave us some very contented chickens.

 

[kola]

I don't have Roosters either, too loud for me and they crow whenever they feel like it. Plus they can beat up on my ladies with all their macho mounting BS. PITA.

FYI: Egg yolks vary from Spring to Fall eggs. So much in fact that some chef recipes only call for a Fall or a Spring egg.

Never do my hens produce those pale colored yolks from commercial eggs. I don't participate in the commercial chicken cruelty world anymore. And as of late I am going Pescatarian (fish only, eggs, dairy [goat] and veggies)