Anyone else ever raise chickens for eggs or meat?

[Toy4x4]

On a rural 1/3 acre in NM back in the 70s, we had chicken (egg and meat), turkeys, and even a pig once (named Chopsuey ). Dad used to do all the harvesting and mom did the final cleaning and freezing. Liver, hearts, gizzards and gravy always followed with rice/pasta and probably our home grown veggies. Can't stand eating anything fatty and chewy so the gizzards were a NOPE!
After dinners, we'd take the chicken edible scraps out back while they were still free-ranging in the big garden. There was a certain call a rooster made when he found something good to eat and we would sort of copy it. Talk about a mad dash of chickens! No matter which batch of birds over the years, they all knew and loved those evening snackies and raced to get them!

 

[BrianF]

My wife and her sister raised meat and layers when they were kids. They said when they had over 100 to butcher, they farmed that out to the hutterites as they had a better setup for volume.

We are one step closer to having chickens. The past number of years we have been just too busy but perhaps we will shoot for next year.

While we have always had a steady supply of farm eggs (not always cheaper than store bought but always more flavorful), we want to produce our own.

We have a good supply of good farm birds, which I love to cook, we want to produce our own.

Much what we found buying our beef local, you cant beat the flavour and quality. Much of that store bought meat is sourced from high density feed lots, where the cattle are fattened up quickly and as cheaply as possible. Its garbage.

We want to get our kids into it, learn something and be less reliant than walking through the concrete jungle to the store for everything. Heck, I want to learn something.

On a side note, we were looking at various breeds of birds to release into the wild out here. Along the river valley there is lots of dense brush and grass lands. Its ripe with ticks and having birds around does help. Mind you that means I have to cull off more coyotes...

 

[walterjay]

I have 11 laying hens. Could probably buy eggs a bit cheaper from the store but the quality is sub par.

 

[wlk]

We have 6 hens for eggs and the quality is way better than store-bought. Between us and my neighbors who throw scraps into them as well, we buy a 50# bag of feed maybe once a month if that @ $12/bg. For us it is probably cheaper considering free range eggs, we get 2-3dz a week but have not calculated it all out considering over winter that drops. We currently have too many so we scramble up a couple dozen and subsidize our dog's food, win-win. The eggs have huge orange yokes and taste fantastic. The girls are great and will keep them.

 

[snarl]

We don't have chickens We have three (used to be four) black cayuga ducks.

 

[wpod]

The eggs and meat of free range chickens much better that store bought . I had Chickens till I moved and never replaced them, Store bought eggs aren't so good.

 

[Sedin26]

I’d love to have chickens for the eggs but everyone I’ve known who has them attracts lots of rats to their place. No thanks!

 

[Skippy722]

I’d love to have chickens for the eggs but everyone I’ve known who has them attracts lots of rats to their place. No thanks!

My chickens fight over the mice

 

[dlundblad]

I had about 30 max at one time when I was a kid. All different kinds. They were fun. Mainly for eggs, but I did have a few meat birds too.

Someday we'd like to get some out at our place.

 

[Jim K]

The chicken was down by his feet but he raised it.

 

[MrGraybeard]

We had some hens for laying, Silver-Laced Wyandottes. Nice birds. We have a dog (an English shepherd) that can scare salesmen away, so we never had a problem with predators. The dog left the chickens alone.

 

[Skippy722]

We had some hens for laying, Silver-Laced Wyandottes. Nice birds. We have a dog (an English shepherd) that can scare salesmen away, so we never had a problem with predators. The dog left the chickens alone.

Maybe this is how I convince my wife we need a dog

 

[JeffKeryk]

I know of a couple people who raise chickens in town. I am not sure it's allowed, but whatever.

 

[snarl]

Here you can have chickens but no roosters.

 

[thastinger]

Had 6 laying hens at one time. the taste of the eggs is unbeatable, they free ranged during the day. It was a bit of a PITA when it snowed or the temps got below freezing because you had to make sure they had water to drink. One of my kids developed egg allergies later in life so I gave the chickens away. Since we eat a lot less of them now, it is way easier to grab a dozen off the store shelf.

 

[andrewg]

Here you can have chickens but no roosters.

Same here. We ordered a bunch of chicks this year. Two of them turned out to be roosters. We found a lady that said she knew of a farm where they could be relocated. Now we have seven hens and expect them to start laying next month.

 

[volk06]

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.

My town in IA just approved 6 hens, no roosters and a $50 annual fee/permit along with distance requirements.

 

[eljefino]

We don't have chickens We have three (used to be four) black cayuga ducks.

Duck eggs are great! The cholesterol is substantially more than chicken eggs. Maybe that's why.

 

[wpod]

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.

Bacon is a good name for a pig.

 

[ragtoplvr]

used to butcher 10 at a time, always made an ice water salt bath to pre-cool them before putting them in the freezer. Not much on livers, hearts and gizzards, made for some really good cat food (judging by the way the cat acted) . If the could he would have handed me the axe and knife. Much better taste. Cat guarded his treat supply, they would leave each other alone. NO Rooster, as soon as they got loud, they were eaten.

I made a portable run that I would put the hens in when I was out the yard working, safe from hawks. My cat kept all the ferral dogs at bay. Dogs learned there is no end on a cat that is not sharp. 22 years old living in the country. 1/2 Maine Coon he ruled.