My wife wants chickens

[kcflhrc]

So my wife has decided she wants to try and raise some chickens, just for the eggs and a hobby. She thought maybe 6 or so to start. We have 10 acres and a pretty suitable Lean To outbuilding with one end enclosed and one end open for them. Any tips, hints or anyway to talk her out of it? She already bought a book, guess I'm screwed! Oh yeah, should I get regular or extra crispy chickens?

Thanks

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

Don't talk her out of it! We went with 6 chickens last year and are planning on adding to the flock this spring. The eggs are AMAZING and the kids absolutely love having "pet chickens" around.

We got ours at Tractor Supply and they are hybrids. The best layers by far are the Red Star hybrids. They looked like the stereotypical little yellow chicks at the store, but grew into beautiful red chickens that lay huge brown eggs. The little brown chicks did fine, but they aren't as productive or as friendly as the Red Stars. The reds will eat out of my kids' hands and come like dogs when we call them back after letting them free range.

While the chicks are supposed to be ***-linked (different colors for different sexes) we ended up with one rooster from the brown chicks (despite being labeled as "pullets" at Tractor Supply.) He is beautiful, but AWFUL in terms of noise and aggression. He really tries to protect his ladies from us. For the most part, we ignore him now, but if I had my way we would have turned him into stew months ago -- but the wife won't allow it. I keep hoping he will "free range" his way to an early departure...

Here's a link that I just put up on my Chicken Coop build project... went WAY overboard, but the girls seem happy and it's been fox proof.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/333129-chicken-palace.html


They've been easy to care for and have provided lots of enjoyment for the family. My wife ADORES them. Unfortunately, we lost 1 chicken to a hawk while they were out of the run one day, but have had absolutely zero problems with them. I'm glad we got them.

 

[kcflhrc]

Wholly crap, my house isn't that nice. Good work, guess we will give it a go. I have plenty of hawks if we lose interest.

 

[Jstpssng]

They're a lot of fun, and great composters. I have 6 hens right now and am getting 4-6 eggs per day. This summer I'm adding 6 more, plus a couple dozen Freedom Ranger meat chickens and maybe a few turkeys. The hardest part is getting them used to my dog... He loves to harass them and chase them across the yard but -they've learned to just lie down for him... And he learned the hard way not to hurt them.
One thing I won't do this year is let them free range... I'm done having chicken s*** all over the yard.

 

[davesl708]

Go with extra crispy.

 

[Sprinklerman]

Somebody on craigs list was giving away 5 roosters . The guy that got them took them to a very expensive community not too far from me and let them loose . This was a very yuppie community . They didnt thing it was funny .

 

[sseelhoff]

We started last year with 4. They are great. Highly entertaining and we get 3 eggs per day. One of our hens has laid only three eggs in the last year. The other three are nearly putting ou on per day. They free range during the day, and put themselves up every night. We are going to get more, and are building a second coop for turkeys.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Wife and I did that, was enjoyable, long as you have a secure place to keep them since everything from wild dogs to foxes will be after them. Anyway we had them for 4-5 years, got a lot of eggs but in the end the wife couldnt eat any of the chickens since she had them all named like pets :mur:

 

[dmccarty]

Just say no.

Chickens are a PITA. I said no for two years, eventually said yes because the youngest and wife wanted the chickens and constantly hen pecked me. It was fun for about a year but then letting the chickens out in the morning, giving them food and water, bringing in the eggs, cleaning stuff from time to time, chasing them down and putting them back in the run when the escaped, and at night locking them in the coop got old.

The hens were fun to watch, the lady at the community college called watching them Chicken TV. One of the hens was like a dog, was super friendly and would follow us around. Of course that was was bullied and hen pecked by the head hen, got sick and died. That head bully hen then started on other hens and we gave her away. I wanted to eat her but it was not allowed. Another hen got taken by a fox when they flock got out of the run. With three hens we were not getting enough eggs to be worth it.

At the time, chicken feed did not cost chicken feed. We were buying some expensive feed because it had a better mix of grains/seeds than the cheaper brand. When we tried the cheaper brand, we got less eggs. Bottom line, is that we could buy the better brands of eggs in the store cheaper then buying chicken feed. I eat eggs almost every day and I did not taste the difference in our eggs vs the good store brands. Also you have to buy them grit which is just and added expense and when it is cold out we would run a heat lamp for them.

For me, the biggest PITA was having to pay for someone to check on the chickens when we went on vacation. One person did not even show up and which almost killed the chickens.

Save yourself some time and money and stay away from chickens. Maybe it would be different if she will let you eat the hens when they get old but I doubt she will....

A foster home took in the hens and we not longer have those PITAs. :cool2::cool2::cool2:

Later,
Dan

 

[deepNdirt]

Last May my MIL lost her companion ( Dog ) she was saddened to the point of her saying she nevers wants another dog to become attached to, My wife and I noticed her many times talking to herself as though she was talking to her dog,
MY MIL had a small farm 20 years ago and had many breeds of chickens, She seem to enjoy farming athough has become to old now to farm on a large scale,

My wife and I thought by getting her a few chickens might be a good way to get her mind off the loss of her dog, Boy did this idea backfire on us, at first she like the idea and took on to the 2 hens + 1 rooster, But after 2 weeks it must have become too much of a chore, she advised us
" ya'll should ask someone first before getting them something to have to take care of" :confused3:
my wife and I didn't know what to say.... so we told her not to worry anymore with the chickens, we'll take care of them,
The hens started laying, 2 eggs turn to 4 - 4 turn to 8 then to 10, and thern hatched chicks, and my wife fell in love with them, at first she thought she was their mother hen, pampering and cleaning the boxes 2 times daily,
But the chicks grew quickly I encouraged my wife to let go of all but 3, ( 2 roosters and 1 hen), I wound up building a seperate coup/pen for them, meanwhile: the first two hens had hatched 3 more chicks, my thoughts were;
(Here we go again!) Yup! she wanted to keep them as well, There's allot more to this story but I'll wind up by saying,
(((( I'M)))) the one now taking care of 3 roosters & 6 hens, getting a half dozzen eggs a day,
Trust me when I say (((( its Not! worth it )))) and to think it all started as what we though was a good deed, Ha!
You'll be the one taking care of them in the end, :thumbdown:

Here are the 3 that started this mess,:laughing:

 

[ESBkevin]

Chickens are great fun. They are very un-evolved and as such are dinosaurs with excellent eyesight in the sun but it's very poor in the half light/dark so that's why they always return home at dusk to roost.
Modern breeds are two types a) skinny egg layers b) Fat meat producers and neither are much good at the other task. Traditional breads do more of both if you can find good stock.
If there is any risk of pests/predators the chickens will need to be secured and the chicken wire buried to stop foxes etc digging their way in. The hen house does not need to be elaborate but if you are in a cold location they do hate a draft. Put the nesting box on the outside so access is easy for you to collect the eggs. Their droppings are excellent fertilizer and they will consume household food waste and convert it. Growing sunflowers and corn will cut the cost of bought in feed stuffs a little but some is always required. Ensure they get wormed regularly as that is often the biggest killer.

Unless you wish to bread they a cockerel is just a nuisance.

 

[super55]

My wife started with chickens last year. Right now we have about 20 hens and 4 roosters soon to be just one rooster. We are getting about a dozen eggs a week and selling a few to family and friends. It's just about covering our input cost for feed and bedding. Mrs is all about feeding them strictly organic feed so they are about as all natural of an egg as you can get.

I would say go for the chickens. Organic eggs my wife was buying at the store were going for 4 dollars a dozen. It's a fun hobby. Plus I get a pile of manure to work with for my vegetable gardens.

 

[MacLawn]

I want chickens, but me CFO doesn't. We buy about the highest dollar eggs I can find in grocery store. Dagnab the cost, hey, it's going into me body. I love true yard chicken eggs! Where the rascals are outside every day pecking around, and have fresh clean water to drink. Fox was getting neighbors' chickens and eggs until he stopped right outside neighbor's door and waited for him to go get his gun. Poor little fox. I like foxes, but reckon I wouldn't want them getting me chickens either. How many hens would you need for about a dozen eggs a week? That's about wha' we eat.

 

[super55]

I want chickens, but me CFO doesn't. We buy about the highest dollar eggs I can find in grocery store. Dagnab the cost, hey, it's going into me body. I love true yard chicken eggs! Where the rascals are outside every day pecking around, and have fresh clean water to drink. Fox was getting neighbors' chickens and eggs until he stopped right outside neighbor's door and waited for him to go get his gun. Poor little fox. I like foxes, but reckon I wouldn't want them getting me chickens either. How many hens would you need for about a dozen eggs a week? That's about wha' we eat.

I had a typo on mine. With 20 hens we are getting about a 8 to a dozen eggs a day and we are still in the dead of winter so once the weather warms a tad we will probably even get more. For about a dozen eggs a week about 4 good egg laying hens should be adequate. Plus with that number you could easily house them inside a portable chicken tractor. Than you can just move them about to places in the yard and have them peck at grass, bugs and such.

The one thing that chickens are really good at is attracting predators. House cats, dogs, hawks, owls, raccoons, foxes, opossum, skunk and it seems a multitude of other animals seem to love the idea of getting an easy meal. If you let them free range just plan on having one or two end up getting killed by a predator.

When your working with smaller numbers of birds one or two birds loss really impacts on what you bring in on eggs.

 

[kenmac]

If she wants chickens ,but you don't .. It's easy. Just tell her there all her's and you'll have nothing to do with their up keep...
That's the way it works here ,If my wife wants something ,and I don't.

That's why we don't have any live stock... You want to go on vacations, who takes care of them ??

 

[EddieWalker]

We are new to chickens and have just recently started getting eggs from them. We started out with 18 unsexed birds, meaning we didn't know who was a boy and who was a girl. 11 of them turned out to be hens. The roosters became a problem, one at a time. We ate the first couple of them once they started attacking the other birds. Then all of a sudden, five of them went crazy and we just tossed them out of the pen. One was killed by something, but the other four roosters free range outside the pen. They just circle it all day long trying to get back in. We learned that you never want a rooster in with your laying hens!!!! We also found out why everyone is selling roosters all the time on Craigslist

Each of the layers will lay one egg a day, but at different times of the day. Five in the morning, then 6 will be there in the evening.

Feed is running about $20 a month. We are eating quite a few of them, but Karen is also selling a dozen eggs for $2 to people at work making about $20 a week, or a $60 a month profit. She just loves being out there with them and I'll catch her sitting on the ground enjoying interacting with them. Each one has it's own personality. One is super friendly and enjoys being held. Others like to get close to her, while others kind of hover around out in the distance.

I had a dog kennel laying around that a client gave me. I used it for the front, back and one side. The other side is an existing fence that's around our garden. Then I put 1/4 inch wire mesh over the cyclone fencing on the kennel walls. I put a post in the middle to create a ridge beam and put a simple roof on it. Then we dug a trench under the kennel panels and filled with concrete. We where going to do that together one weekend, but I had to deal with a problem with a client, so she went to Lowes, bought the concrete, got the mixer out, mixed it and poured it into the trenches herself. I was really proud of her when I got home.



Eddie

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

While the chicks are supposed to be ***-linked (different colors for different sexes) we ended up with one rooster from the brown chicks (despite being labeled as "pullets" at Tractor Supply.) He is beautiful, but AWFUL in terms of noise and aggression. He really tries to protect his ladies from us. For the most part, we ignore him now, but if I had my way we would have turned him into stew months ago -- but the wife won't allow it. I keep hoping he will "free range" his way to an early departure...

Well today was the day that my Rooster went too far.

It was a beautiful day here in Northern Virginia, and we were all in the backyard enjoying ourselves while my wife tended the coop after an early dinner. She let the chickens out to range, and things were going great with the kids feeding and playing with then hens UNTIL the rooster decided to come after my 3 year old boy. I stepped between them before he got too close, but he came after me in full cock-fight mode -- wings flapping, feet scratching -- and actually drew blood on my hand and arm. I've been around chickens since I was a kid and never saw a rooster get THIS aggressive with a full-grown man before. He just wouldn't stop trying to take me on and seemed like he wanted to do some permanent damage to me or my boy.

Right then, my wife agreed that we can cook this son of a gun. After tomorrow, we're going to be a hen-only family.

The best part, though, was after we got back in the house... my littlest boy looked me right in the eye and said "You're a hero, Daddy. You saved me from the Rooster! You always protect me and keep me safe." Well, my heart melted, and my eyes teared-up. Then he said "Don't cry, Daddy. We'll go upstairs and put medicine on your arm and you'll be OK."

 

[MacLawn]

Good story Farmer. Eddie, that fine wire must keep flies off ye chickens! I love it. Great idea. Y'all boys' chicken houses look as good as my house. When can I move in?

 

[2diamondfarm]

We have about 40 hens and 2 roosters right now over wintered them in 2 hoop houses made from cattle panels.
And we do 50 meat chickens in the summer.