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

First time I ever heard a peacock I thought there was a kid trapped in a culvert. Never did find the kid, figured out WTF it was. I tried in vain to hit the damn things on the road but they never cooperated.

Guinee fowl are noisy also but eat the chit outa ticks.They actually lay a good sized egg and its tasty.

Chickens ain't so bad, they do tend to attract vermin( rats especially) but depending on how you feed them, and how good your coop is not too much problem. If you broadcast feed on the ground then rats will come from the next county. if dispensed in feeders , no worse then any other outdoor animal.
Fresh eggs and the occasional fresh breast are always good thing. plucking dead chickens ain't so fun. If you get a few guinea hens they will keep out most vermin , but drive some people crazy....
J.M.H.O.

I think Koalas take the cake in that category. But that is another thread altogether.

I say get the chickens, the wife will be happy and when you get tired of them you can eat them. What's not to like??

. You are my hero. Funniest thing I have read all day.

If you butcher one just right and leave the brain stem you can be on the covers of magazines and have parades every year for your chicken.

You could be a celebrity just like your bird, just like Mike the headless chicken from Fruita, CO.

http://time.com/3524433/life-with-mike-the-headless-chicken-photos-of-a-famously-tough-fowl/

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11178

Thanks all for the info---pro and con. 'Preciate it.

Avian flu will double if not triple egg prices this year. Millions of hens have been euthanized. Makes having a few hens around a good idea.

Any of you folks keep ducks?

Growing up relatives of ours who lived in the country always kept a few chickens and a small number of ducks.

They had a large pen, with a small stream running through, although the birds were allowed to forgage around the garden during the day.

Still to this day I prefer ducks eggs to those from chickens..

We've kept chickens for several years now. It is worth it to us. Over the last month we lost all of our hens to foxes...still have a rooster left. I found two fox dens last week so I got some killin' to do before we get more.

One plus of having a rooster is hens often lay more (eggs that is) compared to if there isn't a rooster. Not a huge increase and may vary between breeds.

We have guineas as well. Their eggs are smaller but very rich. They are tick control at it's finest. When we first moved in years ago we couldn't walk across our yard without having to pull ticks off our socks. After a couple of years of guineas we rarely see a tick. They are also much more wary of predators...and make a lot of noise.

I don't know f it's financially worth it. Eggs and chicken are fairly cheap.

I have a friend that lives in So. Eastern Ohio. He had a real problem with ticks on his property. He got 25 chickens, no more tick problem.

He says that when he tills his garden a troop will follow him. He has to protect his tomatoes and peppers, and the low hanging green beans get pecked off. No problem with te beans higher on the vine. He says he see's chickens picking slugs off his cabbages. He no longer seems to have a cut worm problem.

I've been thinking about it. I LOVE duck eggs and I love eating ducks.

Also figuring on getting a 2 turkeys and slaughtering them for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Of course my wife wants to get the chickens, lots of 'We really need to get some chickens' etc.

Of course WE means ME doing ALL the work

Depends how likely she is to promote them from "stock" to "pets"..Once stuff gets named, your on a slipperly slope as far as killing for the table goes...

If you can avoid that, and have a little natural water about the place, a few ducks don't won't to cause to much extra work..

The real draw back of any project like this is they tend to tie you ie who's going to feed and look after them if you wish to go away for a few days?

In addition to feeding, poultry really need somebody around morning and night to let them out, and then shut them up in the evenings..Finding somebody reliable to do that can be a bind..

We got a couple ducks last year that turned to both be drakes. Got a couple Rouen hens with the chicks this year. Might just be me, but the duck eggs I have had didn't seem to be much different from chicken eggs, just bigger.
And yes, you will need to protect your garden, and keep a rifle handy.
We let a hen set for a few weeks this spring as a kind of experiment. We discovered that a bantam rooster must be a little too "short" to fertilize a regular size hen:)

Which is actually a plus, it means I don't have to visit her family........

Get your turkeys soon.

The bird flu crap over in the plains caused the local fodder to dry up fast.

Which is surprising since the state is a major turkey producer.

I've raised chickens, quail, pheasants, ducks, turkey, Guinea fowl,and pigeons.

Chickens, ducks, pigeons and Guinea are easy to raise free range if you have enough land.

None of them are worth the effort if you have to keep them in pens.

Been keeping a small flock for years. I think it's well worth it for the egg quality vs store bought. PS you either do it for meat or eggs, not generally both. Completely different breeds. Egg breeds don't have much breast meat and meat birds are typically slaughtered before they start laying eggs.

As for predators, we have hawks, owls, cats, foxes, coons, opossums, and in the six years I've kept a free range flock, I lost one to a hawk during the day, and one to a coon. The coon lost hen was killed only because the hen chose that night to roost outside and I missed her at the head count when I locked them up at night. Generally they put themselves to roost at dusk and I just lock them up at night. During the day they roam within a fenced in back half acre away from the house. Clipping their flight feathers will keep them from flying over the fence and getting near your home.

Dude, you need to re-read Ringworm's advice on such matters. Guy's a fuggin' genius:

Doc,

Your Redhead is never falling for that crap any way you cut it

Your bestest PIA,

Lynn