Official BYC Poll - Which aspect of keeping chickens do you enjoy the most?

[Frindizzle]

Oh, ALL THAT LOVE!

 

[cutechick53]

Having the self confidence that I could be self reliant (chickens and garden), and after a hard day of working around the garden and coop, it is so relaxing when you see them free ranging!

 

[TylerJ1966]

Scratching! Nothing is better than grabbing a cold beer after a long work week, opening the run door, and watching them scurry out to forage and scratch on my one acre. Its a great bonus to have my frizzled Sizzle hen jump in my lap before retiring for the night, but my favorite is to watch 'em scratch and do weed control all over the homestead

 

[Xiao Casa]

We got them originally for eggs, but now we love to watch them run around the yard, scratch, peck at random invisible nothings... and of course, watch their colors as they grow out!

 

[DonnaS]

I have never had anything to do with chickens before. I was a city girl. I thought they were delicious. Well, after eggs in the grocery store reached 2 dollars a dozen and they were small (and called large), my husband and I decided to get some and have our own eggs. I read all the books, my husband read about coop building and converted a small wooden shed into a duplex coop. We got some chicks and we got some grown; some New Hampshire Reds. Egg production has been sketchy at best. 3 of the older chickens were sold to me as 1 year olds. They were considerably older. They never laid any. But I fell in love with them. They each have such a distinct personality. My little banty, Dolly and her sister Elly became my favorites. They laid eggs left and right and were determined brooders. Thanks to a few incidents with local dogs, we lost Elly and the smaller chicks and eventually Cora, one of the larger New Hampshire Reds. Later we got Abraham, as consort for Dolly. She recently became a mother and what a good one she is. Devoted. Counting the cost in dollars and cents, we figure each dozen eggs we got costed about $43. 22. but maybe that will improve. I dont' care really. I love all my girls and boys.

 

[boskelli1571]

I love to watch 'ChickenTV' and they provide a great deal of free psychotherapy!! Sad to say, I have more intelligent talks with my chickens than I do with most people............................

 

[sarahandbray]

I got chickens for the eggs...but have LOVED having them for the past 7 weeks! They are fascinating to watch, sweet, curious, and friendly. The variety of breeds, colors, egg colors, etc., is so cool!
I (mistakenly) thought women who kept chickens to be strange cat hoarder types...but it turns out that this mom-of-three, dog lover is enjoying having chickens as much as anybody! I KNOW my friends think I'm weird...but in a lovable, harmless sort of way
Can't WAIT until I get my first egg...should be so cool!
Wonderful therapy, gets me outside more often, and makes me pop out of bed everyday at 5:30am!

 

[3riverschick]

Hi

,
I love the interplay of the breeding systems and working to use them to help predict breeding outcomes.
There are systems for both art and science in breeding. Learning the breed, studying my gene pool,
combining all three areas of knowledge to craft a successful breeding. Creating the breeding is what I like
most about breeding poultry.
Best,
Karen

 

[Jan2012]

So I chose companionship, eggs and other.

My husband and I discovered after getting our girls that we are bird lovers. I LOVE my birds.

There is just something so beautiful about them. Barred with their herringbone like stripes, Reds with their bossiness and innate intelligence, Ameraucanas with their beautiful falcon-like heads, australorps with those pleasing natures.

Hearing the thundering footsteps as they race by or the thunk as they jump off a perch. Watching them launch that huge body airborne to get a grape or worm out of your hand.

Having them come running when they hear the door, or when the car pulls onto the driveway. The way they go screaming out of the dog's way when he runs at them (he is not polite enough to run AROUND them) but then practically walk on top of him when he is sleeping or sitting,

Listening to them telling you all their news or complaining about the awful roosters. Each girl's bawk is different. I have had my RIR (Scratch) alert us when we had a rattlesnake in the yard. We had to chase her away from it. She is fearless.

I even love cleaning out the roosts and getting the nest boxes ready each morning. I always have an "inspector" who watches me very careful and then tests out the boxes to make sure I have the right amount of pine shavings. And though I have never been a morning person, there I am, scrubbing down the roosts and putting poo in my compost bucket happily. This from a person who hates poo.

And last, love the humans I have met through my chickens. It is a wonderful community no matter where or who we are. Pretty awesome!

One more thing, do you notice chicken more now that you have them yourselves? For instance, I was just watching an episode of "All Creatures Great and Small" where Harriet pulls into a farmyard and honks the horn for the chickens to run out of the way. Never would notice that BC. But now I spot them in TV shows. Hmm some reds, ooh, look a barred...

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

It used to be eggs, and meat, now I just love chickens.