Anyone have them? We originally had a small flock.. 3 hens & a rooster. Free range. Recently our last hen died.. She was approaching 7 years. She was the last ... Older & all alone .. I let her sleep inside with us her last 10 months. She would peck the door.. I'd set a cat carrier down & she jumped in. I miss them. Can't wait for spring to get a new group.. They are awesome pets & we get eggs to boot.
dude shut the fuck up. you sound narrow minded . . . . . . chikkins r awesome xD Disrespect is not allowed here. - KSR
My friend had a whole load of chickens once, they seem like really cool pets. Always been tempted to get a few, will proboably start thinking about it more seriously when I get my own place.
We've raised a bunch of chickens for meat. We ordered them thru the mail and raised them for about 6 weeks before slaughter. Usually raised abut 60 at a time, after you process that many in a day let's just say you aren't ready to eat any for a while. We've been thinking about getting a few layers, but we have a lot of predators where we live. And as far as pets, we had one hen that lived about 5 years. She would follow us around and was pretty smart...I think she saw us as her flock since it was just her and my wife and I.
Can't find a shot of her in the cat carrier They have neat personalities! I eat chicken.. Just not mine We live near a major university which has an aviary vet. Once my Son's favorite chicken got seriously injured.. You think inside chickens are fishy... We paid for the vet to do surgery to save her life..
Wow they are really your pets. You might have been my neighbors growing up...not to many people in the suburbs have pet chickens but my neighbors certainly did. I always figured they had them as farm animals so they could get eggs and chicken meat. They seem like such crappy pets compared to a kickass puppy dog. But if it works for you guys then so be it! Chickens 4 life
[quote name='"jmick"']We've raised a bunch of chickens for meat. We ordered them thru the mail and raised them for about 6 weeks before slaughter. Usually raised abut 60 at a time, after you process that many in a day let's just say you aren't ready to eat any for a while. We've been thinking about getting a few layers, but we have a lot of predators where we live. And as far as pets, we had one hen that lived about 5 years. She would follow us around and was pretty smart...I think she saw us as her flock since it was just her and my wife and I.[/quote] The predator thing is a bitch. We're surrounded by packs of coyotes. They took our rooster about 2 years in. Our dog helps protect them... But a few years back foxes started populating our land.. They are by far better chicken snatchers. They ate the others eventually.
I have 3 Americana hens - we had a rooster, too, but he made the mistake of attacking the hubby and became soup! They are young and just started laying just before Xmas. They lay blue or green shelled eggs- no dull-looking white eggs for Granny! Their movable coop design is based on a Mother Earth News design, but we made it heavier duty (we have coyotes, mountain lions and the occasional bear in my area). I can move it from one patch of lawn to the next, giving them fresh pickings every few days. We feed them kitchen scraps and old leftovers, as well as some hen scratch. It feels good to turn garbage into eggs and ferts for the garden, rather than add to the garbage problem! I add flax seed (Dollar Store has it sometimes and I stocked up) to their food to add Omega 3 to their diet- so I don't need to buy those expensive "Eggland's Best" to get Omega 3-rich eggs! In the spring, I'll do a temporary fence around our small garden area, and let the chickens eat all the young weeds and bugs, while leaving a bit of ferts! Saves me a bunch of work and the chickens think it's a treat! Backyard chickens are a fun hobby that can pay off in eggs and other ways! Granny
House chickens rule. My vet has one. Keeps it in a little birdie diaper and lets it have the run of the house.
Chickens are VERY intelligent. Provided its not a rooster, they make fantastic pets. Very affectionate and comical, sometimes I feel they like making people laugh. Galliformes are the 3rd most intelligent bird family! It's too bad the males get so violent, I had a rooster, and we were best fuckin friends, he loved playfighting, but he got too aggressive and spurred my sister, so we had to send em to a farm. (Literally, he got tons of chicken ass, sired hundreds of chicks.)
We had a relatively nice rooster. I know most aren't tho. The roosters are gorgeous and very much fun to watch. Something I thot was so cool was that he would find bugs and call the girls over so they could eat first. He never ate first. He was an unbelievable protector too.