101–110 of 272 posts
Impractical to raise chickens in cities where it's illegal to butcher them. The egg laying tapers off at 3 years, but they'll live to ~10 years. That's a pet, or a freeloading chicken you have to feed but don't get eggs from. So...? Yeah, not terribly practical unfortunately.
Impractical to raise chickens in cities where it's illegal to butcher them. The egg laying tapers off at 3 years, but they'll live to ~10 years. That's a pet, or a freeloading chicken you have to feed but don't get eggs from. So...? Yeah, not terribly practical unfortunately.
If you're doing this for convenience, it may be worth making a trip out of the city to have someone butcher them when the time is right. If you're doing this to save money, it's likely you don't have an easy means of transportation for something like that.
They need lots of water and shade, so make a continuous drip somewhere in the shade.
Domestic cats don't mess with full grown chickens, and in my experience they leave the chicks alone too if they are fully feathered and about pigeon size. The cats eat pigons on a regular basis, but they let the chicks run around and seem to enjoy them. In the daytime it's common to see the cats and chickens laying around in the shade within a foot of each other. Racoons like chicken, and they are good climbers, but the chickens just make lots of noise and fly off if one gets too close. By then I have my paintball gun out and the Racoons learn quickly to get dinner elsewhere. I'm constantly surprised about how smart they are, if they know they are not allowed in a spot they will wait for you to go away and then rush over. If you catch them in the act, they freak out and run off back to their allotted area. I find small firecrackers a good way to tell them "stay away". They learn quickly.
Most of my chickens are good flyers, they can easily jump up to a perch 5ft above the ground and then into a tree from there. They could also easily fly over my fence and exit the yard, but they _never_ do.
I wish I had started years ago, the eggs are fantastic.
> 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…
Seriously though, chickens are very easy animal. The next step would be goats.
https://www.tyrantfarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/duck-...
According to this table, raising ducks is more interesting than growing chickens: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/duck-...
> 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…
Feral flocks of chickens? Possibly, it costs more to feed the chickens than the chickens provide in economic benefit? Avian influenza spreads like wild through chicken populations and from thence to poor families?
The expression "to chicken out" was not chosen at random :)
If you want to raise backyard chicks, double check your local chicken ordinances! Unfortunately, even when they are allowed, it can be the source of tension between neighbors: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/27/nation/la-na-nn-back...
In the UK, the 1950 Allotments Act trumps all other covenants and local ordinances, provided you're only keeping hens and they are not a nuisance (and despite the name, the Act in this instance applies to keeping hens anywhere). http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/14/31
I ask because I'm pretty sure out deed of covenant says 'no chickens'. It might also be 'no sheep'. Don't suppose the Allotments Act covers sheep though.
I am not poor, but did recently raise chickens for about a year, and did the math on how they fared as an investment. I would disagree they are "easy and inexpensive", though in a 3rd world setting with some luck it may vary. Here's a rough summary from my experience: -1 x Coop (self-made from scavenged wood, home store bought wood, wire, and hinges) ~$400 -5 x laying chickens ~$100 (Chicks are cheaper, but you pay t…
