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[Misc] Anyone keep chickens? WTAF did I agree to it?



dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,560
Burgess Hill
Goldstone1976 said:
I got persuaded to agree to us keeping a few chickens.

By the time I'm done with buying a coop, bedding, feed, drinkers, feeders, grit, tonics, sanitisers, tonics, toys, shelter, sandpit, hardwood chippings for the run (no bark allowed), f***ing Fort Knox 500SqFt run (we have badgers and foxes living in the garden), I reckon the eggs will be about £20 each. Oh, and that's before I've bought the sodding chickens (between £30 and £50 each - WTF?!!).

"Oh, but [12-month old baby G1976] will love it. Won't you love her little face when she collects the eggs?"

"She can help me kill them when they get too old. Perhaps she'll like plucking them?"

Any chicken keepers on here? Please tell me that there is some benefit to put into my mental cost:benefit calculation, because I'm currently seeing pretty much only downside.
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My best mate from school started when we were about 14, he currently has 75,000 so happy to ask him anything if needed (he takes young chicks and grows them up to laying age) 🤣 H’s become very disillusioned with it - so much admin, red tape and regulation to deal with now
 




M

METALMICKY

Well-known member
Jan 30, 2004
6,090
Goldstone1976 said:
I got persuaded to agree to us keeping a few chickens.

By the time I'm done with buying a coop, bedding, feed, drinkers, feeders, grit, tonics, sanitisers, tonics, toys, shelter, sandpit, hardwood chippings for the run (no bark allowed), f***ing Fort Knox 500SqFt run (we have badgers and foxes living in the garden), I reckon the eggs will be about £20 each. Oh, and that's before I've bought the sodding chickens (between £30 and £50 each - WTF?!!).

"Oh, but [12-month old baby G1976] will love it. Won't you love her little face when she collects the eggs?"

"She can help me kill them when they get too old. Perhaps she'll like plucking them?"

Any chicken keepers on here? Please tell me that there is some benefit to put into my mental cost:benefit calculation, because I'm currently seeing pretty much only downside.
Click to expand...
"Got persuaded" are you hen pecked or fallen fowl of a bossy partner.
 




tedebear

tedebear

Legal Alien
Jul 7, 2003
16,844
In my computer
We had chickens for ages. Loved them. Funny as anything and lovely having them peck around when I'm gardening, or sitting on your lap with a cup of tea in the sunshine coo-ing. The eggs are amazing, we had all our veggies and our eggs home grown, felt really good. Does limit your travels a bit, they can survive on their own with an auto closer for about 3 or 4 days depending on how many you have, but you can't pack them off to a kennel unfortunately. But usually you can find a neighbour to mind them in exchange for the eggs! The coop was expensive but a fox proof one will be.

Has the cost of chickens gone up that much?? We paid £10 - £15 for ours, you can also get them from rehoming places for free. Fresh Start for Hens or British Hen Welfare Trust will give you the next rehoming dates and you can register to receive them.

Not sure you needed all the stuff you have, but in time you'll work it out. Our chickens were on dirt, they loved it. They'd flick any wood chip out anyhow. They had grit rarely, loved corn feed and were cheap and easy to keep.
 


Goldstone1976

Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Apr 30, 2013
13,791
Herts




Brok

Brok

😐
Dec 26, 2011
4,362
We used to get ours from a company over the road who used to import parrots and things from the Far East.
With the parrots was always a couple of exotic looking chickens. Apparently, if there was any sort of disease, these chickens would get it first, and were a sort of ... er... health indicator.
Company didn't want them, and gave them to us. Not many eggs, but nice to have walking about the place. And the kids loved them.
 












Stat Brother

Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,832
West west west Sussex
On Prime - and eggscellent fun.

 




AZ Gull

AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy Threads: @bhafcacademy
Oct 14, 2003
11,777
Chandler, AZ
chip said:
You'll be chasing them around your neighbour's gardens soon. They are good at weeding and produce great fertiliser. You'll love it, it's a way of life.
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I can vouch for that! My next-door neighbour started keeping 8 chickens last year. About a month ago, one Friday morning I happened to look out the kitchen window and...I had a chicken mooching about the back yard! (I was only at home because I was flying to California that afternoon for a squash tournament - does make me wonder if it's happened before).
 


Bry Nylon

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,881
Playing snooker
Goldstone1976 said:
I got persuaded to agree to us keeping a few chickens.

By the time I'm done with buying a coop, bedding, feed, drinkers, feeders, grit, tonics, sanitisers, tonics, toys, shelter, sandpit, hardwood chippings for the run (no bark allowed), f***ing Fort Knox 500SqFt run (we have badgers and foxes living in the garden), I reckon the eggs will be about £20 each. Oh, and that's before I've bought the sodding chickens (between £30 and £50 each - WTF?!!).

"Oh, but [12-month old baby G1976] will love it. Won't you love her little face when she collects the eggs?"

"She can help me kill them when they get too old. Perhaps she'll like plucking them?"

Any chicken keepers on here? Please tell me that there is some benefit to put into my mental cost:benefit calculation, because I'm currently seeing pretty much only downside.
Click to expand...
Any chance of a pic of your cock?
 








Colonel Mustard

Colonel Mustard

Well-known member
Jun 18, 2023
2,050
Official Old Man said:
You just wait until the other have says 'shall we bake our own bread'. Now that's expensive.
Click to expand...

Is it? I’ve been baking my own bread in a bread machine for years and it works out much cheaper. But that’s not the reason for doing it, obviously. Without meaning to restart the sourdough discussion, it tastes far better than the supermarket stuff, and you control what goes into it. Talking of sourdough I’ve just started making it (without a machine) and so far haven’t incurred any additional expense at all. I might invest in a proving basket but will wait to see if the sourdough venture is a success.
 


R

raymondo

Well-known member
Apr 26, 2017
5,685
Wiltshire
Goldstone1976 said:
I got persuaded to agree to us keeping a few chickens.

By the time I'm done with buying a coop, bedding, feed, drinkers, feeders, grit, tonics, sanitisers, tonics, toys, shelter, sandpit, hardwood chippings for the run (no bark allowed), f***ing Fort Knox 500SqFt run (we have badgers and foxes living in the garden), I reckon the eggs will be about £20 each. Oh, and that's before I've bought the sodding chickens (between £30 and £50 each - WTF?!!).

"Oh, but [12-month old baby G1976] will love it. Won't you love her little face when she collects the eggs?"

"She can help me kill them when they get too old. Perhaps she'll like plucking them?"

Any chicken keepers on here? Please tell me that there is some benefit to put into my mental cost:benefit calculation, because I'm currently seeing pretty much only downside.
Click to expand...
You forgot the gin to go with the tonics 👍
 






Normal Rob

Normal Rob

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
5,663
Somerset
I'm just had ham, egg, and chips for dinner with my 3 daughters. All the eggs were from our birds. Anyone who is putting chicken keeping down, well I genuinely pity you.
 




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