The benefits of keeping chickens

I decided to write this after reading a recent thread about creating mutant brainless chickens to feed the world’s population...


Anyway, I won’t go on about that too much, just wanted to tell people about my familys experiance with chickens...

How many others have discovered how great chickens are??

We have a whole mix of people on ATS and, regardless of if you are a survivalist, environmentalist, animal lover, or just plain hungry... Chickens are a great addition to your garden. We started keeping Chickens at the beginning of this year. For a few years we have kept a vegetable patch in our garden and this seemed like the next logical step.

We started the veg patch for mixed reasons... We wanted our kids to be educated and know where their food comes from. We also wanted fresh clean food that had no additives, pesticides, and hadn’t been flown half way around the world. Once the veg patch was established we started thinking about Chickens.

We didn’t like the ideal of the chickens and eggs we consumed coming from chickens kept in tiny cages with no daylight. The thought of eating something that has lived a miserable existence and is pumped full of drugs is something my family and I didn’t like. And if you mix all that with rising food prices, and the destruction of the world’s forests for agriculture, it seemed like the right thing to do.

It was one of the best decisions we have made... The kids are in the garden far more, regardless the weather, and we have our own supply of meat and eggs. We do slaughter our own chickens and before anyone gets all judgemental on me please bear in mind that we ARE meat eaters, that will not change in our family. However, my own personal belief is that if I can’t slaughter my own meat then I shouldn’t eat meat at all. Of course this is something completely personal for me and not something I project onto others or judge them for. We make sure that our chickens have as good a life as we can give them and provide them with the best that we can afford. It is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Of course having a tiny back garden means that we cannot keep many chickens and so have to supplement our meat with Chicken bought from shops. But the money we save, by not having to buy eggs, means that we can afford to buy free range organic chicken, when we do need to purchase it.

Anyway, for those of you out there with gardens... consider chickens, you won’t regret it I promise

Also, their pooh is great for the vegetable patch. We have just started a website dedicated to our journey with Chickens but I am not sure if linking it will break any ATS rules so I have left it out.

Any mods reading this? Can I post a link to my website??


I was going to post some pics, but I forgot my ATS media password and for some reason (even though I clicked on reset password) the new password has not been emailed to me yet. Once it has I will upload some pics of our Chickens.

Peace

ATS media info is the same as ATS login info... atleast for me it is, I dont remember setting anything up for Media...

Good story, I had browsed that thread you mentioned at the beginning, and lost interest after reading that part lol... brainless chickens hmm

Anyways, I just started my first garden(s) this year as well, and wanted to get chickens, Just havent had the time to build plans for a chicken coop...

So within a year you are already having to slaughter chickens? Did you buy/get them as adults?

From what I had been reading chickens lay for a good 2 years before declining egg production...

EDIT to add - How do you collect the chicken droppings for use in the garden? I was trying to think of a design within the coop to make it easy to collect, and ideas?

Thank you for posting this thread. I have raised chickens for about 20 years. They are extremely beneficial. Yes, we raise our own meat. They get fed well, sheltered well, protected, have a good life and when their time comes, we are very quick with a prayer...when we eat, we say our heartfelt thanks, if it wasn't for them, we would go hungry...I always tell people, "Respect your food." and you will be blessed by the one who has fed you (my native american blood LOL).

we also have a huge garden that provides for neighbors and friends in our coommunity. Yes, it is alot of hard work, but the benefits truly outweigh.

Please U@U me your website address, I would like to check it out....
Again, TY for posting, hopefully others will join in and offer info or even get some tips from us folks who know.

reply to post by morder1


Thanks for the reply...

We got our first chickens at the start of the year (2 cream legbars and a phoenix)

The reason for the phoenix is because they make fantastic broody hens...

Later we got a couple of speckled Sussex pullets... unfortunately one had a prolapse and, after trying for several days to remedy it, decided that it would be more humane to end her life.

Then in late spring the phoenix went broody (this means that she is ready to sit on eggs and hatch them out) so we went to a local farm that sold eating eggs but allowed the cocks (roosters) to run with the hens. This meant that there was a good chance that the eggs would be fertile. We spoke to the farmer who assured me that the eggs had been laid that morning and purchased six which i placed under our phoenix. 21 day later we had four chicks (two of the eggs didn’t hatch) Two of these were boys and so we slaughtered and ate the boys as soon as they started crowing (cockadoododoo)

Sadly the law in Britain say that you cannot keep cockerels in residential or built up areas because of the noise so we really had no option.

The two girls we kept and they are now just approaching point of lay.

We have learnt so much in such a short space of time and, to be honest, I can chat all day about it... I really do love keeping chickens

Sorry for the long reply...

Peace

reply to post by morder1

EDIT to add - How do you collect the chicken droppings for use in the garden? I was trying to think of a design within the coop to make it easy to collect, and ideas?

The old fashion way... nothing fancy... i just go into the coop in the morning and remove the obvious droppings, from under the perches, with a trowel and a bucket

This also helps to keep the coop cleaner for longer.

Peace

reply to post by triplereiki


I must say i love you philosophy... you are so right... we have to respect our food. I believe that it is respect, or lack of, that will determine our future as a species. We have to establish an equilibrium with our surroundings or eventually we will be doomed.

I shall send you a u2u

Peace

I love my chickens and have come to believe that chickens and humans are meant to be together.

With our chickens, we find we need a LOT less insecticide too. No more fire ants in Georgia. That rocks.

I could go on and on,but no one would believe me that doesn't already know. Around here they think that chickens chase dogs and destroy gardens and stink up the neighborhood, even if you only have 2.

We line our coop with cardboard. The whole thing slides in or out and the whole thing can be composted.

reply to post by morder1


This is a great link that shows you how to build a moveable coop. The great thing about these is you wont get a messy pen and your chickens will have fresh bugs and such to munch on!

chicken coop

reply to post by hadriana


LOL that’s so true about the ants and pests... One of the jobs for my children, in the summer, is to go around the veg patch and collect all of the snails, slugs and caterpillars. These are then placed in a dish and left out for the chickens. A whole bowl of these garden pests will last... oh about 20 seconds

We never use chemicals on our plants

Originally posted by triplereiki
Thank you for posting this thread. I have raised chickens for about 20 years. They are extremely beneficial. Yes, we raise our own meat. They get fed well, sheltered well, protected, have a good life and when their time comes, we are very quick with a prayer...when we eat, we say our heartfelt thanks, if it wasn't for them, we would go hungry...I always tell people, "Respect your food." and you will be blessed by the one who has fed you (my native american blood LOL).

we also have a huge garden that provides for neighbors and friends in our coommunity. Yes, it is alot of hard work, but the benefits truly outweigh.

Please U@U me your website address, I would like to check it out....
Again, TY for posting, hopefully others will join in and offer info or even get some tips from us folks who know.

You are living the American Dream, my friend. How I wish I had those things

When times are better, I too want to own a bit of land and grow and raise my own food. Do you also have a well to draw water from? That is also something I would like to have.

Thank you for sharing. I think that is fantastic. I saw the other thread and after reading a few replies, I couldn't bring myself to watch the videos.

We aren't allowed to keep chickens in our current neighborhood. But I have a list of lifestyle changes I would like to try or make to become more self sufficient once we can move to a larger area. I would love to have chickens but must settle for a small garden and buying organic and free range.

I would love to learn from your adventures!

reply to post by celestialpink


It is so sad that you aren’t allowed to keep chickens

I just do not get modern society... we completely accept the un-natural... we accept noise and pollution from planes, motor bikes and cars, we accept chemicals being sprayed in the air to make a room smell different... we accept so many un-natural harmful things without question... But someone wants to keep some chickens?!?! No No... far too noisy and smelly!!

I just don’t get it!!

I you like i can send a u2u with my website address (i promise i am not selling anything lol)

Peace

We've kept chickens for many years and enjoy having them. You cannot beat fresh farm eggs! In the summertime we still feed them but let them free range. They will certainly keep the grasshopper and crickette populations down. I have a little black banty hen who will set anytime she can get a few eggs together. One year I had two Buff Orphintons setting in the hen house and everytime one of them got the chance she would roll the eggs out of the other one's nest and put them under her own. Chickens can be very comical. The only draw back to having multiple roosters is--sometimes it sounds like battle of the bands. Each one trying to out do the other one.

reply to post by Muckster


One of my best memories as a kid was catching tomato worms and feeding them to the chickens. I got a kick out of seeing them stretched between two chickens lol.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9f8bb933daef.jpg[/atsimg]

I think it is unAmerican not to let people keep a few hens, maybe 4 or less unless you have over an acre of land.

Chickens aren't BAD.

Our county commissioners passed some messed up chicken prohibition laws, but of course one of them has COMMERCIAL chicken coops- so he tortures chickens for a living.

My chickens are free range. Luckily we were zoned agricultural or I'd be an outlaw.

reply to post by jrkelly77


WOW... is that a real caterpillar?!?!

Sorry for sounding ignorant, I am from Britain and I have never seen anything like that monster in my garden... what with all the spiky coloured bits??



Peace

reply to post by Muckster

Yep its real lol. There called tomato horn worms and they get huge up to 4 inches and really fat from stripping your tomatos! The chickens love them.

Brilliant thread about my favourite pets. We have 4 layers called blossom, bluebell, tulip and rose. They have been used to help my grandkids understand about nature and the food chain. We live in the cold west coast of Scotland, but they thrive in the damp and rain and have been known to boss my two dogs about.

Rose
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d906eafebd15.jpg[/atsimg]
Bluebell

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c2403961cff1.jpg[/atsimg]

And Blossom training my grandsone

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/564deb469ae0.jpg[/atsimg].

You forgot to mention how relaxing chickens can be. I love to sit out in the yard under our old apple tree with a cold one, and watch them do their thing.

Another great thing about free range chickens is that their egg yolks are so yellow, they make store eggs look anemic. The best deviled eggs ever!

reply to post by captiva


What lovely pictures

Thanks for sharing... If only i could get my ATS media page working lol

When it does work i will also share some pictures

Peace