Comments on: Raising Backyard Chickens

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:19:09 +0000

I love this! Thanks for all of the info, it’s just what I needed! We’d love to have you do a post, you have the full scoop!

By: vanessa

vanessa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:28:05 +0000

Sorry last thing…the only time ours are loud is when I haven’t fed them on time in the morning. Another good thing to know is they can fly higher than you think! one got scared and flew over the 8 foot fence and was killed by the neighbor dog You need to put some bird netting over the dog run. We let ours roam the yard once a day to eat bugs and just sit out there to make sure they don’t get scared and jump the fence. That is another thing that most people don’t know. Ok Todays Mama have me guest post on this

By: vanessa

vanessa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:24:33 +0000

Also yes Melissa is right…I don’t think…no I KNOW we don’t save any money on eggs having the chickens. After the feed and figuring in the coop and dog run. You aren’t going to save any money. We just love having them. But if you want to get them for that reason only…buy them from a local formal like she said.

By: vanessa

vanessa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 20:16:24 +0000

You have to have it set up right so you don’t have the problems Melissa had (with the yard digging up/poop) Once you have it set up right, it really is so easy. Also she is right…it puts a kink your plans to go anywhere, you gotta find someone to come feed/water them/pick up the eggs. But an older neighborhood kid would be great at that.

By: Carina

Carina — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:40:45 +0000

Under no circumstances. Forget it. NEVER.

They’re CHICKENS.

They’re dirty, mean, and dirty. And dirt. And poop. And dogs, coyotes, racoons, foxes killing them.

(But I will take any extra eggs off your hands…)

By: Deirdre @ Ladies Holiday

Deirdre @ Ladies Holiday — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:26:46 +0000

My family were the lucky recipients of the six chicks the second grade hatched (now two years ago) At first I was more like your husband, but all the begging and the cute fluffy chicks made me cave.
I’ll admit the poop is horrendous, but there is something so nice about our sweet hens clucking around the yard all day. I’ll keep ‘em and as long as you have a hose to spray your paths down with now and then recommend the birds as part of a family.
Melissa makes a few good points, but to be sure talk to other people with them, get a book or two from the library and have a family talk about chores, etc.

By: Erica Fehrman

Erica Fehrman — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:49:54 +0000

RH and I have a mutual friend with backyard chickens. Her husband built a coop and they fenced off the chicken area (to preserve the yard and to keep barefoot kids from trodding on the poo). I don’t know about the expense, but they seem to love the setup. Let us know if you go for it!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:01:38 +0000

We had chickens in our backyard for about a year. The eggs were fantastic, but all the rest…not so much.
–They were loud. A LOT louder than I thought they would be. We live in a neighborhood, not on property, and we were paranoid we were bothering people, especially on the weekends when we weren’t up as early. But the girls always made a huge ruckus when they laid eggs, cheering each other on and such. While it was cute to me, I think our neighbors must have likened them to an incessantly barking dog.
–They tore up our yard. Chickens dig and eat everything green. We pretty much had no grass in our backyard by the time they were done.
–They are more expensive than you might think. We did feed ours plenty of table scraps and things like watermelon rinds, but they went through a larger amount of food than we had guessed and it was pretty expensive, not to mention the cedar chips and other things we used in the coop.
–Whenever you go anywhere overnight, you have to have someone come take care of your chickens, collect eggs, etc. And this isn’t easy. You can take dogs and cats to a kennel, but you can’t do that with chickens.
–We have found that purchasing eggs from a local farmer is cheaper in the long run and a lot less stressful.

My opinion isn’t the most popular one, but I like to warn people who have a romanticized view of having chickens just for the better eggs that it’s not as cheap, easy, or stress free as you might think.