Tell me, Why don't you have backyard chickens? >Presuming

>presuming I had the space and time

it'd be nice. I could sell the eggs at a nice markup because I live in a gentrified area and the people here would cream their pants at the thought of "freshly-laid local organic" eggs.

>>2070688
They would disturb the wildlife.

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I want them and I'm gonna have them, but I need to prep my back garden first; setting up where the permanent coop is going to go, improving the fencing, making sure there's rodent proof storage for the food, etc.
I've wanted to keep them for like a decade, but have always been in a rental situation and not really able to do so.
Just bought a house and hoping this is my forever home though, so I'm not in too much of a rush any more.

i don't have a backyard and it's illegal where i live, regardless

... ribs are not steak

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>>2070688
Oh but I do.
Nothing like fresh free range chicken eggs.

>>2070890
is your doggo bestfriends with any of the chickens?

>>2070891
Yeah they hang out together but there is one that follows him more than the others.

>>2070894

Thats p. adorable fambo

I don't even have a yard and I live in the city

my life is suffering incarnate

>>2070978
Stop being poor

If I had the room id consider getting them but I couldn't bring myself to kill one if it got injured or stopped laying :(

>>2070982
After they start hatching out (if you let them nest) You have to get rid of the roosters. I don't keep more than one at a time unless you like watching cock fights so I end up eating them.

i really want to
but i just moved to this area and i don't know my neighbors that well. not sure they'd go for it.

>>2071007
It depends on the laws where you like if you can have them or not.
Fuck the neighbors

>>2071010
*live*

>>2070688
because there are foxes and hawks in my neighborhood

>>2071010
the laws cool with it where i'm located.
maybe i should just go for it, it's starting to warm up, so now would be the time to start building a house for them in my yard

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>>2071019
Go for it !

Is raising chickens expensive?

>>2071039
Getting it set up can be. Depending on how elaborate your chicken coop/yard is.
After that its scratch and laying pellets for food which is like 9 bucks for a 25 pound bag and that last for about 3 weeks with 8 chickens and you will need some mite dust 14 bucks for a can and that will last all summer.
A bale of hay for nesting boxes 7 bucks and that will last all summer then some.
If they stay healthy you wont need antibiotics. Don't know how much for that never had any sick chickens yet.

>>2070688
Looking to set up a 4-6 hen coop this month, actually. Some barred rocks for eggs and some silkies for fun.

Trying to decide whether I should build the coop myself, buy a coop online, or get one from classifieds.

>Building coop
>high danger that I'll overbuild it and end up with a 300-lb coop that blocks out the sun

>Buying online
>"fits 4 chickens" means "fits 3 bantams as long as 2 of them are outside at all times!"
>flimsy as shit

>Classifieds
>wood's probably rotted through
>half of them fit for the garbage pile after being in rain/snow for 2 years

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>>2070688
because chicken coops smell terrible. and when it rains they smell even worse. Plus they would destroy my gardens and lawn with scratching, and the concentrated nitrogen in their manure would be harmful to the health of the class A trout stream that runs through my yard.

>>2070688
The neighbor has an outdoor cat

My subdivision hoa doesn't allow it. Sucks because we're like the only subdivision in the country.

>>2071110
*county

I'd love to keep chickens. I have absolutely no idea where to start though.

>>2071121
Same here. I've been asking myself which should start with first. Chickens or Eggs...

If you can you should try it. It's also really cute when you raise them as a chick, they follow you around, I was bffs with my chicken

Can I just let chickens free roam around my yard?

there is potential threat from golden eagles and some feral cats I'm slowing dwindling down but I live in a super rural place 2 miles from anyone and think they'd be happier to just be able to strut around anywhere anytime

I have quail instead.

If a chicken and a half laid a egg in a half in a day in a half how many eggs would you have in a week ?

>>2071206
You fucking what?

>>2071217
See if you can figure it out...LoL

My mom did when I was young and it was hell on earth trying to keep everything in louisiana out of the chicken coop and I have no intentions of ever fooling with that again.

>>2071206
2 and with one egg 1/3 of the way out?

backyard is kinda the right size but have dogs on neighboring yards that would likely scare the chickens

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But I do.
Get about a dozen eggs each day from hens that roam around eating grass and bugs and taking dirt baths and naps all day long

>>2071230
Pretty much this, chickens are just too delicious to the native wildlife.

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Chickens are brotier.

>>2071519
I live in the country with just about everything that would eat a chicken but with a good chicken house and my dogs protecting them I have not lost one yet.

in all these videos about raising chickens, there always seems to be 6-10 at once
can't you just have one?

>had a neighbor with ducks
>sometimes they would hop the fence
>our golden retriever would grab them and parade around with the live (and unhurt) duck

>>2071599
No, they need friends to share the local gossip.

>>2070980
thanks donald trump

>>2070982
Why would you kill them after they stop laying?
>>2071039
Only the coop and supplies. Up front costs are going to be at least five hundred dollars. You'll need an appropriately sized coop and run, which even for smaller flocks is going to be a little pricey unless you make it yourself. Food isn't that expensive. Fifty pounds of crumbles last maybe a month with my 14 birds, which is about sixteen dollars. Chickens themselves only cost maybe nine bucks a pop at most for rare breeds. Theyre also pretty healthy; unless you fuck something up, it's unlikely they'll get sick very often. I've had chickens most of my life and we've only ever had two or three sick birds.

>>2071604
lol

>>2071599
No. Under absolutely no circumstance should you EVER intentionally raise a bird alone. I have fourteen other birds and one chick had to be raised alone because all the other chicks were killed. Even though I had other adult birds, it was extremely fearful and could not handle socializing or being around them at all. It was in a constant state of stress; It would try and fly into every single one of our windows until somebody let it inside. It only had humans to bond to as a chick, so it was extremely stressed whenever it wasn't with us. Eventually, something killed it because it would not go into chicken coop at night with the other birds. They're social animals that aren't fit to be alone.
The minimum purchase for chicks is usually 6 and there's a reason for that. I've found it's pretty easy to get feed stores to waive this if you just inform them you already have chickens, but even then the least they'll give you is three. I'd say you should away have at least three birds to a flock.

>>2071626
>6
That just seems like so many
What the hell are people doing with all these chickens
How many eggs can you even eat in a single day.

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My neighborhood won't allow us to have chickens.

>>2071690
It sounds like more than it is; it's not really a lot unless you don't have a lot of space. The 6 chick minimum is also in place to help prevent people from buying "just a few" because they're cute right now or because it'd be a cool Easter surprise. Again, it's not super strict anyway. Most feed stores will accept "I've have other chickens already" or "I have some other chicks their age" and they'll give you 3 or 4.
Also, you can sell "organic cage free free range!!!" eggs pretty easily, or give them to your neighbors. When I lived in a less rural area, my neighbors always loved getting eggs from me. Also, chickens happily eat their own eggs, so you can just recycle.

>>2071690
I don't think having six chickens is like having six dogs or six cats

I have a highly motivated and very predatory dog. I mean, I'd be keeping them shut away all the time just to keep them safe, and that seems a bit sad.

>>2071716
What say do they have? Unless the local laws prohibit it it's your property.

Coyotes and Raccoons. We had a few and despite having a few big dogs they kept being taken every time we turned our backs. They weren't safe in their personal enclosure due raccoons literally climbing in, killing them and climbing out in the middle of the night. The only safety was inside of a locked crate at night, which had the adverse effect of having the chickens jump over the house fence to roam when let out due to being kempt up, where a coyote picks them up quickly after.

Can't shoot either animal because of a neighbor who will call police for anything and traps didn't work on the raccoons.

I have two Austrolorps.

I have a cat

>>2071770
Most neighborhoods have HOAs. It's like a contract that you have to follow for living in that subdivision. We live out in the country surrounded by farms and ranches but our community is a gated development. Even though everyone around us has chickens, we cannot have them in our development per HOA. If we do, we get fined.

>>2070688
Raccoons. I have racoons in my neighborhood. In fact a few years ago I had one living in the pair of blue spruce in my back yard. An old co-worker of mine had their rabbit pulled THROUGH the fucking chicken wire in the rabbit hutch by a raccoon. the mess was incredible.

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Im poor as dirt and my back yard is 10 by 5 feet with cement ground. But chickens are great. And if I did have chickens I'd get me one of these. Laced barnevelder. Top tier chicken.

>>2071584
Got any more pictures of them just hanging out with you like that? It's so cute.

>>2070688
it regularly gets 70 degrees below freezing where I live and the ground is covered in snow 9 months out of the year.
not exactly chicken paradise.

I don't have a backyard.

What predator leaves few feathers when it takes birds? It's not a hawk, and foxes and possums are usually more messy. I'm thinking raccoon or bobcat, the only two things left.

>>2070870
>chickens would disturb the wildlife
What kind of wildlife would be scared by chucks? Shrews? Mice?

>>2071987
Where and why?

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>>2071985
here's a pic from last summer, and here's a webm from last month
>>>/wsg/958804

>>2072161
Birds, frogs, snakes, bugs.

>>2070876
That is a beautiful chicken. What breed is that?

Because i live in the city and also cannot be trusted not to forget to feed them. I am completely unreliable when it comes to supporting external life.