who keeps chickens?

**forestdale** · 05-27-2005, 10:23 PM

Do you have chickens in your backyard? I have three - one Light Sussex and two red hens. We usually get 2 eggs per day for most of the year. We're going to get 2 new chickens soon as the light sussex is going off the lay.

**homesteadmamma** · 05-27-2005, 10:29 PM

Rhonda, I wish we could. Our by-laws say NO, NO, NO.

**Kimberlina** · 05-29-2005, 02:57 PM

You know, it is such a coincidence that you asked this, Rhonda. I was thinking about posting this same question. I don't know, yet, what our laws are here, but I suspect I could have a couple hens as there is a horse right behind my house, and across the field from me, there is a goose.

I have wanted to get two hens for the longest time. I hear they are good for keeping the bug populstion down, and I suspect they might be helpful with the slug---->mole situation. But I don't know if my yard is big enough. I really should read more about them and figure out the answer, I guess.

**forestdale** · 05-29-2005, 03:22 PM

Kinber, hens are excellent pets too. We've kept hens since our boys were little. I wrote some articles on keeping hens in the backyard, you might find what you're looking for in there.

Keeping backyard hens 101

**Kimberlina** · 05-29-2005, 04:09 PM

Thanks, Rhonda! I never really thought of them as pets. I'm going to read the articles, and I will probably find the answer there, but do you find the droppings messy? Are they all over the yard? Because I like to walk around barefoot out there sometimes.

**forestdale** · 05-29-2005, 04:22 PM

We have a huge backyard and although we let our girls out every day they only leave a little mess close by the gate that keeps them away from our backdoor. Sometimes they wait there for food.

It might be a problem with Maggie running around and you with your bare feet. You could leave them in their pen all day and let them out a couple of days a week, or just hose their droppings which break up easily and provide valuable nutrition for your soil.

BTW, chicken manure is the best thing for compost heaps. It, along with lawn clippings, really heat the heap up and accelerate decomposition. When you have chickens, you'll never have to buy organic fertilizer again.

**jlxian** · 06-01-2005, 11:54 AM

We don't keep chickens yet.

Our neighbors have some roosters that roam the neighborhood, and one in particular definitely thought of our yard as his. We called him COW or Chicken Of the Woods as we first became aware of him when we heard him crowing in the woods behind our barn. My husband sometimes called him Big Chicken and bought special feed for him over the winter.

Unfortunately COW was recently killed --- we found his body underneath his favorite roost tree. Whatever killed him chewed on him a while and then left. We miss him a lot, as he had tons of personality. He was a riot when he followed us to the bird feeder in the snow --- quite a spectacle.

So, yes, I can see how they can become PETS. When we do decide to get our own chickens we will have to be certain they are safe from predators.