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 sex-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:

 

[dirt ditch]

My wife has had chickens for a year now. She enjoys taking care of them and gathering eggs. The flock is down to 8 hens and one rooster. She lost 2-3 as they were growing from unknown causes. Then awhile back the neighbor's dogs killed 4 of them. First time I had just got home from work to find the dogs in the yard killing chickens. Second time they came over I was home on the weekend. The dogs got butt full of bird shot and they have not come back. The bird shot has been replaced by buckshot in the shotgun so if there is a next time it will be the last time. Now she only lets them out when she is home.

 

[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