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.
Chicken coop edited.jpg
Chickens.jpg
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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!