Thinking About Getting Some Chickens for the Yard

[StarRidgeAcres]

Hi Everyone,

I thought it might be a nice diversion from the political talk for me to ask for some thoughts on getting chickens. Here's my scenario:

I've never had or even been around chickens so I know NOTHING. I think they are pretty and when I drive past homes that have them pecking around the yard I think they make a very peaceful scene. I'm also under the impression the will eat bugs so that is my primary reason for seriously considering this. I'm tired of all the spiders in the barn! I've also heard they eat ticks so that would be a plus also.

So, can chickens and horses coexist? Is there any concern about the chickens passing any germs or anything harmful to the horses? Are chickens messy? Would it be like having Canada Geese in the yard? OH! I don't want piles of chicken poop to deal with. Do they need special housing or can they just find their own place to sleep in the barn? Will my barn cats attack the chickens? Eggs aren't overly important to me and I know I don't want chicks running around, but I wouldn't mind trying a few fresh eggs for eating. Just no babies!

Any advice? Thanks!

 

[JourneysEnd]

I love my hens and have never had any problem with them and the horses.

While I know several people who just let the chickens roost in the barn, that's too messy for me.

My girls have a little hen house they sleep in. Nothing fancy, just an area for them to get out of the weather and way up off the ground.

You will have to clean up chicken poop under the roosts, but if you build them their own area that's not hard to do and the poop is great fertilizer.

My cats have never bothered the chickens and my cats do hunt.

No roosters and you don't have to worry about a hen hiding a nest and chicks just showing up one day. ( Had that happen just recently - rooster is leaving )

If you decide to get chickens, know that different breeds can have different personalities.

 

[Marnie]

We love chickens but the coyotes get them so no more chickens for us. I don't want something that I know will draw the coyotes in anyway. My girlfriend loves hers, she does pen them up in winter or their feet would freeze. She says they eat alot of bugs in the summer, alot of ticks. I know what you mean though, they are so pretty and their are so many breeds, check out the silkies, they have long drapping feathers and they don't fly, real pretty but they'd have to be penned up at night for sure if you have coyotes, they'd surely get eaten. I like the colorful chickens, another girlfriend orders a mixed batch from a catalog in the spring and she has all kinds of pretty chickens.

 

[Basketmiss]

Friends had chickens and the raccoons ate them so they didtn last long, I would also worry about coyotes...

 

[AppyLover2]

When I read your questions "Are chickens messy? Would it be like having Canada Geese in the yard?" I started nodding my head. Yep it would be pretty similar. It's also very possible that if you have dogs that the chickens wouldn't last long. I know they wouldn't around here....too much fun chasing them. Roosters can be downright mean and the hens will peck you when you take their eggs. We had several hundred chickens when I was young, (we sold eggs to hatcheries) I remember it well, and although they are pretty and I'd love to have help with the bugs around here, no chickens for this ol' gal.

 

[Sonya]

I had 10, all hens. They are very messy...they poop about every 15 seconds...and poop big! I kept mine in a seperate pen from the rest of the animals. On occasion I would let them free range. My dogs or cat never bothered them (when they were full grown). They would come up on my deck/porch and poop, they would pull up my landscaping to get the bugs under the woodchips, so that ended their free ranging. They attracted raccoons and opposums (one got eaten by an opposum as a matter of fact).

I would not let them in my barn if it was me...they will poop everywhere, roost up high and just drop terds everywhere. They are fun and there are so many pretty varieties though. They were the last of my livestock to go. I was planning on keeping them, but they started getting out of their pen so I gave them away.

Don't want to discourage you, but they are very very messy. Having the eggs was great, but I often threw so many out because we couldn't keep up with them. Look into it good before you decide!

 

[jayne]

I LOVE having chickens, but you have to manage them so you don't have issues with poop and predators. My hens have a coop and a run where they are safe, and I let them out to forage in the afternoon into the evening. I used to let them out earlier, but found out the hard way that they coyotes are still hunting in the morning, but haven't seen them in the afternoon. Also, if let them out too early they'd hide their eggs rather than lay them in the coop. The eggs are wonderful compared to store eggs and you don't want to lose even one of them!

We did need to fence off our veggie garden as well as one decorative bed because they would get in there and dig everything up. No biggie.

We so enjoy their antics; they can be so silly at times! We also enjoy that they eat almost all our household scraps and also help with flies and ticks on the farm. They do poop a lot, but since they're out only a few hours a day, they concentrate on eating and don't have time to sit on the porch and poop on it. I don't like them to get in the barn, and while they sometimes follow me in there, I scoot them right out with a little handful of scratch as a reward (who has who trained?).

And lastly, I have never once had one peck at me or exhibit any aggressive behavior toward me. Maybe it's because I raised them from chicks. A lot of times one will squat for me (thinking I am their rooster!) so I'll scoop her up and say HI, while also feeling to make sure she's a good weight and muscle tone.

I honestly don't know why more people don't have chickens. We get lots of eggs and get entertained at the same time. Sounds good to me!

Jayne

 

[JourneysEnd]

I agree with Jayne. I love my hens.

I had geese too and they are a lot messier than the hens.

The only cleanup I do is under the roost.

I did have a raccoon kill several of mine once, but I trapped him and haven't had a problem since then. I have one guinea hen with my hens and she is smarter than the chickens. She keeps them safe from hawks, makes them hide went she sees a hawk.

When I'm tearing something down or working around areas with bugs, I just call the girls and they eat everything that moves. even the roaches.

 

[Laura]

We have about 30 birds, all rescues or freecycled. They are goofy and fun. The Guinieas are LOUD and VERY funny, especially since they worship my poor oldest rooster and dog his EVERY step. When he stops, they bump into him, it's hilarious! They free range and they poop EVERYWHERE. I used to go barefoot outside most of the time, NO MORE~yuck!

We stupidly started our birds in the large shed behind the house where we keep the 4 wheelers, all my horse supplies, feed and garden equipment. You should see the poo on the 4 wheelers-yuckamungus as Mia would say! We keep them covered now. That's home base for everyone now, so we're kind of stuck. The rescued layer hens never learned to roost, so they huddle up in a corner of the shed on the ground. We did give in and put the nest boxes in there. They will lay in there or in whatever hardest to reach spot they can find, just to make life more interesting for us

We're so spoiled, none of us can stomach commercial eggs now

There are LOTS of varieties of birds and they are SO different. I'd recommend getting your birds through a local person, as opposed to an online vendor. They'll be accustomed to your weather already. It's also late in the year to be getting baby birds, so you might check out craigslist.com or freecycle.com to look for juvenile or adult birds.

A google search on backyard chickens can help you decide how many, what breed(s) and what type of shelter to build.

We have white leghorns, Tyson highway (literally), rhode island reds and aracauna/RIR crosses. We have 4 mature roosters, 2 RIR crosses (beautiful) and 2 white ones. Our senior rooster keeps the others in line and NONE of them are allowed to have any "territory"...it's all MINE and they respect that. So far, only one of the tyson highway birds has gotten peckish with the kids, so we ATE him! Both of the kids are around the birds a lot, feeding and chasing them, carrying them around (not the roosters now that they are mature) and they are all great...well, except for some of the younger hens who think it's OK to fly up on my HEAD when I'm getting their grain!

They do have definite personalities. Since I'm the "mama" they ALL come running as soon as I open the house door or they hear my voice. We feed them food scraps too, so when I yell "Chickens", they stampede towards the kitchen door-it's so funny

They run to (and under occassionally) the car when I pull in. The Guineas as the best and worst, they surround me whenever I'm outside. I've had to get in the car to talk on my cell phone, since they're surrounding me honking at the TOP of their lungs!

We love our birds, I just wish they wouldn't poo on my 4 wheelers and no matter where I move them, they roost over them

I've posted these before, but I love them

 

[OhHorsePee]

When I was a kid we had a lot chickens and a very mean rooster. We had them for eggs and meat. When the boys were little we had 6 hens which kept us in more eggs then we could eat. They free ranged in the day and were put in at night. The boys had fun finding the eggs. I agree that I would let them out later in the afternoon if you are home to do so. Sometimes you can't find all of the eggs and when you do EWWWY it surely is not pleasant!!!

 

[candycar]

Get some chickens! They are a hoot. Some can be very friendly and personable. I had a little Bantam hen to keep Jelly Bean company and she was our best bud! (neighbors dog got her tho, now I have 2 new young ones) Check out the chicken website ABC Shareing Place. The info pages can tell you all you need to know! They also have a forum. I would recomend getting a small breed. They are less messy and the eggs are soo cute! You should have a seperate safe coop to keep them in at nite, it's just safer. I let mine run in the Kitty pen all the time and the cats don't bother them once they know they are family.

Here's a pic of Jelly Bean and Cloe, she loved to roost on JBs back!

 

[Davie]

Love my birds also. My bantams are the funniest though. I had one little hen that everytime she saw me she would fly up and set on my shoulder or would set on the rim of the feed barrel while I filled it so she could jump in and get her a snack when it was full. She jumped in early one time and I almost buried her--had to go dig her out.

Had a couple of hen from the same breed (not sure what they were, black body with neck and chest that had brown feathers outlined in black) that were prolifice sitters--one of them hatched out 5 clutchs during the summer--she just refused to not set on a nest and she was a great mother.

By mid summer I had 40 birds that were almost mature but then by early Sept I was down to only 1 bantam roster, bantam hen and 6 hens as something was coming in and taking them off--wasn't a skunk, racoon or opposum because they just kill for the fun, gut them, leaving the body for you to dispose of. Wasn't a coyote as they leave some trace like feathers. We finally decided it was a bobcat. I even lost my little bantam, Baby Girl.

Kept the 8 birds up in their hen house for 2 weeks before I let them out again as they free range during the day and so far have not had any more disappear. I'm currently rasing up 16 new brown layers & heavy pullets and 11 bantams. Looks like I might have 3 little rosters as the bantams are always stright runs. I've never had good luck with the bantams because the hawks can pick them up and take them off but so far I've not lost any this time.

Since my breast cancer I can't be around pesticides as they make me quite ill so the hens are my pest control and I hardly see a tick or flea and that is something since my property is mostly sand. I also love fresh eggs and what I don't keep for myself I'm able to sell at work and I alway have someone asking when the next time I'm bringing eggs in and at $3.00/dzn it pays for their feed.

I hope to be back up to around 35 hens and 3 rosters by late next spring. My neighbor doesn't mind them coming over to his garden either as they keep the weeds down and don't bother the veggies since he keeps his tomatoes in cages that the chickens can't get through. Of course my hens are spoiled--they like chopped corn, can't feed them scratch.

They may poop a lot but with the sand I don't seem to have a problem and one nice thing--I don't have to worry about horse poop--they scatter that all over the place--best manure spreaders around.

 

[AppyLover2]

Laura I had to laugh at your solution to the one who got peckish. After one of our roosters flogged and spurred me (I had bent over to pick up something in the yard and he jumped on my back) I distinctly remember 2 things. One was that he not only hurt me but also scared the tar out of me and #2 that we (also) had him for dinner that night. I've been afraid of roosters every since and that was close to 60 years ago.

More recently (5 years or so ago) there were some chickens free ranging at the barn where I boarded. My friend, who owned the barn, and I were sitting in the yard one day and the chickens were close. I told her I didn't trust them and she laughed at me and said they'd never do anything (one of the hens actually followed her around like a dog). I got up about 5 minutes later and the rooster charged me. LOL I guess he knew I was afraid of him because any time he saw me after that he did the same thing.

 

[candycar]

OOps! I gave you the wrong chicken website! Here's the good one backyardchickens.com.

 

[Laura]

Laura I had to laugh at your solution to the one who got peckish. After one of our roosters flogged and spurred me (I had bent over to pick up something in the yard and he jumped on my back) I distinctly remember 2 things. One was that he not only hurt me but also scared the tar out of me and #2 that we (also) had him for dinner that night. I've been afraid of roosters every since and that was close to 60 years ago.
More recently (5 years or so ago) there were some chickens free ranging at the barn where I boarded. My friend, who owned the barn, and I were sitting in the yard one day and the chickens were close. I told her I didn't trust them and she laughed at me and said they'd never do anything (one of the hens actually followed her around like a dog). I got up about 5 minutes later and the rooster charged me. LOL I guess he knew I was afraid of him because any time he saw me after that he did the same thing.

The funny thing is that Jessica (Dana's 17 year old daughter) had to come kill and butcher him for us~LOL I *won't* do it and Steve didn't know how

I told Steve that when we got birds, as long as they came to me looking like I'd just pulled them out of the shrink wrap, I would cook and eat them, but that the killing and cleaning was NOT my job! Steve has great respect for those girls after Jess shot a deer here a few years ago on youth day and hung/cleaned it herself.

I was a Lenny Bertrands for a show & sale MANY, MANY years ago and one of his fancy roosters decided my Splash's stalls was HIS and would attack me every time I tried to go in the stall...it began a weekend long rooster baseball game. He'd launch himself at me and I'd whallop him with the apple picker! Nasty bird!

The one we ate was just pecking at the kids' hands when they were feeding, but that was enough for me...bite MY babies and I'll BITE you back!

 

[Sterling]

I have not read everyone's replies yet but wanted to answer your thread before I forget.

I've bred and raised many breeds of chickens for 20 years now and have enjoyed it immensly. As far as being messy...yes, they can be. Good chicken keeping is a must for them to stay happy and healthy. I keep my girls and boys in coops. Number one reason is so that the varmants don't get to them as we have fox, coons, skunks, owls and hawks. If you don't want babies and a morning wake-up call, don't get a rooster. You can enjoy hens and eggs just as well without the little guys. They do eat bugs...but honestly, I don't think my chickens really care for spiders...I still have to get that trusty old broom out in the fall and tear down those webs. They also eat frogs and bigger nasty bugs, so if you get grossed out easily, be aware of this. (I've had some big hens in the past that ate mice!

) But they were the really big girls.

One thing I will say, the bigger chickens, when they dig and dust themselves will make big craters. I find that the bantams are everything on a smaller scale, and the holes are'nt as bad. Keeping a special sandbox for them with soft, loose dirt helps in keeping the holes and craters to a minimum and in one spot.

Mine go out (of the coop) during the day at times. Watch your gardens with free rangers as they will get in them and have a blast with new flowers and plants.

They will dig and scratch landscaping and mulch so you will have to decide if you would want them to free range or not. Keeping them in a coop with a roof, be it mesh or wire is a must to keep preditors out and to keep them safe. I won't let mine go into the barn or hay barn as altho they are small and the poop is on the smaller scale, they still are messy and I like feeding my horses clean fresh hay. My dogs have been taught from when they are puppies that they do not chase chickens so they all hang together without any problems. Cats are another problem when we have chicks as they tend to hang aroound to wait for an unfortunate little one to wander outside his perimeter.

Here they are just hanging when they were a few months old

My Japanese Bantam rooster

The girls in the nesting box. Porcelaine Mille Fleur, Japanese Bantam (in the back) and Barred Cochin bantam up front

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

The responses thus far have been very imformative!! It's obvious that having chicks is doable, there's just a lot for me to think about BEFORE I get them. It's interesting to me how some feel so strongly about them - both positive and negative. And I didn't realize how much room each one needs, so that's going to have to be a consideration also. But I sure love how darn CUTE they are!

For those that have bantams - are the eggs big enough to eat? Or is that a stupid question.

 

[jayne]

The eggs of banty hens are certainly big enough to eat! They actually make really cute one-bite devilled eggs. When I cook with them I use two of them for every large egg called for. And I usually use three or four for scrambled eggs for myself.

I would say my bantam hen's eggs are about walnut sized. Proportionally, I think banty eggs are probably larger than the hens eggs as it relates to body size. They sure are cute.

When we have overnight company that includes kids, I like to involve them in making little pancakes and little kid-sized over-easy or scrambled eggs with the banty eggs. It's fun!

Jayne

 

[Sterling]

Parmela....yes the bantam eggs are big enough to eat. I've found the Old English bantams to have the smaller eggs.....Cochins have med size eggs. In other words....if I were to compare....the hens I have now...I'd use 2 of their eggs to make one jumbo egg.

Also I forgot to mention. Keep in mind that if you should decide on any of the fancy top hat breeds (the ones with the cute little poofs on their heads), they have a harder time seeing perifrially. So you should keep an eye out moreso for them when they free range. Chickens such as Silkies and Polish who have the poofs on their heads. Also some of the Auracanas that have beards with whiskers (not really hairy whiskers just fluffs of feathers) along the sides of their faces can impair their vision and make them easy pickins for preditors.

Look into your breeds too...if you want sweet and not mean. If you get them very young handle and tame them down so they won't be flighty. Here's a good website to check out about breeds.

Good luck with them.....chicks are fun too!

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoul...e.html#Chickens

 

[susanne]

Laura, You're killing me! I share your attitude about preferring your meal to be shrinkwrapped...

I plan to get chickens, but have accepted that the old hens will enjoy an easy retirement once they're done laying...we eat chicken, but not those that I've fed or come to be on a first name basis.

I am paranoid about bringing in any animal that would be in danger, so no chicken wire -- ours will have a sturdy, hardware cloth enclosed pen (including the ground). Not only will they be safe from our dinner table -- I intend for them to be safe from Mr. Coyote.

My other concern is that I'm uncomfortable starting chicks, as our own house barely has enough heat to sustain life, and I'm paranoid about heatlamps. Freecycle is a great idea...or perhaps some forum member in NW Oregon/SW Washington wants to rehome some still-laying hens?