Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Wife thinks she wants to raise chickens. Is it worth it???

Apparently my wife has a recessive (or is it latent?) farmer gene which is starting to manifest itself. Says she wants me to build her a small coop so she can raise chickens. What the %!&@? Guys, is this at all worth it for a few eggs and a breast (chicken that is ) every now and again? I do eat a lot of eggs and like chicken breast. Just not sure I want to raise these dumb birds and have them [bleep] all over the lawn and deck and such. Next year she wants a bee hive! Where does it end?


Jordab

no chickens, but a started a bee hive this year.

will it payoff?

prob not, but something to do.

Seems you're pretty busy sucking safariman cock.

good third grade reply.

Not worth it.

Greg, you are 100% right, but not many hobbies are.

Sorry, I figured I was dealing with an idiot that is happy letting Christians [bleep] others. Am I wrong?

Let me guess, turn the other cheek? What if you are out of cheeks?

You'll have skunks,foxes,coyotes,neighborhood dogs,cats,hawks and then the two-legged scoundrels looking for free chicken eggs and breasts.

Totally worth it. They're easy as hell. And nothing compares to fresh eggs.

going for the "I Ruined the Most Threads" Award?

you are getting better than later it gets, most be the pills/booze kicking in.

I've got 3...
Little Sandra-dee , the carnivore, Duey, the retard and Shadow the herder.
Chicken crap is good fertilizer and if you haven't learned by now, what makes your wife happy makes you happy.
I entertain all my wife's little adventures. If it succeeds, its due to my help and she appreciates it, if it fails its her lack of participation and I have something to hold over her head when I want something.

Fresh eggs are so much better than store bought. Have neighbors and friends that raise chickens..no need for me too.

but for you small chicken coops

besides I have Labradors...birds don't last long

If you have to keep them confined in a pen, the stink they make isn't worth it to me. If tou can let them out during the day and put them in a coup at night they arn't too bad. If you have room for one of the chicken tractors they might not be too bad because you keep them moving and don't let the stink accumulate in one place.

Troof!

Got 5 and will get 2 more of the green egg layers this week. Love them fresh aigs.

Quite a bit of work, to enjoy fresh eggs and/or meat. You will have to defend them, smell them, walk around their droppings, feed and water, keep 'em warm or cool, etc..
The alternative is to buy eggs from a local farmer or your local market.
But you'll never know unless you try it yourself.
Good luck

If you have the room,they are worth it. Not so much if they free range around the house.If you can keep them away from the house,they are hell on bugs. Eggs definitely taste ebtter than caged chickens.

Egg production goes down and sometimes quits altogether in the winter and it's a pa in to keep water from frezing.

If you buy chicks,buy the sexed ones instead of standard runs that can be 50% roosters.You don't need any roosters unles you plan to let a few hens set and hatch eggs.

You will also need to learn how ot cull the nonlayers,which is easy.Yellow vent ,not laying. Blue event laying. 6 laying hens wilkeep you in eggs, but by a dozen so you can cull and some will just up and die on you for no good reason.

Having a few chickens is getting to be a big thing in a lot of towns now. It's not just a country thing anymore.

I may as well feed the trolls

I am always looking for the free chickidy breasts but not the chicken type

I had 10 egg layers last week, now I have 5. I get 2 eggs a day and most likely from the 2 young ones. I love the free range orange egg yokes. My wife and son love the eggs too. Our biggest problem is they get into the mulch and dig everything up and dump on the front porch too. The neighbors dog went and killed at least two and the coons got the other 3. Make a coop nothing can get into and let them out a few hrs before dark. They go back in by themselves. I dont like the birds we have now. They are beautiful black birds but freak out and are hyper birds. We have 6 egg layers and 40 meat birds coming Tuesday. We are getting California WHites for egg layers cause they are very calm and lay eggs like crazy. A dog house off Craigslist with a chain link fence is cheaper than something you can make., and then ya dont have to make it neither. Ya will have to trap coons every year to keep them out of the coop unless ya can really keep these things out. Here is coon # 7 in the last week. When it is warm out, they dont need to be fed much at all from grass and bugs all day, just a few handfuls of corn will do. So, eggs are very cheap all summer. Up here in winter they dont lay eggs much at all form December to mid March.

I don't think we were ever without chickens growing up. I really disliked them. Not sure why, but they annoyed me. Now, I would kinda like to have some. I'm not sure its worth it for me though, it would be a full time job defending them from the foxes,coyotes,skunks,fishers etc never mind hawks and eagles. I would love to let them out to just roam around eating bugs and such, but I don't think they would last long. Maybe some day when I have more time at home.