Wife and kids want to raise chickens?

[Kismet]

On the TV show, SHARK TANK tonight, there was a guy trying to get financial aid for his business of building chicken coops for folks and selling them for around $1,00o to $6 or $8 thousand, and was looking to expand to European markets.

(He didn't get a following, but mostly because he just couldn't shut up.)

Just a little more information for you to process.

But really, if your wife and kids want to, and it won't break you, why not? What humans do best is rationalize. Have fun with it.

Best wishes.

 

[Sailfish_WC]

We live in the city.
We’re allowed 4 or 6 (I forget now)
We bought a small coop just for nesting and nighttime

The good:
They are really funny. Raise them, hold them, befriend them and they’ll imprint on you and they’ll be like a dog when they see you. We had 4, all with a unique personality. Once they started laying we’d get 3 or 4 eggs every day. They were enjoyable.

The bad: responsibility. We travel a lot for sports and dance. It was tough getting help morning and night to unlock and lock them in the coop. They are dumb.
They poop. EVERYWHERE. we were good that we have artificial grass so it was easy to pick up. But it’s everywhere. They destroy all ornamental plants. They dig under the pavers. They can be loud around egg-laying time. We had a predator get one of ours but somehow she survived and was kind Wierd after that.

Def a commitment. Not for everyone. After a year old the daughter had nothing to do with them. We sent them to a farm when they were 2

It didn’t really cost much overall to feed. We gave them a ton of veggie/fruit Scraps and feed

 

[Jim]

Thanks for all the feedback! The "real" feedback is much appreciated. :beer:

 

[maintenanceguy]

I grew up with a lot of chickens. We had eggs in something every day and had chicken quite often.

Some things to consider:

• Don't know your climate but in cold places like NJ, Chickens need a draft free coop. They can stay warm enough to survive if there is no draft
• They need a lot of space. Chickens stuck close together will peck each other to death. Once a chicken has gotten a pecking wound, the other chickens will peck that wound until they kill that bird.
• You will need to get them into the coop and locked up every night to protect them from predators.
• Predators will still get them. Raccoons, hawks, snakes, mink, foxes, and probably more like chicken. Tastes good and doesn't run fast.
• Clip their wing feathers or they will fly away.
• Chickens are dirty animals. Everything will be covered in chicken droppings.

 

[LDUBS]

I grew up with a lot of chickens. We had eggs in something every day and had chicken quite often.

Some things to consider:

• Don't know your climate but in cold places like NJ, Chickens need a draft free coop. They can stay warm enough to survive if there is no draft
• They need a lot of space. Chickens stuck close together will peck each other to death. Once a chicken has gotten a pecking wound, the other chickens will peck that wound until they kill that bird.
• You will need to get them into the coop and locked up every night to protect them from predators.
• Predators will still get them. Raccoons, hawks, snakes, mink, foxes, and probably more like chicken. Tastes good and doesn't run fast.
• Clip their wing feathers or they will fly away.
• Chickens are dirty animals. Everything will be covered in chicken droppings.

That is a good summary of keeping some chickens. The egg ranch had a debeaking machine -- basically removed part of the top beak to eliminate the pecking problem. No coops in our case. There were about 20,000 or so out back in several houses. Fresh eggs were never a problem.