Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!

loftyboy_2
loftyboy_2 Posts: 10 Forumite
edited 21 May 2013 at 3:40PM in Old style MoneySaving
Apart from giving me all the eggs I can eat, and most of my neighbours..... My 9 girls......6 Blackrocks, 2 Rhode Island Reds and 1 Buff Orpington are good for the soul..... They are no real effort, and just about break even with the feed I buy. If you haven't tasted a creamy, orange yoked, firm white eggs.......... you have'nt lived.......


...................ok ok...... its going a bit too far, but they recycle almost all my waste food (and others too), and produce lovely food....... Give them a go.........

I havent eaten any......not because I'm too squimish......but I prefer to let them retire..... Like me....!!!



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  • trafalgar_2
    trafalgar_2 Posts: 22,309
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    I ain't got no space to keep chickens .............or I would love to :)
  • wirm
    wirm Posts: 5,273 Forumite
    lol! Yup chickens are handy! Although they do leave a mess!
  • Caterina
    Caterina Posts: 5,919
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    Forumite
    If anyone wants to keep chickens in a small garden in an urban situation, check:

    https://www.omlet.co.uk

    Expensive but lovely - we are thinking of getting a couple of hens, as pets as much as for eggs!

    Caterina
    Finally I'm an OAP and can travel free (in London at least!).
  • cathy_3
    cathy_3 Posts: 1,500
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    I was all for it, till I found out that they stop laying after about 3-4 years then you have to kill them

    arrrrrgh

    no way

    lol
  • cathy_3
    cathy_3 Posts: 1,500
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    mink35
    Regular MoneySaver





    Possibly sad - but I remember these - JUST!

       



    on Today at 6:12pm, loftyboy wrote:...but I prefer top let them retire..... Like me....!!!  




    Conjures up a lovely picture of little old lady chickens, lol!    
     


    poochy
    Notso Newbie MoneySaver







       



    poochy
    Notso Newbie MoneySaver

    My mum and dad have kept chickens for years and I hate it in winter when they stop laying. I buy free range, organic but they're never as good.

    Apart from the taste they're a fab colour. Scrambled eggs and omelettes are yellow instead of 'magnolia' and my cakes and yorkshire puds seem to rise better.

     


  • 16011996
    16011996 Posts: 8,313
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    can i swap the kids for chickens?? they prob make less mess.
  • cathy_3
    cathy_3 Posts: 1,500
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    kids for chickens!! I think thats a disgraceful thing to even consider,

    especially when you could get 3 superman comics and a yo yo for ONE kid

    :D
  • 16011996
    16011996 Posts: 8,313
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    yeah but you can't boil superman comics or a yo yo, and dip thick white bread in it.
  • bugs
    bugs Posts: 184
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    I was all for it, till I found out that they stop laying after about 3-4 years then you have to kill them

    No you don't! As Loftyboy says, they could just as easily have a graceful retirement. Also, old breeds can continue laying, albeit at a greatly reduced rate, for years, and on top of that they do help if you have a garden, by eating bugs, scraps of fruit and veg, and producing, er...compost accelerator. And again to quote Loftyboy - they're good for the soul, just to have them wandering about and chatting to you in the garden.

    Then of course you'll be spending more time in the garden so you may as well grow some more stuff, and you'll be getting out in the healthy fresh air, saving money on buying produce and stress relief activities and excercise which is all very money saving indeed.
    https://www.omlet.co.uk

    Expensive but lovely - we are thinking of getting a couple of hens, as pets as much as for eggs!

    Ooh do get them but don't get one of these! They're so plastic and ugly. And horrifyingly expensive. You could convert a small shed/tool store, with a perch, nest box and airholes and pop-hole. Line with newspaper and then sawdust or straw, make sure the roof doesn't leak. It'd come in at half the price of an eglu...you could paint it to match anything else in your garden or to blend in...you can repair it yourself...

    The problems, or challenges if you prefer, with keeping chickens are foxes, cats, and rats, which the girls must be well protected from, constant fresh clean water, shelter from inclement and overly clement weather, daily fresh food, and getting someone with it to look after them when you go on holiday.

    It takes us about 15 minutes a day in total to do the necessaries of cleaning, feeding and watering, but in fact we spend hours each day because it's so nice to be in the garden with them wandering about.

    Chickens are the way forward...I could get quite religious about that. I could make space for a duck deity too...
    It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants. (William Cobbett)
  • System
    System Posts: 178,076
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    Community Admin
    Dont they stink? Do they do their mess everywheree?
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