Anyone here keep chickens?

The city I'm moving back to recently made it legal to keep up to 5 chickens in residential areas and I'm considering it. I want to have 3 to 5 because it's my understanding that they're actually fairly social with each other.

There are a number of pros that I see. Fresh eggs that I actually know are humane, and healthy. Fun addition to the backyard. Good for the lawn (if I do it planning on a mobile coop/run). I'm going to be doing a lot of landscaping and free fertilizer is always a plus. They apparently will eat just about any table scraps making me feel less guilty. For some reason I just find them charming and like watching them. Also, I'm probably going to end up eating the hens after they stop producing eggs.

Cons I see are cleaning poop, and having someone look after them if I go on a vacation. Also that they stop laying sometime after 3-5 years and need to be slaughtered. I am not allowed to process them in the backyard, but found a place that will take care of that. I suppose the only other real concern is noise, but my backyard is rather large and has high fences.

Is it a pain in the ass? I don't mind putting work in, and don't mind shoveling crap, but I'm wondering just how often I will realistically have to clean the coop. I've seen people saying twice a week to once a month.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I used to clean my coop weekly until I read about a deep litter method where you basically add a little fresh hay over the droppings when it starts to smell, This really saved time for me. Best thing is in the end you have great compost at the bottom of your coop for the garden. Might not work with a small urban coop though. Ours is a walk in room.

Even without roosters, some chickens can be quite loud but if you are planning on eating the hens when they get older you already have a noisy bird solution. Just don't get too attached

Chickens are awesome.

check out a website called backyardchickens.com... their forum has answers to all things chicken plus it just an amazing source of information regarding urban chicken keeping.

I haven't had any chickens myself, my wife won't let me get them. I do have friends that have chickens though and they aren't as smelly as some people think. Their crap is excellent fertilizer for some crops, but you don't use much of it or it burns the roots. They clean their coop about once a week, throwing some fresh straw and sawdust in every couple of days. It only takes about a half an hour to clean a coup usually. I had to clean the chicken coup when I was young, there were about twenty five chickens in the coop, and it took about a half an hour, it will be about the same with a smaller coop. It goes quicker if the chickens are not in the coop when you are cleaning, but that isn't always the case.

Good luck if you decide to do this, it is well worth doing it. It's not bad buying them from a local person either, We buy most of our eggs from local farms. It isn't that much more expensive than the commercial eggs in the store.

a reply to: igloo

Thanks for that link and your reply! Do they STFU at night? As much as I'd like to irritate all the McMansions that went up on the other side of my fence ( ) I prefer to be on distant good terms with neighbors.

My daughter has chickens. The are s great fertilizer for gardens. Son in law uses to eat only egg whites. With the chickens he started eating whole eggs...,3 per day... Cholesterol dropped 30 points.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thanks for the advice and encouragement! The smell doesn't bug me at all. 1/2 an hour once a week isn't bad at all, and oddly enough I like shoveling crap after growing up with horses. Completely worth it for fresh eggs and good compost, and if I'm not too much of a wuss delicious homemade chicken! My girlfriend got me on this kick, she suggested we get a few, she's a keeper.

Have a look at some of the other breeds as well. Silky bantams are awesome.

You can let them roam and by they way, they eat creepy crawlies for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Not much good in the egg department though.

If hens stop laying, you need to introduce a rooster for a while, noisy as that is.

P

I have never raised chickens in a coop, but we had a fairly nice large yard that was fenced well on every side. Not that the chickens are going to give a damn about your fence, but since they had everything they needed in the yard they never left out front often. If you let them roam, they will typically always stay near your property as long as you give them a place to sleep and regular feed. I dont know why you gonna listen to the cities crock of # telling you cant process them in your own property. Damn that! Just do it anyways. Not like they watching you.

But yo, I hop you got a big family. trust me there are going to be alot of eggs coming your way with five chickens. We only had two and a family of four and we always had enough eggs. But then again we did not eat eggs everyday. I suppose you could just get creative on meal plans with all your eggs.

They do shutup at night unless a possum or coon is trying to get at them, and they will try. So if you hear it at night making a funny noise you do need to go investigate it. Every now and then it will do that though if its laying an egg or two. They will scratch up anywhere you got mulch so keep that in mind.

You know its amazing with a good acre size property you can raise chickens rabbits and ducks. Ducks are great barbecue ill tell you what. Rabbit is not bad, all in how you flavor it of course.

Let mine run freerange .. only drawback tiger sometimes grabs one or two for lunch ..

Get a rooster along with the hens ..

a reply to: pheonix358

Can I free range a larger breed if I have 6 ft fencing all around the yard and clip wings? This would be when I am in the backyard with them. Also plan on having a mobile coop so I can move it every few days and give the little cluckers new things to nibble on.

a reply to: Expat888

Get a rooster along with the hens ..

Can't have a rooster (and wouldn't want one in this area). Not too worried about tiger attacks in the PNW. The only threat I really anticipate is going to be raccoons at this location.

dont bother clipping the wings its more hassle than its worth. Just assume they are always going to fly our front and occasionally to the neighbors. The best way to reduce them from doing it that many times though is to simply just give them all they want in your yard. DO NOT get a rooster with the hens. It will piss off many of your neighbors (some will like it, just the random nature of people) and they will fertilize the eggs. Thats all fine and dandy if you are going to be eating hard boiled baby chicks like is done in Philippines and other places, but me thinks this is not your goal.

But yo, I hop you got a big family. trust me there are going to be alot of eggs coming your way with five chickens.

For the time being it's only going to be me and the girlfriend, and I think 3 is what I actually want to go for. I don't think I'll have any issues giving away eggs to neighbors and family members that live close though if it gets out of hand. Before I rented the place one of the neighbors would always swing by with game meat so I'm pretty sure he and his wife would enjoy fresh eggs.

a reply to: Domo1
Raccoons can be royal pain in backside .. make sure your hens cooped at night and that the coops secured well .. shame cant have roosters there ..

Roosters are fun if you have the land where they wont bother neighbors. Funny how aggressive they can get though. Rhode Island red roosters get huge. Talk about foghorn leghorn.

a reply to: Domo1

Can I free range a larger breed if I have 6 ft fencing all around the yard and clip wings?

Six foot should be more than enough if you clip their wings . Chooks as we call them in Australia can also be trained . My kids had 2 chooks (brown chook and white chook ) brown chook got crushed when she was the size of a tennis ball and could only run in circles . Brown chook would actually come to you if you called her . Well even if you didnt call her if the Cocker Spaniel was in the yard . Chooks are cool .

Racoons will become your biggest enemy. You need to build a critter proof pen and hen house, that is much harder to do than you would think. Be ready to butcher your hens after about 4 years when they stop producing eggs. You'll need a cheap source of feed as well, a local grain co-op would be best.

a reply to: Domo1

Also white chickens lay white eggs ,darker chooks lay brown eggs . Just in case this matters to you .

originally posted by: Domo1
a reply to: pheonix358

Can I free range a larger breed if I have 6 ft fencing all around the yard and clip wings? This would be when I am in the backyard with them. Also plan on having a mobile coop so I can move it every few days and give the little cluckers new things to nibble on.

As every one has said, yes you can. Why not have a better mix. Just enough big ones for the egg supply and some bantams as pets. You will be very surprised at the knockdown of rats, mice, roaches and anything else that crawls.

The only reason to lock them up at night is for their safety. Having a friendly dog in the yard as well means you don't need to worry about that.

P

a reply to: DYepes

The property is sort of interesting. It's on a cul-de-sac with very (and I hate using this word) cute, impeccably well maintained ranch homes that have large front and back lawns, most of the neighbors are older and would actually like having chickens. Problem is the backyard butts up against one of those hideous planned neighborhoods with 3 story homes and people that think square footage = prestige (it's like driving a base Mercedes). Neighbors family directly behind me is actually rather awesome, but I'm not willing to risk it with the others. It was weird driving through the area the other week. In a few years condos have popped up down the street, there's new construction and a ton of new businesses.

It was never a classy neighborhood, but it was an honest one. Think King Of The Hill.

Anyway, chickens. Love 'em. Know of any breeds that have more character or a sweeter disposition? Also, why not bother clipping wings? Seems like that would help if I decided to let them out and have chicken fun.