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Why I Would Raise Chickens

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#71

Post by wavefunction »

cschep wrote: post #62
dwc wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm pretty sure this is against zoning. Perhaps, but you might be surprised. Years ago I kept chickens and checked the zoning here (suburbs of Phoenix). No problem with a flock of hens. Roosters have restrictions. Many places are similar.

It's almost certainly about being a nuisance to your neighbors. Roosters crow super obnoxiously. Like.. wow. If you've ever tried to sleep with one nearby you know what I'm talking about. Just handle that edge case (e.g. don't keep a rooster around) and NO ONE will care if you have chickens that don't bother anyone :) Especially if you're into sharing the eggs!

@sjs7007

Where do you think a lot of the chicken you may eat comes from?

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#72

Post by maxerickson »

sjs7007 wrote: post #70
cschep wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost certainly about being a nuisance to your neighbors. Roosters crow super obnoxiously. Like.. wow. If you've ever tried to sleep with one nearby you know what I'm talking about. Just handle that edge case (e.g. don't keep a rooster around) and NO ONE will care if you have chickens that don't bother anyone :) Especially if you're into sharing the eggs!

So what do you do when roosters are born...kill them?

Just keeping roosters away from the hens will prevent that from being a problem. The eggs won't be fertile.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#73

Post by [deleted] »

sjs7007 wrote: post #70
cschep wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost certainly about being a nuisance to your neighbors. Roosters crow super obnoxiously. Like.. wow. If you've ever tried to sleep with one nearby you know what I'm talking about. Just handle that edge case (e.g. don't keep a rooster around) and NO ONE will care if you have chickens that don't bother anyone :) Especially if you're into sharing the eggs!

So what do you do when roosters are born...kill them?

[deleted]

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#75

Post by nostromo »

crpatino wrote: post #12
bko wrote: post #3

> If you read this article, watch the video above, and answer one question below, I will donate—on your behalf via Heifer—a flock of chickens to a family in poverty. Giving a flock of chickens to desperately poor families sounds like a great idea that will pay dividends for many years. However, I can't help but be reminded of the many charitable programs that sound great but end up having very unusual unintended cons…

In order of severity: 1. Family ends up homeless because there is no legal framework to raise small anymals in urban environments, and the flock is framed as "unruly pets" by abusive landlord/neighbours. Family ends up worse than how they started without help. 2. Family receives the flock, but not any training/resources to tend them properly. Chickens die of illness, malnourishment, or get killed by urban predators (…

4. "Free chickens from Gates" puts local chicken breeders out of business.

Fast forward a few years and their are fewer chickens, not more, in targeted areas.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#76

Post by nostromo »

bko wrote: post #3

> If you read this article, watch the video above, and answer one question below, I will donate—on your behalf via Heifer—a flock of chickens to a family in poverty. Giving a flock of chickens to desperately poor families sounds like a great idea that will pay dividends for many years. However, I can't help but be reminded of the many charitable programs that sound great but end up having very unusual unintended cons…

Unintended consequences are one thing to consider, another is opportunity cost. Gates should have two control groups:

A) Gets a bunch of chickens

B) Gets the money the chickens would cost (including all project overhead)

C) Gets nothing

My guess is that B would in-fact have the best outcomes for the simple reason that Africans probably know what they need to improve their lives better than do foreign central-planners.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#77

Post by tonmoy »

whiddershins wrote: post #63

Re: many people wondering why this hasn't happened organically, it is easy to underestimate how much cultural attitudes can affect common practice. As an anecdote, when I visited rural China a couple of years back I asked my friends who grew up there why, if most people had one chicken, they didn't simply grow a few more? The response was "you don't know what it was like back then. In the Mao attitude people would sa…

This seems very accurate. When I was younger it was a social taboo for middle class families in rural area to raise animals in out country. Then the government started blasting propaganda about how farming fish and raising chickens/goats was a noble "entrepreneur" like thing, and now it does not seem like that much of a taboo any more.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#78

Post by cwbrandsma »

Etarip wrote: post #7
bko wrote: post #3

> If you read this article, watch the video above, and answer one question below, I will donate—on your behalf via Heifer—a flock of chickens to a family in poverty. Giving a flock of chickens to desperately poor families sounds like a great idea that will pay dividends for many years. However, I can't help but be reminded of the many charitable programs that sound great but end up having very unusual unintended cons…

Notice in the video how they're not feeding the chickens by letting them forage. They're always feeding them grain.

Better visual than watching the women throw out handfuls of bugs and worms (which chickens LOVE). Actually, you can feed chickens nothing but grain, but it isn't good for them -- they need more protein.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#79

Post by fish55 »

"Relative surplus value is produced through the reduction of the value of labor power (variable capital) by means of improvements in the production of goods (effectively the appropriation of productivity gains by the capitalist class)." -Marxist definition

In other words, they will no longer need a wage that also represents the value of eggs, so: -the wage will ultimately be reduced -the portion of their unwaged labor (raising chickens) will increase

People who raise their own chickens can work for less than those who don't.

tldr: A service they could once afford will become unaffordable.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#80

Post by cwbrandsma »

lumberjack wrote: post #9

It is not specified what they mean by "chicken" (age and breed and sex) but $5 seems like really expensive. I know that you can buy baby chicks from an incubator for egg laying purposes for like 3 euro or less in rural western Europe. Breeds meant to be harvested for their meat cost even less.

Depends on the breed. Some are as low as $2 here in the States, others are $15 to $20.
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