Anyone else ever raise chickens for eggs or meat?

[Jdeere562]

I miss living on the farm. We used to order 100 Cornish Cross for meat every year. After they grew up, the family all got together and butchered chickens one weekend. Each family took about 25 home for the freezer. These were free range chickens, so they kept the bugs down as well. Much better than store bought chicken. After butchering 100 chickens in a day, you did not care to eat one for a month or so.

I made that mistake the first time. Had my grill ready and thought we would cook fresh chicken for dinner. Decided on hamburgers and hot dogs instead.

For eggs I kept 15 or 20 White Leghorns. That kept our family's in fresh eggs. I see our town in getting a petition going so a household is allowed to have 6 hens each, no roosters. Wish I was younger and I would be building a moveable chicken cart.

 

[Jetronic]

We used to have chickens, pigs, turkeys, rabbits, sheep and cows for food when I was small. the cows and pigs weren't free ranging the rest was.

 

[AZjeff]

If you had to buy feed for backyard chickens would it taste different from store-bought and would the cost be higher or lower?

Agree free range chicken is excellent. When we'd go to wife's grandparents for a holiday grandpa would be out by the barn butchering an unlucky bird for the day's meal. From cluck to roaster in 30 minutes.

 

[Jdeere562]

I had a couple calves, pigs, sheep and a few goats too. But that would not fly in town.
We only butchered a pig once. The others became too much like pets. We had most of them named.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

You are so right. There is no store bought chicken can that can match the freshness and taste of home raised. We did that for one of my sons 4H projects and raised 30 of them and once he chose his 3 best for competition the others went into the freezer. I seem to recall nobody but me in the house enjoyed eating them. Funny how some people have no problem eating all sorts of meats from the store but when they see or know where it comes from look out... not so hungry then.

 

[Jdeere562]

If you had to buy feed for backyard chickens would it taste different from store-bought and would the cost be higher or lower?

Raising a few chickens for the table, is no money making proposition. Store bought is MUCH less expensive, but the quality is not there. Same with the eggs.

 

[Passport1]

We had free range chickens on the farm. They kept the bugs down and were tasty. Keeping the predators at bay became almost a full time job.

 

[eljefino]

I've had egg laying hens for 20+ years.

Tried putting roasters in the same coop once. The layers ganged up on them and pecked them to shreds.

 

[jeepman3071]

I currently have 14 chickens, all egg layers. I've always had chickens since I was a kid. I live in a rural area, so I let them out of their coop while I'm working in the yard, they are good for eating ticks and other bugs, weeds, etc. Pretty simple to take care of really. I have a coop with a fenced in area they spend most of their time, and a large feeder and waterer that I fill once a week. My parents have a few as well, and they have a "chicken tunnel" in their garden, which is a neat idea. It's a tunnel made of fence connected to the coop that the chickens can walk in and it is mobile. It allows them to eat the weeds in between the garden rows without getting into the plants or being eaten by predators. The fenced in "run" for my chickens has hardware cloth buried under ground which keeps predators from digging under the coop.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Raising a few chickens for the table, is no money making proposition. Store bought is MUCH less expensive, but the quality is not there. Same with the eggs.

I recall having to buy a 30# bag of feed for them every weekend for a while when we had over 25 full grown. The thing was to try and grow the largest healthy looking ones for the judges. Too funny .... we were instructed to wash/bathe them before the show. That was certainly a challenge. Son's ended up placing in the top 15 of the state. We had county agent who would come by and taught us all kind of tricks. That was not a cheap project with all the feed plus the coops I built to keep them safe / protected in the yard. Now a days a person can go to places like Tractor Supply or even Lowes and Home Depot or online and order ready built coops etc... all you need is for sale now.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I've had egg laying hens for 20+ years.

Tried putting roasters in the same coop once. The layers ganged up on them and pecked them to shreds.

Yeah we had a few team up and kill one or two of ours.

 

[Jdeere562]

I used to purchase the starter feed from the local elevator, that stuff adds up quickly!
Had another farmer friend that grew many more chickens than myself. He had a grinder-mixer and brewed his own from his grains and some additives. He would sell me some much cheaper, so I would drive my tractor with a small old grain wagon over to his place about once per year. Add a bag of crushed oyster shells and I was good to go.

Heck of a lot cheaper to get one already cooked at Costco or Sam's club for $4.99

But again, compare a home grown tomato to one from the local grocery store.

 

[doitmyself]

We, too, are in the "used to" category. We always had a dozen or more laying hens giving us white, brown, and blue eggs. I always joked that after all the expenses (winter feed, coop maint., etc.), our eggs probably cost $10/dozen. We also were very active in 4-H and did rabbits, goats, "show pig", and one daughter raised a standardbred horse. Good times and we all learned a lot about life and our connections to farm and food.

Below is a picture of Tom and Tom discussing the upcoming roof repairs:

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

We, too, are in the "used to" category. We always had a dozen or more laying hens giving us white, brown, and blue eggs. I always joked that after all the expenses (winter feed, coop maint., etc.), our eggs probably cost $10/dozen. We also were very active in 4-H and did rabbits, goats, "show pig", and one daughter raised a standardbred horse. Good times and we all learned a lot about life and our connections to farm and food.

Below is a picture of Tom and Tom discussing the upcoming roof repairs:
View attachment 219900

I like Tom & Tom working it out! LoL

 

[Crashbox]

I imagine it takes a lot of effort to get the most bang for your buck-buck-buck...

 

[Ausfahrt]

My wife & I maintain a flock of 4-8 birds for eggs. We tried to keep a rooster at the beginning but he was too annoying and not worth the hassle.

Last summer I pranked my wife by painting the backside of our coop sign from this:

To this:

She was a little upset until I told her that she could just flip it back over then she laughed too.

 

[Skippy722]

We had 12, 3 got eaten earlier this year, now we have 13. With 4 boys who love eggs and my wife and I eat low carb so we go through a lot eggs each week.

Plymouth rocks (black and white), Rhode Island Reds, Ameraucana’s (currently babies), and I forget what exactly the golden ones are.

 

[2005jettatdi]

I had a couple calves, pigs, sheep and a few goats too. But that would not fly in town.
We only butchered a pig once. The others became too much like pets. We had most of them named.

Until we left our farm in 2011, we had pigs, chickens, cattle and lambs. Never had a problems with slaughtering, butchering and eating but there is a learning curve. The kids would often call them by name at the dinner table.

The meat was always better than store bought. The eggs had a better color from better feed and greens.

 

[opus1]

If you had to buy feed for backyard chickens would it taste different from store-bought and would the cost be higher or lower?

Agree free range chicken is excellent. When we'd go to wife's grandparents for a holiday grandpa would be out by the barn butchering an unlucky bird for the day's meal. From cluck to roaster in 30 minutes.

Farm-to-Table to the extreme.

 

[someonesomewhere]

We had 12, 3 got eaten earlier this year, now we have 13. With 4 boys who love eggs and my wife and I eat low carb so we go through a lot eggs each week.

Plymouth rocks (black and white), Rhode Island Reds, Ameraucana’s (currently babies), and I forget what exactly the golden ones are.
View attachment 219909View attachment 219911

Americaunas are fun. Blue to green eggshells (depends on the individual bird what color you get) look neat, I used to put at least 1 in the cartons we gave away. People thought it was fun.

They also tend to be very friendly birds, but will set on some eggs almost as quick as a gamebird hen, so don't let them accumulate.

If you're interested in rearing your own replacement chicks, get some gamebird hens.i had one go missing, figured she got eaten. Couple weeks later she came strutting out of the woods one day with about 8 chicks of all varieties running behind. She'd been laying somewhere in the undergrowth, apparently. Disappeared when she collected whatever number she decided was worth setting. They're natural moms, since they're about as close to the OG chicken (Jungle fowl) as you can get. Nothing messed with those chicks. Haha.