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It would be nice to see more people allowed to keep backyard chickens (hens at least, since roosters can be noisy). Since getting some at our place I’ve been su
by voisin 4y ago
It would be nice to see more people allowed to keep backyard chickens (hens at least, since roosters can be noisy). Since getting some at our place I’ve been surprised how fun they are to have around and easy to care for. Our compost from the kitchen goes to them too, which could help people divert scraps from the landfill or from being picked up (big gas usage) for municipal composting. Their waste is also great fertilizer for gardens.
- amelius 4y agoIt's less fun with bird flu.
- voisin 4y agoCorrect me if I am wrong but bird flu is spread between birds in a flock, and so industrial, heavily concentrated flocks are breeding grounds for bird flu? So backyard chickens being more diverse, smaller flocks, would increase food security and reduce spread?
- amelius 4y agoNot exactly. Free birds can still spread the flu from one location to another, e.g. by dropping excrements.
- voisin 4y agoRight, but if you don’t mix flocks, how do they get their excrements from one backyard to another that is distant?
- Turing_Machine 4y agoChickens aren't the only birds that carry bird flu.
- amelius 4y agoI meant wild birds.
- bagels 4y agoYou have to contend with wild birds passing diseases to your chickens.
- sequoia 4y agoI'm a huge proponent of backyard chickens and had them for years, but they are, generally speaking, not a "more cost effective" way to get eggs, at least in north america if you are feeding them mostly store-bought feed. Then again, this change in egg prices may change that. But they're great for redundancy (more & varied egg supply reduces the impact of supply chain shocks), to get the best quality eggs you can, and because it's just fun & rewarding.
- peteradio 4y agoThey are probably not "worth it" when accounting for the care required, but I get feed for about $20 a bag and a scratch block for $20 every 3 months or so for 4 chickens who generally give me an egg/day each. 4x30x3=360 => 360/12=30 dozen eggs so that works out to less than a dollar per dozen which is below market cost 5 years ago.
- wolfprogramming 4y agoHe did the math
- eftychis 4y agoI am curious about that statement. Feeding chickens store bought food that is. I grew up with chickens being the garbage disposal. They will eat anything and everything. They are the cheapest animal to raise for food. (Except maybe cattle on the old west when you could parasite off the public land.) The argument against backyard chickens would be health considerations i'd say, not cost. Curious.
- joenot443 4y agoEggs are very, very cheap. Building materials and time are not. Obviously the upkeep costs for laying hens is super low, but it's the startup cost that turns most people off the idea. Eggs are about $3/dozen where I am. You have to eat a _lot_ of eggs before it's actually a net positive endeavor, probably many, many years worth. My parents have a coup on their hobby farm which my dad built on the weekends. It looks great and the eggs taste even better. That said, they were never under the impression this was a way to _save_ money, the math just doesn't make any sense.
- kibwen 4y agoMaybe they're illegal in the suburbs, but if they're illegal in US cities then that clearly isn't enforced, I can find backyard chickens in any city I go to (not especially common in most neighborhoods, but they're there).
- silisili 4y agoI've been sitting on an acre in a city that allows backyard chickens, thinking about it but doing nothing. I think this is the catalyst I need to get started on a coop. If anyone has any plans or pointers for a coop, or raising chickens in the SW, would be much appreciated.
- voisin 4y agoYou really don’t need much for a coop at all. When we bought our property it had a tool shed that we converted and it turned out to be way too big for our flock of 12. You could honestly use a large dog house. There are lots of plans online and Reddit has a very good chicken community with answers to any questions you might have. All that to say: the minimum threshold for starting backyard chicken keeping is very low. I’d recommend jumping in as cheap as possible and upgrading later if you find you enjoy it.
- greenie_beans 4y agojust make sure you have a good lock on your coop and the bottom is closed off (aka not just a frame sitting on the bare ground). raccoons are very good at getting into coops.
- yostrovs 4y agoYou can buy pretty cheap coops at stores such as Tractor Supply that will house half a dozen chickens or so. They're great for people starting out because a number of things, that you might not be aware of, have been integrated and thought through. Also, backyardchickens.com is a popular site for all kinds of advice that we've used to research different chicken matters. In short, it's pretty easy to keep chickens, but you have to do it regularly and with love.
- efields 4y agoWe're on half acre and do a flock of 6 in an enclosure behind the shed. My main piece of advice is get all the infrastructure before the birds. Pay someone to build you an enclosure. Hardware cloth, NOT poultry netting/chicken wire. You need a few nesting boxes and a dry roost for them to sleep. Look up "deep litter method". Woodchips are free, high carbon bedding chicken poop is high nitrogen. The result is incredible compost. Anyway gl.
- softfalcon 4y agoYou can lay eggs without a rooster, but if you do, one of the hens will become dominant and needlessly bully the other hens. This will stress them out and you’ll get health issues in your hens. Source: I come from a farming family.
- thepasswordis 4y agoI have 6 chickens in my back yard right now and this is not a problem and hasn’t ever been a problem in the years I’ve had them.
- bagels 4y agoSame experience here. They get along really well, no fighting at all.
- softfalcon 4y agoI'm glad it works well for you. My grandpa (when he was alive) and uncle swear otherwise. Might be because they have significantly more chickens than that.
- NineStarPoint 4y agoDoes the dominant rooster not cause the hens similar stress for some reason?
- softfalcon 4y agoIn our experience, hens sometimes get into squabbles and the rooster is often the one who breaks up the fight. More like a peace keeper.
- petodo 4y agoAre we still talking about rooster and hens? Reminds me of work enviroment.
- lta 4y ago
- allisdust 4y agoThey are also much more ethical compared to the factory farms and caged chickens. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the eggs are of higher quality.
- asciimov 4y agoWhile I'm all for people having chickens, they do need to have lot size requirements. If you think your neighbors dog is noisy in the morning, just wait till they have a flock of chickens.
- kasey_junk 4y agoI lived in a condo where the upstairs neighbors kept chickens on their deck. That was not my favorite neighbor.
- voisin 4y agoHens are extremely quiet. Roosters not so much.
- brewdad 4y agoOur neighborhood has 7000 sq ft lots. My old neighbor had 3 hens and a rooster. Technically, I don't think the rooster was allowed. One day the rooster stopped crowing and I was happy. Other than his early morning call, we never would have known they had those birds except the few times I saw them get out and walk down the street.