Check it out for yourself...is it chickenshit?

[Horse with no Name]

I have been getting tons of requests for chickens on freecycle.
So I checked out craigslist...and there are tons of people looking for chickens.
I was at Atwoods (farm store) recently...and I have been thinking about getting chickens...and they were completely sold out of baby chicks...last year they had hundreds of them.
Is this a new national phenomenon?
Or is it that people are just getting hungry?

[But....]

1. Scary times....

people looking to be more secure:hide:

[uppityperson]

2. I have answers, really, since I had trouble finding chicks too.

I've been scrambling to find replacements for my raccooned flock. I've been to my usual feed store, and several other that carry chicks and there is a real shortage this yr due to a couple factors.

Some major hatcheries had a couple bad hatches this spring.

A few yrs ago demand dropped off during the "OMG! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE OF BIRD FLU!!!!", so hatcheries had to cut back how many they hatched. Some smaller hatcheries have gone out of business, or almost.

People have figured out that no, we're probably not going to die right away from bird flu, so demand is up again and hatcheries just don't have the numbers.

Now, with food prices going up, more people are thinking of getting a small flock. Even in some cities you can have chickens (In Seattle you can have I think 3 hens, no roosters).

Wait until people notice how fast chicken food is going up in price also. I'm planting extra lettuce, greens, brassicas, etc in my garden to supplement the chicken food (went from $8/bag to $12/bag so far).


I got a bunch of silkies to act as moms next yr, hoping to hatch my own from a mixed flock. I found a few Rhode Island Reds, but otherwise have only see ornamentals. Guy at local store called when some came in and said come get them fast because they are going out fast also. And they did.

Edited to add link to Rural/Farm topic of a couple wks ago.

[Orrex]

3. Makes me regret counting mine before they were hatched

I'm tempted to cry fowl!

[Warpy]

4. My next door neighbor just replenished her laying hen supply

and said chicks were in short supply this year due to increased demand.

She's also chewing her fingernails, hoping the chicks were sexed correctly.

[brer cat]

12. Off topic, but I have to share.

I worked this tax season for a CPA. I almost ruined a keyboard when I started one return and saw the occupation as "chicken sexer." THAT was never mentioned in any career seminar I had in high school!


:rofl:

[Warpy]

13. It's a very specific skill that is in short supply

It's really hard to tell one cute, fuzzy little hatchling from another but they manage.

My next door neighbors chicks have their grown up plumage coming in and I still can't tell.

They're cute little buggers, though.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. I knew a chicken sexer once

He made pretty good money at it-- more than the average professor at the local university.

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. You can never tell for sure if it's chicken shit unless you taste it. n/m

[lonestarnot]

6. I know a neighborhood where they run wild and free if you get hungry.

[Wizard777]

7. I grew up in the city and we had chickens in our backyard.

As did many of the neighbors. But I was born on the tail end of the great depression. Then, for many, if you didn't produce your own food. You didn't eat. The space that wasn't occupied by the chickens. That was planted with vegitables. Once you find out that you can get your food pretty much for free. It's hard to go back to the grocery store and buy it. It wasn't easy. But we got by.

[LWolf]

8. I gave some chickens away this spring,

trying to downsize the flock. I can only eat so many eggs. I'm down to 7 hens and 1 rooster. I wasn't going to let any broody hens sit this summer, since that's what sets off the population explosion. Maybe I should go ahead and let them hatch some more out.

[Horse with no Name]

9. How many chickens do you need for a family of 5?

This is where I get lost...
What about if you wanted to sell some as well?
Is it worth the feed and the time to sell them or does it simply just pay for itself?

[LWolf]

10. Good questions.

There are various answers.

How many? It depends on how old your hens are. They lay prolifically the first year, well, the second, and then slow down. You can keep them into old age, and they'll still lay, but fewer and fewer eggs each year.

Some people get a whole new flock each year, and butcher the old as soon as the new begins laying (at 5-6 months.)

Egg laying also slows down over the winter, and when they molt. You can keep them laying a little more in the winter with lights on a timer in their coop, but it will still slow down some.

I keep a mixed flock, usually one or two new hens (hatched by a broody hen) each year, in with the older ladies. Right now, in prime daylight up here in the north, I'm getting 5-6 eggs a day from my 7 hens. That will probably drop to 2 or 3 a day in the winter.

I could sell my extra eggs; perhaps I should think about doing so. I get more eggs than we can eat. There are 4 people living here. Two eat a lot of eggs, two eat a few. So far, I just keep giving extras to coworkers.
They, in turn, often send me something they've baked every once in awhile.

Is it cost effective to sell? Well, if I sold a couple of dozen a week, it would help cover my feed cost. Mine eat more in the winter when everything is frozen, but free-range and eat quite a bit less once spring arrives.

Since I just keep them to do insect patrol and provide eggs, and the occasional roaster, I've never really thought about keeping more.

That, and I like having them around.

[Horse with no Name]

11. thank you for this info.

:hug:

[LWolf]

20. You're welcome, of course. n/t

[uppityperson]

19. We found it cost less than buying good store eggs.

Factoring cost of chicks and chicken food, and taking into account the 3 months during winter when they barely lay, Mr.UP figured out that it cost more than cheap store eggs, but less than "free range organic" ones. AND we get chicken manure for the garden as well as a place to get rid of ends and bits of vegetables that we'd throw out otherwise.

Make too many noodles? Chickens love them. Nasty looking lettuce leaf? Not to chickens.

Do you know what they say when they see you coming with something like that? "Look look look look look look look".

As for how many, it depends on how many eggs you want/week. A first yr high laying chicken will give you an egg 5/7 days, dropping off some the next yr. We have 2 2yr olds and 1 4yr old and are now getting about 1.5 eggs/day. (3 older hens, 1.5 eggs/day).

[OKthatsIT]

15. Remember...the economic shoe drops, then food is shut down

Controlling food is the oldest method to depopulate. For years Democrats have been saying to themslves or screaming out loud, "I can't believe this...I can't believe that"

It's time to WAKE UP.

When you control the world's food source through GMO engineering...what the hell do you expect? Those chickens are eating feed laced with genetic 'roundup' seed. Now, what do you think happens in their gut? It gets even worse than that.

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Either that, or...

...someone has been infected with bird flu, but doesn't want the American public to know...remember how forthright our FDA was regarding mad cow, the pet food failure, seafood off the Pacific coast, lead in children's toys...

[uppityperson]

17. Actually bird flu paranoia has something to do with it, according to my chick sources

A couple yrs ago demand dropped due to people getting scared of avian flu. Hatcheries cut way back in production so this yr there is less supply, along with more demand.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. "Chick sources"? What is this, Top Gun? j/k

I do wonder, though, how much of this recent talk about food shortages has to do with some FDA screw-up that is going to come to light very soon?

It does fall in line with the way the GOP likes to blame everyone else for their screw-ups.

[Ganja Ninja]

21. Chickens are all the rage.

We're all that and a bag of chips.