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Why I Would Raise Chickens

gatesnotes.com

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Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#161

Post by monknomo »

giarc wrote: post #33
fiatmoney wrote: post #22

I don't get it. As mentioned in the article, chickens are incredibly easy to bootstrap (ie, it's not like they require a huge capital outlay to get started, and they literally pay dividends in further chickens), and have been present in the area for centuries. What has been the obstacle that has kept them from already being common enough to drive the expected benefit of further investment to ~0? And how is that obsta…

I'm completely speculating, but based on the article it could have something to do with chickens being a "women's animal". Perhaps women aren't confident or allowed to show entrepreneurial spirit to start a flock. The men in the community are saving up for cows and goats.

Varies by culture considerably. Consider cockfighting - very male oriented, involves a lot of chicken raising, can be a side gig for your egg or meat producers

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#162

Post by dTal »

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?

A nitpick: roosters are hatched, not born :)

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#163

Post by rconti »

crpatino wrote: post #94
giarc wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please read the article written by Bill. One of the first lines is that chickens are easy to feed because they can make do with stuff they naturally find on the ground. Given grain will help them grow faster, but it's not imperative.

Yes, as I mentioned in my edit to GP, I have now read the article. It still sounds strange to me. I mean, how is it that 3rd country rural people cannot not know about chickens? I assumed this would be about giving flocks to urban poor, where there is precious little area not covered by concrete and the chickens would likely forrage on half poisoned cockroaches or something like that.

Urban areas in Africa are hardly going to be "covered in concrete".

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#165

Post by justhw »

Houshalter wrote: post #117
paganel wrote: post #69

My parents live in a village in Eastern Europe with less than $2 a day (I also chip in to financially help them), and they do indeed raise chickens, they've being doing that for the last 15 years or so, since they moved out to the countryside. Bill Gates is correct in his assessment, it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing,…

> it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing, which is very time consuming and demands a lot of extra work just for feeding said cows, you need to pay someone to take care of the cows when they go out to eat in the summer on the communal field. This is surprising to me. Of course a cow should be more work to raise than a chicke…

Disable Ghostery (white-list the site) if you're seeing a blank page. It fixed it for me.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#166

Post by gohrt »

tomjen3 wrote: post #44
crpatino wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (…

My family has raised chickens in the backyard for decades. Getting them killed by predators isn't difficult but I wouldn't worry too much about a cat - it is unlikely to take more than one or two adults and the young chickens would likely be more secure/with an adult hen and they are quite good at keeping their young safe. Regarding malnurisment, you can literally just let the chickens walk around and eat grass, inse…

How many chickens? In city of Seattle, 4 chickens per house are allowed. (No roosters)

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#167

Post by stinkytaco »

spoofball wrote: post #157

The way chickens are raised today, you'd be insane to raise chickens. Chickens of the old, roamed the grass, picking little shits that no one could find or eat, growing slowly but steadily, surviving and mating. Today, they gorge on soybean-B12 juice that was raised on ex-rainforest area. It's highly unsustainable and ridiculously bad investment. Bill Gates has previously written about meat and its sustainability and…

I'm not sure you followed the article. He's arguing for small scale, not large scale investment. Raising chickens primarily for their eggs, and secondarily for their meat. Indeed, he appears to be advocating "chickens of old" as you call them, rather than industrial operations to increase self-sufficiency.

Because they continually produce food, are largely self-sufficient, living off calories otherwise rejected and because they are small and inexpensive, chicken's are an excellent investment on a small scale.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#168

Post by stinkytaco »

Houshalter wrote: post #117
paganel wrote: post #69

My parents live in a village in Eastern Europe with less than $2 a day (I also chip in to financially help them), and they do indeed raise chickens, they've being doing that for the last 15 years or so, since they moved out to the countryside. Bill Gates is correct in his assessment, it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing,…

> it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing, which is very time consuming and demands a lot of extra work just for feeding said cows, you need to pay someone to take care of the cows when they go out to eat in the summer on the communal field. This is surprising to me. Of course a cow should be more work to raise than a chicke…

In addition to the other points people have made, with beef you have the problem of preservation. Unless you coordinate so everyone slaughters their cows at a different time and you can share the meat (which presents problems as well), you end up with a glut of meat for a short period of time, rather than the continuing output of a chicken.
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