Do you own chickens? If so, what breed do you have? How many?

[Corie]

Do you own chickens? If so, what breed do you have? How many?

Will you post a picture of your chicken coop? Did you build it?

Etc.


I love hearing about chickens!! It's a future dream of mine!! :)

[frugalmom]

We get a new set of chicks every year. We raise them and then sell them. I live somewhere that gets really cold and taking care of chickens in the cold isn't appealing. We just got new 15 new baby chicks. Our town limits it to 6 that we can have. so by the the time they can move outside we will sell off 9 of them. We have had all different breeds.

We have had Easter eggers.
Last year we got assorted rare breeds.
This year we got an assortment of colorful layers as my kids wanted ones that would give colored eggs. We had one that did last year.

Can you have chickens? They are awesome and so easy. The kids love raising them.

We have bought coop kits, but the ones you get for under $300 are all pretty junky and small. We have built a few coops too. You can easily look on Youtube and find a coop plan to build.
The really nice coops are more expensive than that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz9HJl7pMf4

[sf333]

We have had chickens for 8 years. We started with 6 and have ranged since then (up to 20+). I ADORE having chickens. They are relatively easy to care for, they produce beautiful (currently blue, olive, brown, and cream colored eggs) and yummy eggs, and they are just a joy to have around. They have their own personalities and quirks and our whole family enjoys them. The kids help with their care and have benefited from not only that but also learning more about their life cycle.

We live in an area with a large and varied predator presence so my husband built a fortress coop (plus, he tends to go overboard with projects). We have cold winters here but it’s totally doable and many people in my area have chickens year round.

Over the years, we’ve had many different breeds. My favorites - Easter eggers for the color of the eggs they lay (blue, pink, green) and orpingtons for their sweet personalities.

[flashy09]

I have 6 bantams (smaller sized). Silkies, a D'uccle and a Polish Crested. They are so sweet and so much fun! The eggs are smaller, but delicious. I have an egg and avocado on toast every morning. My husband built the coop. I will try to see if I can post a picture.

[NCGrandma]

My NE family had chickens for about 6 years when they lived on a 2-acre lot on the edge of town and for the most part enjoyed it. Despite the cold winters and varied predators, they usually had at least a few chickens that made it through the winter. The first year, they ordered chicks from some nearby source. I happened to be visiting when they had a call from the Post Office, asking them to pick up their package ASAP! We got a lot of mileage out of "the chicks in the mail"! After that, they sometimes incubated eggs and sometimes bought chicks. Over the years, they had quite a variety of breeds.

Both DGDs have always been particularly interested in nature, and they were interested and able to participate in chicken care even from a young age (They have both been in 4-H since they were quite young, and won county fair prizes for "the best dozen green eggs" and posters explaining chicken care.) A great family project.

After years in the country, they were ready to move into town and wondered about "rehoming" the chickens and finding someone who wanted the coop and various equipment. Turned out that the house buyers were also really interested in the chickens, coop, the whole thing!


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[bluestar2]

We live in the country and have 20 chickens, probably eight different breeds. It's fun to browse the Murray McMurray site. First step is to decide whether you want meat birds, layers or fancier breeds that might lay eggs but not as many. The Orpingtons are super sweet and will let us hold them, and we have a few Ameraucanas that lay colored eggs and it's fun to open a carton of blue, green, brown and white eggs.Can't beat the taste of fresh eggs! The coop was home built and the size of a walk in shed, with rows of nesting boxes and a ramp into it with a door that closes. They sleep in there at night and are let out in the morning.The coop has a 6 ft tall fence around it. They love table scraps.

[bluestar2]

We live in the country and have 20 chickens, probably eight different breeds. It's fun to browse the Murray McMurray site. First step is to decide whether you want meat birds, layers or fancier breeds that might lay eggs but not as many. The Orpingtons are super sweet and will let us hold them, and we have a few Ameraucanas that lay colored eggs and it's fun to open a carton of blue, green, brown and white eggs.Can't beat the taste of fresh eggs! The coop was home built and the size of a walk in shed, with rows of nesting boxes and a ramp into it with a door that closes. They sleep in there at night and are let out in the morning.The coop has a 6 ft tall fence around it. They love table scraps.

[mom2224]

Hi Corie! We've had chickens for 5 years. My husband built two tractor style coops- that have wheels and we move the coop over fresh grass/soil every 2 weeks. My girls are so sweet, have unique personalities, they talk, we love them. Their eggs are delicious. They free range on our property from 3pm when we let them out and then close their coops once they have roosted for the night. Right now we have 18 chickens- mainly Ameraucana, Plymouth/Barred Rock, Easter Egger, Buff Orpington, Sussex and Australorp. But, we've fostered different breeds and have had roosters. They follow me around the yard, its funny. We've only lost one to a hawk. I'll attach pictures of what our coops look like. They were pretty easy to build. That's me with one of our goats and me with Ruby. Sorry those 2 pictures are sideways.

[zukeypur]

We are on our second round of chickens. We got the first ones 6 years ago. We lost one to an unfortunate raccoon incident (Rhode Island Red), one died of natural causes (Delaware), and we gave two away after they stopped laying (Black Australorp and Easter Egger).

I built the coop myself after googling multiple images and spending way too much time on backyardchickens.net

Breeds we've had:
Rhode Island Red - reliable layer, good medium sized brown eggs, chicken was a total b!+c#; will never have another
Delaware - chicken was a reliable layer, good medium sized light brown/pinkish eggs, sweet chicken. My favorite. Died too young.
Black Australorp - skittish, strange, laid small eggs. Beautiful chicken, but would not get again. LOUD
Easter egger - first one (Bunny) had an attitude, but was a reliable layer with nice pretty blue eggs. Pretty quiet. Second one (kevin) is the loudest chicken I have ever heard, but lays olive eggs one day and blue the next. Super weird, but nice. Eggs are a little small, but we get one most days
Production Blue - we have two of these. They are reliable layers, and they are sweet chickens. Cross of RIR and Blue Australorp. Also not too loud. Would recommend
Leghorn - super skittish, but started laying around 4 months, and lays the most beautiful large white eggs EVERY DAY. Definitely not a lap chicken, but would highly recommend for great eggs.
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Eta egg pic

[Corie]

I absolutely love reading about everyone's chickens!! I'm so jealous!

I had no idea that each chicken had their own little personalities. Like dogs. I'm happy to know that!!

I'm also glad to hear that some of the chickens are nice. I have always pictured chickens to be mean. Not sure why!

[frugalmom]

I absolutely love reading about everyone's chickens!! I'm so jealous!

I had no idea that each chicken had their own little personalities. Like dogs. I'm happy to know that!!

I'm also glad to hear that some of the chickens are nice. I have always pictured chickens to be mean. Not sure why!

Roosters have the mean reputation. Not all of them are of course. We have only ever had females because that is what our town allows. Ours have always been nice. And maybe that has to do with we get them at 1 day old and they are raised by my kids so they get used to being held, hand fed, and being around people.

[LBW]

We have nine chickens. My two younger boys are their main caretakers. They spent a lot of time researching breeds a couple of winters ago. They wanted good egg layers that would do well in NJ winters. I asked them to also look for pretty or unusual breeds that laid colorful eggs. :) They created a spreadsheet with all of their findings. Then, when chicks were available in the spring, we chose chicks that were listed on the spreadsheet as meeting their criteria.

We had an old shed in our backyard, and the boys also worked with me and my husband to figure out how we'd use it as a coop, and then they helped update it. They also helped with plans for a run that my husband built.

We wound up with 10 chicks, and we still have 9 of them. One wound up being a rooster, and we found another home for him. The rooster was a Welsummer named Valkyrie. We also have three Silver Laced Wyandottes (Pineapple, Lemon, and Lime), two Austrolorps (Blackberry and Ostrich), one Black Star (Nebula), a Sapphire Gem (Blueberry), and two Easter Eggers (Hawk and Orange). They were all tiny chicks when we got them, so they lived in our kitchen for a while, then moved to the garage, and finally moved to the coop once their feathers were all in.

We love them, and they are super spoiled! They are pretty easy to care for. I'd say we spend maybe an hour a week on chicken chores. I highly recommend getting them!

Pics are super small for some reason, but the first one is one of my boys trying to teach the chickens to play the xylophone! None of our hens are mean. They're funny and fairly friendly. Some are happier to be picked up and petted than others. Honestly, sitting in the backyard with a glass of wine and watching chicken antics is one of my favorite things to do!

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[Corie]

the first one is one of my boys trying to teach the chickens to play the xylophone!



The picture is adorable! All the chickens are right near him to see what he is doing. :)

[Corie]

the first one is one of my boys trying to teach the chickens to play the xylophone!



The picture is adorable! All the chickens are right near him to see what he is doing. :)

[robinsmommy]

Our current batch is 1 Sapphire Gem, 2 Amberlinks, 1 Green Egger, 2 Welsummers, and 1 Calico Princess. The first 4 hens are just over a year old and lay pretty much daily. The other 3 are a mixed bag for laying, and I would not get Welsummers again for an urban flock - ours are mean, I think they need to get out and forage outside of the run more, which makes sense for a heritage breed. The Calico Princess is bottom of the pecking order and an odd bird - she lays from the roost, with the expected results - splat. Also likely would not repeat. The others are great hens and include 2 of our "people hens" in this batch. The Sapphire Gem and the Green Egger were very cuddly as chicks and pullets. We don't bring them in anymore since we have a dog now.

Things to think about with regard to chickens beforehand - have a retirement plan thought out, whether it is keeping them into dotage (our oldest is 9 now, and retired to a farm with a chicken lover) when they don't lay anymore (and can become really mean - also the oldest hens tend to be the crappiest layers, as laying takes a lot out of hens - you can end up with a flock of non-layers if you go this route) or culling the flock as they age. Along those same lines, have a plan for what to do it you have a major injury - driving 20 minutes with a hen that was attacked by a dog or raccoon and is beyond help is not fun- some folks would rather put the chicken out of misery at home themselves than go to a vet. Chickens are incredibly destructive in a yard - they dig dust baths, eat plants, and create bare dirt wherever they spend a lot of time. Chicken runs and coops always need to be much bigger than the books and websites tell you if you want happy chickens. That or free time in the yard (where they will poop and can wreak havoc on your garden). Dogs esp don't always mix well with chickens. Our rescue Labradoodle was totally non reactive to them when we first got her. She has since had a loose hen in her mouth, which we rescued quickly, and is waaaay too interested in them - we lucked out that one time, not sure what would happen if we had the same issue again. Our only fatalities were to a neighborhood dog that dug under the fence when it was left alone too long (It was a hunting breed used to country life and had been trained to be a bird dog - bad dog to leave alone on a city lot for hours).

We do love the eggs, when our current flock doesn't eat them for us - hens that lay from the roost tend to teach that habit. :irked:

[NCGrandma]

Things to think about with regard to chickens beforehand - have a retirement plan thought out, whether it is keeping them into dotage (our oldest is 9 now, and retired to a farm with a chicken lover) when they don't lay anymore (and can become really mean - also the oldest hens tend to be the crappiest layers, as laying takes a lot out of hens - you can end up with a flock of non-layers if you go this route) or culling the flock as they age. Along those same lines, have a plan for what to do it you have a major injury - driving 20 minutes with a hen that was attacked by a dog or raccoon and is beyond help is not fun- some folks would rather put the chicken out of misery at home themselves than go to a vet. Chickens are incredibly destructive in a yard - they dig dust baths, eat plants, and create bare dirt wherever they spend a lot of time. Chicken runs and coops always need to be much bigger than the books and websites tell you if you want happy chickens. That or free time in the yard (where they will poop and can wreak havoc on your garden). Dogs esp don't always mix well with chickens. Our rescue Labradoodle was totally non reactive to them when we first got her. She has since had a loose hen in her mouth, which we rescued quickly, and is waaaay too interested in them - we lucked out that one time, not sure what would happen if we had the same issue again. Our only fatalities were to a neighborhood dog that dug under the fence when it was left alone too long (It was a hunting breed used to country life and had been trained to be a bird dog - bad dog to leave alone on a city lot for hours).

We do love the eggs, when our current flock doesn't eat them for us - hens that lay from the roost tend to teach that habit. :irked:

My family’s chicken experience, mention earlier, was definitely more rural, even though they were technically inside town limits. With a 2-acre lot, much of it wooded, they were able to let the chickens roam much of the day, just returning them to the coop with a good-sized attached run around dinnertime. Apparently the wooded areas were more appealing than the small lawn, since the chickens never bothered that. But the veggie garden was very well fenced with chicken-resistant fencing. Occasionally a chicken would sneak in when the gate was opened and had a feast.

In that setting, there was no need for a chicken retirement plan — the foxes, fisher cats, and an occasional bobcat took care of that problem before it arose. Early in their chicken raising, DIL learned how to euthanize a severely injured chicken. But most of their chickens prospered. DGDs learned a great deal, and the eggs were very popular!


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[citymama]

We have 6 chickens.( had 7, one died early on) - they are each different varieties, lay different colored and sized eggs and have different personalities. My DH and older DD do 99% of the work! We have a Plymouth Barred Rock (the boss lady of the coop), a Buff Brahma (her henchwoman), an Austrolorps (#3 in command), our flightly Andalusian, a rare Golden Cuckoo Marans (our most reliable layer, her eggs are a gorgeous copper color) an Easter Egger (lays green eggs, is totally eccentric and at the bottom of the pecking order, also gets broody all the time but we all love her), and the one who died was a Buff Orpington who just dropped dead one day. They're now about 3 and a half.