Does anyone here keep chickens?

[capt_noonie]

Thinking about getting one or two hens. Any advice appreciated. I highly doubt my HOA allows it but I think I have a few places to "hide" them if I do end up doing this. I know our city allows it bc there are a lot of homes here with farms, animals and horses. Just think our association may not. We were thinking about getting a parakeet but if I'm going to the trouble of keeping a bird and cleaning bird poop I may as well get some eggs out of the deal.

I saw a coop at Costco yesterday for $150 I think and it says up to 4 hens.

[Yorkiemom1]

My neighbor had chickens.....I think about a dozen of them....thinking a dozen eggs a day!.....I think the MAJOR mistake was when he got the ROOSTER!!!! We are smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood with a strict HOA....that rooster would get out and visit all over the neighborhood, crowing at all hours.....I LOVE crwing roosters, but someone did not! and all the chickens and the rooster is history! I USED to have chickens...you do not need a rooster to make eggs! That is what God put chickens here to do....make eggs!! Now if you want biddies, you will need a rooster to fertilize those eggs.....but just the hens and you should be able to "hide" the chickens....if you have nice neighbors that wont see them in your back yard or in the coop, and report you! Good luck! When I move up to my brothers property, I want chickens....there are chickens that lay low cholesterol eggs....healthier eggs....cant think of the name of the breed of chicken, but I KNOW someone on here will know!!! They are a funny looking, fancy chicken....Chineese or something, I think!

[Yorkiemom1]

Just "Googled" those chickens...debunked theory about less cholesterol higher protein! I want chickens that lay JUMBO eggs....I need to investigate THAT!!

[Yorkiemom1]

Well, forgive me.....but I have insinuated myself all up in the middle of your chicken idea!!! Looking at chickens, Australorpe chickens are supposed to be really great laying chickens and they apparently lay "jumbo" eggs more often than not. I am just reading all this, have no idea if it is true! But I think I will get real familiar with this breed and perhaps gravitate towards them when I get my own!

[Nancy1999]

My dentist's assistant, (who I see quite a bit of) has told me about her chicken adventure. She started with I think three, and her son built her a coop. It takes a long time before they lay eatable eggs and in the meantime, you have to spend a lot of money on food and antibiotics and all sorts of stuff. Then she got another hen and found out that they are very territorial and they pecked the new hen to death. I guess you have to get them all at the same time and one becomes the alpha and any new hen upsets the balance. Also, her dog killed another one. So far, the eggs are costing her about 200 dollars apiece. I haven't talked to her in the past few months, but last time I talked to her she wasn't as enthusiastic as she once was. If you had your own yard and the chickens could be "free range", I say go for it, if you have to hide them, I think you'll end up regretting it. Are you sure you just don't want to have a baby? You won't have time for anything else. Lol, it sounds like you internal clock is insisting on a bird.

[Yorkiemom1]

Hey!! This fits right in with the rest of my great ideas and attempts to live with Mother Nature!! $200.00 eggs, my "huge hamburger size tomatoes that MAY grow to be a littless in size than a tennis ball and cost me about $75.00 each, my $150.00/pound cucumbers, my 20 yellow squash plants that yielded a total of 3 squash, the largest being about 4 inches long, etc, etc, etc....I soooooo want to be a "farm girl" and a "rancher" with cattle and those adorable little tiny pigmie goats (sp is wrong!!).....except I already know I can not kill my stock for food.....I just need to give this dream up.......including chickens!!! I did read about those particular Australorpe chickens..."Pros:
“Very sweet temperament, lovely color, great layers ”
“Great layers, great with other birds, very human friendly, nice to look at, hardy, long term layers”.......... ??? maybe ??? give it a try ????

[barneysmommmy]

My boys raised chickens one year for 4H. They received 25 chicks each because they are supposedly hard to keep alive. We must have been pretty decent at it because all 50 made it. We had all the eggs we wanted. It really was not an expensive adventure for us. Speaking of chickens, I had to share this video, one of my all time favorites. Jay Leno interviewing an Arkansan who gave a chicken CPR.

https://vimeo.com/22942977

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

My dentist's assistant, (who I see quite a bit of) has told me about her chicken adventure. She started with I think three, and her son built her a coop. It takes a long time before they lay eatable eggs and in the meantime, you have to spend a lot of money on food and antibiotics and all sorts of stuff. Then she got another hen and found out that they are very territorial and they pecked the new hen to death. I guess you have to get them all at the same time and one becomes the alpha and any new hen upsets the balance. Also, her dog killed another one. So far, the eggs are costing her about 200 dollars apiece. I haven't talked to her in the past few months, but last time I talked to her she wasn't as enthusiastic as she once was. If you had your own yard and the chickens could be "free range", I say go for it, if you have to hide them, I think you'll end up regretting it. Are you sure you just don't want to have a baby? You won't have time for anything else. Lol, it sounds like you internal clock is insisting on a bird.

A baby?! Hell noooo! Never! I want chickens for the eggs. It's all about food for me. I didn't want a parakeet. Bf wants one but I know I'll end up taking care of it. If that's the case then I want a bird that will give me food in return.

There are ppl on craigslist that give away chickens all the time. I think I would look for egg laying age hens. No chicks.

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by barneysmommmy

My boys raised chickens one year for 4H. They received 25 chicks each because they are supposedly hard to keep alive. We must have been pretty decent at it because all 50 made it. We had all the eggs we wanted. It really was not an expensive adventure for us. Speaking of chickens, I had to share this video, one of my all time favorites. Jay Leno interviewing an Arkansan who gave a chicken CPR.

https://vimeo.com/22942977

this WAS HALARIOUS!!!!!! I could sit and watch Bradshaw all day long and what a wonderful video this was....I killed myself laughing!!!! Thanks for this!!!

[JadeD]

My neighbor has chickens and when they go on vacation I get to go watch them. They have a fenced in yard so during the day the chickens are allowed to roam that. They got 6 last spring as chicks, their dogs got one of them while they were still little.

They bought a coop for them that they sleep in at night. They will go into it themselves as it starts to get dark and you just close the door and then open it up in the morning to let them out.

Feed is cheap and they don't need any medications. They give me about a dozen eggs about twice a month in the summer (extra over what they can use) and then in the winter about a dozen every 6 weeks, again after they use what they want/need.

As far as "hiding" them they do make noise. A rooster is very loud and as said on here, you do not need a rooster to have eggs. The hens make really cute noises in my opinion but some neighbors might hear them and report you, it really depends on your neighbors. Our rules are they can't be running loose and no roosters. I think there is a limit on how many hens you can have too, but it is like 12 or something here.

Good luck if you get them. Having a fence is good so they can't go anywhere and then just put them in the coop at night for safety and let them out in the morning. Their's lay about 1 egg a day on average. I think they are cool and trying to talk my husband into letting me have chickens here. My neighbors are talking about moving and said I could have their coop and chickens if they move, so who knows, I might get some yet.

[sugarmamma]

Originally Posted by barneysmommmy

My boys raised chickens one year for 4H. They received 25 chicks each because they are supposedly hard to keep alive. We must have been pretty decent at it because all 50 made it. We had all the eggs we wanted. It really was not an expensive adventure for us. Speaking of chickens, I had to share this video, one of my all time favorites. Jay Leno interviewing an Arkansan who gave a chicken CPR.

https://vimeo.com/22942977

Ok that was freaking funny

[Cherie6446]

I have thought about getting a couple of hens but my neighbor is a complete ass****! He reported me to our HOA and the city complainting about my "exotic birds" the were kept INSIDE my house. There is no way I could get away with hiding chickens. I do wish I could.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

My dentist's assistant, (who I see quite a bit of) has told me about her chicken adventure. She started with I think three, and her son built her a coop. It takes a long time before they lay eatable eggs and in the meantime, you have to spend a lot of money on food and antibiotics and all sorts of stuff. Then she got another hen and found out that they are very territorial and they pecked the new hen to death. I guess you have to get them all at the same time and one becomes the alpha and any new hen upsets the balance. Also, her dog killed another one. So far, the eggs are costing her about 200 dollars apiece. I haven't talked to her in the past few months, but last time I talked to her she wasn't as enthusiastic as she once was. If you had your own yard and the chickens could be "free range", I say go for it, if you have to hide them, I think you'll end up regretting it. Are you sure you just don't want to have a baby? You won't have time for anything else. Lol, it sounds like you internal clock is insisting on a bird.

I want chickens, but when dad told me they do this to each other, and I read here about Michele's experience, it turned me off.

[matese]

I have a neighbor behind me in another complex, they had a rooster, don't know if they had chickens, the rooster would crow all day, I loved hearing him through the woods, my neighbors hated it. I would LOVE to get geese, they are like watch dogs, but to much wild life here, I would faint if one morning I found it dead in my yard.

[capt_noonie]

From what I have read you have to get the hens at the same time, or buy them from someone who raised then at the same time otherwise they fight.

So far all the neighbors are fine. Many have dogs who are outside all day and night and bark non stop so I doubt they would even hear my chickens. There are a few places I am thinking I could put the coop. One area the trees are growing like crazy and soon it will be totally covered from above. Since our houses are all three story, the neighbors can look down from above, esp from the roof deck to see down, but if the trees are covering them, you won't be able to. I am also thinking to gate off the chickens side so they are near my small garden (bug patrol) and the dogs can have the other side. Also on the garden side we are thinking of putting up another wall and gate to make a small courtyard. This won't be done until they start building on the lot next to us. It's still unsold. Once that goes up there will be a lot more privacy.

There's still a lot to learn. I probably won't be getting any for at least a few more months if not a year. Also thinking I will build the coop myself. I went to look at the Costco one again and the footprint seems big.