Friday, December 10, 2010

Chickens!!!!!!

Where would we be without the little cuties?

We have had chickens in the city for about 9 years. We moved them from Austin, TX to Savannah, GA and then back to San Marcos, TX. We have never had a complaint from the city or a neighbor about our feathered friends. We used to let them have the run of the yard but once we started growing lots of veggies and edibles, we had to build a run. Chickens are very destructive. They will dig up your entire yard and eat your veggies and plants down to a stump. We built an 8x10 coop with a 18 foot run in the front. I still feed bad for them even though it is lots of room.

This picture is before the run was built in front.



They start laying in the spring and will continue through the year off and on. They even hit winter spurts now and then. I found this happens more often when you have a rooster. We have had roosters for years and they are more trouble than good for the urban farm.

Roosters are loud. They start at 5am and will go until 9am. Even if you get the little tiny ones, you can still hear it. You wouldnt believe how loud this little guy used to get.



Roosters + Hens = lots of babies. If they are running around the yard, you will never find all the nests until they go broody. It can get way out of control if you are not careful.



Roosters are mean. I have had quite a few and the majority are mean and will attack your legs.

Roosters will beat up the hens. They have a tendency to rough them up quite a bit and will sometimes fixate on one hen.

EGGS!



Alright, on to the eggs. I figure that 8 chickens can make more eggs than a family of 4 can eat. If you eat them everyday, you can keep up. However, if 8 birds are making 5 eggs a day and you miss 2-3 days a week, it adds up fast. You can trade with neighbors and it is a good plan to find someone with a garden and no chickens to start a swap program. You can expand this further for farmers markets but once you exceed 8 chickens, it is more likely that the city will start to take notice. I am personally burnt out on eggs but will gladly start to ramp up my egg eating if things ever get rough.

Another thing to look at is if the chickens are paying for themselves. If you are buying more in feed for the chickens than they are producing, it may not be cost effective. That is why it is important to find other items to feed them other than store bought chicken food. If your chickens have free run of the yard, this isnt as hard. They will eat every weed in the yard and most the bugs too. Your extra waste will go to them instead of the compost bin. I pull weeds in the alley and throw them into their run. Almost anything will work as long as it is healthy for them. Also buy a bag of oyster shells for better egg production.

All in all, chickens are worth it in my mind. Some of them become real friendly too.

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