Any chicken folks out there?

[SOHC-FTW]

I've gotten into chickens here in the last month, I enjoy it as a hobby and working on cars day in an day out I kinda get burnt out on me an chcikens are cheaper. Anyway I was just wondering if any of Y'all was into them as we'll?

So far we have...

Our rooster Popeye a black copper maran/Easter egged mix.
Thelma an Louise our first laying hens.
Little bam bam she's a Dutch bantam.
Ruby which is an Easter egger.
Zena our blue steel full sized cochin.
Elsa our pure breed silkie.

Also got some chicks a few weeks ago in hopes of breeding some of the rare breeds and some great egg layers.
Swedish flowers.
Jubilee orps.
And the layers are welsummers.

[deevergote]

Wow... I just learned more about chickens from your post than I ever knew!

[HenRoc]

Well I won't look at eggs the same again...lol I had no idea they had different variations!

[SOHC-FTW]

Haha you guys are crazy.

And yes many different sizes,shapes and colors.

Our Easter egger lays green eggs. We have some olive layers too and the little banam lays small white eggs.

When the welsummers get of age they will lay dark chocolate eggs, I'll tell ya home fresh eggs are far better! Though I'm afraid one of the welsummers is a cockerel (young soon to be rooster) so he will have to go or be supper as I'm keeping Popeye and either a Swedish or jubilee rooster for breeding, but they will be separate from my game cock and his flock as he will kill or try to any other roo.

Jubilees bring about 75-100 a piece per hen once grown not even show quality and very beautiful birds.

[SOHC-FTW]

Plus free eggs I've got 16 this week more money saved.

[SEgirl]

One of the reasons we bought the property we're on (2.5 acres) was so we could have some chickens. We had a coop built and only had the door left to put in and then foxes started showing up regularly. I guess they somehow knew what was going on! A few months later we had 2 hurricanes back to back and the coop was wiped out. Got discouraged and never did anything since.
Recently we've been discussing getting some again, to save money on eggs, and also keep down on the pests. Your post makes me want to get some even more now, but we'd have to build another coop--just before hurricane season again--lol!

[SOHC-FTW]

I have my dog kennel 15ft away from our chickens so no pest issues, I enjoy the chickens especially my rooster he's quite large for 8months and has one of the best crows anyone round here's heard in a long time.

I'll be building another setup for the chicks here in a few months once they are feathered out decently and I will probably put the Cochin an silkie with them as we'll.

[cp[mike]]

i really wish i had the outdoor space, fresh eggs would be awesome to pair with a backyard garden.

Do you find they are easy to take care of, and worth the effort? is there a certain number of chickens to aim for, that would make it "worthwhile" in terms of egg production vs. cost and effort? is egg production pretty consistent all year? how much time do you put into care and maintenance, and what do you do in the winter? ever plan on doing any slaughtering or are they purely for eggs?

sorry for all the questions, but I've always had the feeling that a coop would provide a great return in the long run, and especially with a family.

[SOHC-FTW]

i really wish i had the outdoor space, fresh eggs would be awesome to pair with a backyard garden.

find they are easy to take care of, and worth the effort? is there a certain number of chickens to aim for, that would make it "worthwhile" in terms of egg production vs. cost and effort? is egg production pretty consistent all year? how much time do you put into care and maintenance, and what do you do in the winter? ever plan on doing any slaughtering or are they purely for eggs?

Worth while? In my opinion very much so. We got 16 eggs so far this week out of 6 hens. As far as how many eggs you get per year that depends on the breed you choose like our Dutch bantam she will lay maybe 150 a year, our Easter egger will do around 250, but even great layers will usually take a day off and maybe a few more during winter but their is breeds that lay all year like champs such as the sex links an welsummers I'm raising. Our silkie she will go broody way more than most breeds they make great moms/sitters. They even make meat breeds tons of breeds I mean tons!

As far as cost a bag of layer pellets is around $16 for 50lbs and it last bout 3-4months the 7 mature birds go through about a gallon of water a day or so we give me treat such as cabbage, spinach, grass/clovers, scrambled eggs (yes it's fantastic for them) dried eggs shells if we are low on orshture shells it helps with food and to make their eggs shells harder. I do mix in high protein game bird crumbles as we'll, but watch over feeding hens they will get fat an lazy and that will effect laying.

As far as health things, stress, egg lashings, pasty butt (kayro syrup helps) and coccidiosis which they are 9 strains of and corid gets rid of 7 of them, I treated my chicks (lost two welsummers outta 5) and my olders at same time just incase. Best thing I can tell ya is electrolytes are a key to a lot especially in young ones below a year.

As far as how many the usual is 3sq ft per chicken and a rooster like Popeye can fertilize 7-12 hens, during winter you can use artificial lighting but they also need real sun too so let em out during day for abit.
And if I have two many roosters out of the chicks and they don't sell then I will make supper of them when the time comes. All in all I enjoy waking up to mess about with em.

[SEgirl]

Not only are they good for eggs, but they make great pets! I grew up on a farm and we had a lot of chickens. They were mostly White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, and Barred Rocks. Would love to have some Cochins and Silkies.
Don't think I would get any roosters, as I don't want to have deal with the crowing. Right now, the yard is only partly fenced and we don't have any dogs that would help keep away foxes, racoons, etc. We have 20+ acres of woods next to us, and coyotes have shown up in the yard as well. Our neighbor behind us had several chickens that she let roam around her property, but a chicken hawk got several of them so now she has to keep them in a covered coop.

[SOHC-FTW]

As far as profit around here you can get $2.50-$3 for a dozen of farm eggs an a bit more for colored eggs such as blue,pink,olive, an dark browns.

Let's say if I raised Cochin chicks there's $10 a pop
Easter eggers $3-5
Silkie $10-15
Swedish flowers $15-20
Jubilee orp's $20-30
Now that's just for chicks not hatching eggs (abit less pricey) nor laying egg age which is more money as I said most likely can get $100 out of laying aged jubilees.

[SOHC-FTW]

Not only are they good for eggs, but they make great pets! I grew up on a farm and we had a lot of chickens. They were mostly White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, and Barred Rocks. Would love to have some Cochins and Silkies.
Don't think I would get any roosters, as I don't want to have deal with the crowing. Right now, the yard is only partly fenced and we don't have any dogs that would help keep away foxes, racoons, etc. We have 20+ acres of woods next to us, and coyotes have shown up in the yard as well. Our neighbor behind us had several chickens that she let roam around her property, but a chicken hawk got several of them so now she has to keep them in a covered coop.

I enjoy mine as pets as we'll pretty entertain to watch, as far as crowing to me that's the full effect he protects his ladies loves em and they return the favor ha.

[SEgirl]

Lol! They do love the ladies, don't they? I had a pet rooster growing up that would wait for the school bus with me (he even got on a couple of times), and he'd be waiting for me when I got home. They're really wonderful to have.

I enjoy mine as pets as we'll pretty entertain to watch, as far as crowing to me that's the full effect he protects his ladies loves em and they return the favor ha.