Backyard Chicken Ranching

[Snax]

Agreed, the chicken poo only really stinks if it is allowed to stay in a constantly wet condition. But if you regularly remove the poop and till it under other composted material, the smell is certainly better than any pig based compost one might buy. Our two dogs are worse than the chickens.

[solitarysiren]

My husband and I had a pet rooster who forever changed our views about chickens. He was an amazing, beautiful creature. I swear he understood English. Chicken poop is really good for composting as it has plenty of nitrogen for the soil. We built a small pen for him to spend time outside when we weren't home. Otherwise he was free to roam in and out of the house. We even had a diaper for him so that he could cuddle on the bed with us. We talk about him everyday still and hope to have more chickens sometime in the future.

[PaleMelanesian]

We acquired 7 more hens from a friend. We lost 2 that flew over the fence into the dog's yard. Now we have 9. The dog is chained when the chickens are roaming, and they all have one wing with cropped feathers.

[Snax]

We will likely have to give our 5 hens away in the fall, as we will be moving and cannot guarantee them a home at the new place. We already have several friends that will be happy to take them.

There is definitely a resurgence in people willing to keep chickens these days. After having ours for the last year, I wonder how we ever got away from that. They really aren't much trouble.

[james]

Glad to hear so many of you are keeping chickens. We have been doing it for 3 years and love it. The feed is expensive becuase we buy organic, but you can't buy a better egg. Even free range organic eggs are from hens that dont usually have an unlimited amount of green grass/weeds and bugs to eat, because there are too many of them kept in one place.
I would recommend feeding them some kelp meal also, which is good for their health and increases the mineral levels in the yolk for your nutrition. We also feed them a little azomite.
What breeds do people have? we have new hampshire reds and jersey giants. We like the size of the jersey giant as a meat bird, but have not been able to kill any yet.
We now have a broody hen who is sitting on 8 eggs. Wish us luck!

[Snax]

We have four one year old Road Island Reds, and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, plus our circumstances have changed so that we will not be moving - and the city lifted it's two chicken limit to ten! So now we have two Buff Orpingtons, a Barred Rock, and an Australorp about 3 weeks into the brooder box for a total of nine hens. We thought we were getting two Australorps, but a quick Google image search reveals why one of the chicks was misidentified. Pardon the expression, but they all look alike.

[PaleMelanesian]

We lost another one - she just layed down and died. Our only Ameraucana - green eggs.

We now have 7 Red Stars, and one Black Star. They're crossed from Rhode Island Red and Delawares. Great layers - most days we get 8 eggs from 8 hens.

[jamesqf]

As for the chickens having too much personality to kill, sometimes it works the other way around. The neighbors started with a dozen: after a couple of the roosters attacked her repeatedly (drawing serious blood), they became dinner. Same with a couple who'd incessantly peck at the others. Yeah, they have personalities, but those personalities aren't always nice.

[Snax]

Too true! One of our hens is named 'b-itchy' for good reason. She's not too bad with us and only challenged me once. I pushed back with my open hands meeting her attempt to flog until she quit, but she seems to think that lacking a rooster, she is in charge. Fortunately she hasn't gotten uppity enough to challenge anybody else after that.