Chickens?

[cg21]

Sorry didnt want to derail the other thread on them. I am unsure if it is legal for me to have chickens where I live and I am going to call around to find out.

BUT if it is....

How many chickens would you recomend starting out with?? (family of 3)

How much work are chickens?

Thanks in advance look forward to your advice !

 

[92ThoStro]

Just get a dozen or so and start from there, no harm in getting more.
Chickens are hardly any work at all, when they are full grown.
They do well in the winter, but still need shelter, a shed or barn stall converted into a coop will work if you don't want to buy or build one.
The hardest part is keeping stuff away from them, like your common wild animals, dogs, and cats.

If you live in a subdivision then I am near 100% positive that the outdoor keeping of poultry is prohibited.

You don't have to call anyone to find out, just look at your zoning regulations.

If you want to cut down on chicken feed, and get rid of your household waste, nearly all scrap food items can be given to them, just do your research.

 

[Wheezy50]

I have 8 laying hens right now and I get an average of 5-6 eggs a day, so depending on how many eggs your family of 3 would go through. If you have more chickens/eggs than your family needs, other family and friends will enjoy them. Most adult hens lay an egg 2 out of 3 days, roughly 5 per week. In the winter they will need a light and timer so they get more "daylight" to continue getting the normal number of eggs. They usually molt their feathers a couple times per year, mine do not lay well, if at all, when they are molting.

Make sure you get pullets or females, and the noise will be very minimal. The girls cluck and squawk some but don't make much noise, just avoid the roosters, neighbors will not like you.

Several people here raise chickens and I'm sure will have more pointers and tips.

Backyardchicken.com has a ton of good info.

I would not consider them much work, just go out once a day and collect eggs. You can buy or build feeders and waterer that will last several days. I normally have to refill my food container once a week and water every couple days to keep it fresh.

 

[Wheezy50]

+1 for the food scraps too. Mine LOVE most anything leftover from the table. I mean they eat virtually anything. Bad fruit, veggies, moldy bread, leftover lasagna, pretty much all scraps go to the chickens at my house.

They also get all the veggies that fall to the ground or get too ripe. They will fight each other for a tomato from garden.

 

[Llamaguy]

Get more than you want to keep. It's much easier to eat an extra than to add one to an existing flock.

 

[CountryBoy19]

As far as "legal" to keep them there are 2-3 different ways they can be "not-allowed" but some of those you can still have them, just fly under the radar. I live in a sub-division on less than 1/2 acre. It is in the covenants and by-laws of my property that I cannot have chickens, but I do. There is no HOA to enforce the rules and the county doesn't care. Now, if any of my neighbors wanted to throw a fit about it they could take me to court and make me get rid of them. There-in lies the importance of keeping your neighbors happy and having a good relationship with them, and getting rid of ALL roosters you may happen to get.

I'm currently at 7 laying hens (lost one to some stray dogs last week) and we are getting 4-6 eggs per day, 3 dozen/week. Do you only want enough to feed yourself? Or do you want enough to give to neighbors to keep them happy?

We are going to get some more, not because we need them (we're already giving eggs to neighbors) but because we like the self-reliance and the emergency food-supply they provide.

 

[ar15_dude]

Here is my best advice: skip the laying hens. You have to feed and water them all year, including in the winter, and even when they slack off on egg laying. They get old after a couple of years and either continue to eat a lot or become the chicken in the noodles. Besides, I like chicken more than eggs.

Better plan: buy 25 day old cornish cross chicks, raise them for 7 weeks, butcher them and put them in the freezer or better can the meat. Repeat this process as many times as you like, but once you have all the meat you desire for the year, you are done for the year. Take a break over the winter. Best way to put meat on the table that there is.

 

[spencer rifle]

We have 4 ISA browns and get about 3 eggs per day. Made a feeder and a heated water dish and insulated the small coop. They stay in what used to be our dog pen. We have no heat source in the coop but they keep laying nicely anyway. Clean periodically, feed scraps occasionally, pet them, talk to them. They each have a different personality.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Here is my best advice: skip the laying hens. You have to feed and water them all year, including in the winter, and even when they slack off on egg laying. They get old after a couple of years and either continue to eat a lot or become the chicken in the noodles. Besides, I like chicken more than eggs.

Better plan: buy 25 day old cornish cross chicks, raise them for 7 weeks, butcher them and put them in the freezer or better can the meat. Repeat this process as many times as you like, but once you have all the meat you desire for the year, you are done for the year. Take a break over the winter. Best way to put meat on the table that there is.

I don't understand the purpose of your post. If the OP wants chickens, he likely wants eggs... your suggestion won't do him one bit of good...

FWIW, my chickens eat very little because we let them free-range a lot... the more you let them scrounge for their own food the less you have to feed them. I bought 500 pounds last July and still have 150 lbs left, and most of the summer/fall I had 8 layers, 2 roosters that were total pigs, and 2 bantams. Now that I'm down to 7 layers and 1 bantam a 50 lb bag of feed can last me well over a month and in that month I will get about 15 dozen eggs for $10 in feed.

 

[irishhunter]

Gonna warn you know , if you free range them they love Hastas .lol

 

[Loco179]

Sorry didnt want to derail the other thread on them. I am unsure if it is legal for me to have chickens where I live and I am going to call around to find out.

BUT if it is....

How many chickens would you recomend starting out with?? (family of 3)

How much work are chickens?

Thanks in advance look forward to your advice !

Depends on your City or HOA. City of Indianapolis can have them. In fact many people downtown have them.

Depending on how many eggs you want and how much you eat them. Good layers will lay once every 2 days ( in good weather mine lay once a day ). You will find that you will give a lot away. Good birds are a godsend.

You have to figure out your housing for your flock. I use a 20 x 16 mini barn. Just build your own. If you do not have property you need to build a run so they do not wander all over the place. My birds have a protected run but they get out of it to wander. Its nothing to have the flock wandering around my property. I feel this actually helps on feed costs and taste of eggs. My run is about 20x40 filled with sand. All of my food scraps and scratch goes here.

The birds I recommend are called dual purpose birds. Most of them are bred for home use. They are also easier to deal with and act more like pets. I have some leghorn hybrid ( most white layers are leghorns ) and they are just plain retarded. You do not need a rooster for eggs. If you do not need protection for your flock. I highly recommend that you cull it if you get one. You can buy pullets ( not 100% but a good bet that they are female ) at Rural King.

Here are some of my recommended breeds.

Rhode Island Red

Rhode Island Red - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RIR are amazing layers. Mine out preform the Leghorns. They are larger birds and funny as hell. They are smart, resourceful and dependable. The roosters are *******s. My only rooster is a RIR and he is good at his job. That is the only reason he has not been culled. Brown Egg Layer

Barred Rock or Plymouth Rock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock_(chicken)

This is another good breed. Solid egg layers. Brown Egg Layer

Ameraucana

Ameraucana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I just picked up some of these for fun this year. Blue Egg Layers

You want brown egg layers. People do not like white eggs. There is no difference in taste. It is just much much easier to get rid of brown eggs.

The hardest part of raising birds is the first few weeks. Once they get large enough for predators to not kill them its easy. Feed, water and collect eggs every day. Throw out scraps and maybe scratch.

Backyardchickens.com is a great resource. The post is getting long so I will stop now.

 

[88GT]

How many chickens would you recomend starting out with?? (family of 3)

We are a family of 4. We have 3 hens (down from 5). They have just started laying again after the molt and winter hiatus. I get about 2 eggs a day for 3-4 days, then 3 eggs one day, then none the next. Then start the whole thing over again. So between a dozen and a dozen and a half eggs per week.

When I had five, I have 12 dozen eggs sitting in my fridge at one point! (You should start collecting egg recipes now!)

They are easy to care for, but unless you live in the country and/or have buyers/recipients for the ones you cant use up, you don't need more than a few. I wouldn't get a dozen to start, unless you intend on using some as meat birds as well. There's no point in spending resources (food, water, etc) for products you can't use.

How much work are chickens?

Once they're feathered out and moved to the coop/run? Not much. But building the run, even if you purchase a pre-fab coop takes time. Getting everything built and predator-proofed can be a lot of work, depending our your choices. But once everything is in place, once the chicks are fully feathered and it's warm enough to let them stay in the coop, it's cake.

Aside from keeping the food and watered supplied steadily, you just have to worry about coop maintenance and cleaning. Sweet PDZ helps spread out time between cleanings as long as you keep the shavings stirred. It removes the odor (which can be awful).

I caution against the use of a heat source. Not only is it not necessary, but it has some serious risks as well.

Gail Damerow has a one of the best books for beginning chicken keepers. Storey Publishing : Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition It'll tell you all you need to know about brooding chicks, building coops, dealing with diseases, feeding.

I second the backyardchicken.com recommendation. Some of them tend to be a little too enamored with their chickens than I am (think: chickens as pets, not food sources), but it is far and away one of the best online resources available.

 

[medicr224]

I also vote for backyardchicken.com this was a good resource for when we started with raising them. I would recommend researching the breads as the other have said to be sure what suits your needs. We have 9 hens right now and supply eggs for a few others in the family. Roosters are only good for the crock pot in my house. This year we going getting probably 20 or so meat birds which should hold my family of 6 over the winter. Good luck and have fun with them they are a blast

 

[Armed]

this has really sparked my interest. I do have a question though what do you do with the all the chicken feces, I live in a residential area (but well outside city limits) on about 1/2 an acre with no good place for a mountain of chicken poo.

 

[fangz]

this has really sparked my interest. I do have a question though what do you do with the all the chicken feces, I live in a residential area (but well outside city limits) on about 1/2 an acre with no good place for a mountain of chicken poo.

Cover it with straw, run it over with the lawn mower a few times. The chicken poo will make your grass nice and green.

 

[Armed]

Cover it with straw, run it over with the lawn mower a few times. The chicken poo will make your grass nice and green.

is this what everybody does?

 

[92ThoStro]

this has really sparked my interest. I do have a question though what do you do with the all the chicken feces, I live in a residential area (but well outside city limits) on about 1/2 an acre with no good place for a mountain of chicken poo.

What kind of enclosure? If you have them in something like a 8X10 dog kennel that has a door to a chicken coop, You will have to put straw down in the enclosure, and pitch fork it out when it gets too dirty.

As far as discarding it...
We have at the very back corner of our farm a burn hole, scrap pile, and a huge compost heap. Everything from trash to tin cans, to the horse manure goes back there.

Your best bet is the lawnmower method if you don't have a compost heap. You could burn it in a barrel too.

If you let them run in a pasture you don't have to do anything with the waste from chickens.

If you have extra eggs just give them away to co-workers, or family or something. Gets them interested in starting their own.

 

[jordyman]

I bought some when I first started being interested in birds at Croy Creek last summer. I got turkens and bantams, which is a odd combo but Im into that. The turkens were beautiful in a strange, ugly as sin kind of way. And they had a great personality. The bantams unfortunately I purchased from a guy with 1 eye, and allow me to clear myself up, one empty, fairly fresh raw eye socket and a knocked up wife who was smoking a marlboro red. I got a really good deal on them, like 10 for $5. Nothing wrong with that, but 1 was lame acting and he ended up having some ******* sickness and I had to put my whole flock down one at a time. Since then Ive gotten some more bantams and with 3 hens and a rooster it keeps myself and my lady in eggs just about right. No big overflow of eggs, just enough to have 3-4 in the fridge always. Just be careful where you buy them, if they look sick, learn from my mistake. Dont try to fix it. It was a huge headache and took about a month to kill them all. Even with antibiotics, which I am against using in this case since I was wanting eggs. If you can buy them a little older, you just put them in a pen and throw them garden waste and whatnot and they are just as happy as can be. No baby sitting required.

 

[cg21]

Just hit a new problem with my chicken plan.... will they get my dogs sick??? with their poop and dander n such? dont have a big enough yard to keep dogs away from the coop.

 

[Armed]

Just hit a new problem with my chicken plan.... will they get my dogs sick??? with their poop and dander n such? dont have a big enough yard to keep dogs away from the coop.

Good question, id like to know this too are there any diseases that could transfer to people or dogs?