Anybody raise chickens?

[DDSBYDAY]

  I'm thinking about making a move.  If a guy had a couple of chickens and a rooster how long can you leave them unattended provided they were coup'ed up safe?   How many would you need to get started?    Do they have a personality like a dog or cat?  I will do some research on youtube after I move but if they are high maintenance I won't bother.

[Bobby Bass]

Neighbor has chickens, you don't need a rooster for eggs, you can start off with a couple of birds but you are not going to get many eggs. There four you need more chickens= more feed-more fencing to keep from predators. Better off buying eggs at Quick-trip ! Hutch can cost you a couple of hundred bucks to buy cheaper to build. If you are looking for a pet you don't have to take care of get a cat !

[glenn57]

  I'm thinking about making a move.  If a guy had a couple of chickens and a rooster how long can you leave them unattended provided they were coup'ed up safe?   How many would you need to get started?    Do they have a personality like a dog or cat?  I will do some research on youtube after I move but if they are high maintenance I won't bother.

moving in with the general??????????? think he raises these Chinese chickens! then goes in the pen shoots them, lets his dog bring them to him and calls it pheasant hunting!!!!!!!!!!!

[corny13]

Its been a while ( kids were little) like 25 years but we kept Black Chochins for years.  Fresh eggs kids or grandkids would love to find em.   No they are not good pets..their personality shines in the frying pan!  But you can build feeders and waters that only have to be filled once a week out of PVC.  I let mine free range in yard (5 acres)..kept the grass hoppers down.  My wife agreed to watch her friends lap dog one summer for a week ( inside dog go figure) but it was a Rat terrier.  Wifey opened the front door to let the Max the dog out.  His ears picked up with 8 or 9 chickens milling around bugging... it was UGLY...  only 3 survived..
One of the best ways to let pheasants go around your house is to put pheasant eggs under a bantam and let her raise them free ranging in your yard btw.  Kinda funny when gun season opens and you go in your barn and find pheasants sitting in your rafters that you hadn't seen for a month or two...

Two years ago when my grandsons were living with us for 9 months with Dad deployed I went to TSC to get some chicks for the grandson to raise, he chose ducks instead... prob with them was after they left I had a hard time butchering Huey Duey and Loui which would not have been a problem with chickens... so stay away from the ducks they have more personality and make more of a mess.  I finally took them out to the farm and left them on my pond.. bald eagle ate them..

[corny13]

Picking up the ducklings, Rancher Ben!

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[corny13]

First day

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[corny13]

Couple weeks later..

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[glenn57]

rumor has it chickens are great woodtick control also!!!!!!!!!

[DDSBYDAY]

  We did turkeys one year.  Ducks another.   The turkeys were easy to butcher.  The ducks we just let go.    If chickens are as dumb as those turkeys I would have no problem  harvesting them.