Backyard Chickens Build Character

[4est_4est_Gump]

Many urban homeowners increasingly desire to keep small flocks of chickens in their backyards, and with good cause. There is no reason every family in this country that can run a flock of chickens in their backyard should not. This perfectly logical and reasonable habit—backyard chicken farming—has been buried under a great deal of hipster elitism (from many of the backyard chicken farmers themselves) and sneering derision (from their critics). Please try to ignore these detractors. If you can play host to backyard chickens, you should.

...

... For starters, there are the health benefits: if you eat a lot of eggs, then there is every reason to switch to fresh eggs from hens roaming in your backyard. A wide body of evidence suggests eggs raised under these optimal conditions are higher in critical vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids, and anyone who has eaten these eggs can attest that these healthy qualities greatly inform a superior taste.

Crack an egg from a well-tended backyard chicken and you’ll immediately notice the thick, well-formed eggshell surrounding a rich orange yolk. Contrast that with the “store-bought” egg’s thin, brittle shell and a pale lackluster yolk. This is evidence enough for even a small child to understand: healthy animals produce healthy food that is good for people to eat.

...

Yet chickens are useful not merely as producers of food but as practical disposers of it, too. A flock of chickens will require a certain amount of “layer feed” to thrive, but they can also be fed from the scraps of your kitchen—and you’d be amazed at how many scraps, and how much edible food, you throw away on a regular basis.

There is, of course, the standard food waste: vegetable cores and peels and stems, bread crusts, apple cores, melon rinds. All of that can go to the chickens. But there is also the astonishing amount of food that Americans habitually waste on a regular basis: more than 10 percent of your pantry that you probably toss out simply due to spoilage or expiration or simple carelessness. That can also go to the birds.

...

Raising animals—even a little flock of dimwitted backyard chickens—teaches us practical and visceral lessons about ecology, economics, attentiveness, time management, health, weather and locale, soil health, and patience. Spend a month with a backyard chicken flock and you’ll understand. All of these things are critical to the proper formation of the human heart and the human mind. Because of this, a flock of backyard chickens will particularly benefit your young children, who should learn these lessons early and often.

...

Daniel Payne
http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/06/why-you-should-keep-backyard-chickens/

 

[Aella_]

Hei, your Lit. posting habits got quite messed up since you'be been on nights.
And your protege has been brooding too. Only one new thread from him, yesterday.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Coward!

I mean, Chicken...

Maybe he's too tired to come home to roost.

 

[thør]

Bears like chicken.

 

[Recidiva]

I do not recommend this.

My father did it in suburban NJ about 40 years ago and I resented it pretty much every day, so did the neighbors.

I'll admit they are cute when they are little...but that fades fast and most of my experience with this is trying to make rooster heads explode at 3 a.m. psychically.

Sadly, it never worked.

They are loud, mean and stupid, pretty brutal...if one is injured the others peck it to death.

 

[thør]

I do not recommend this.

My father did it in suburban NJ about 40 years ago and I resented it pretty much every day, so did the neighbors.

I'll admit they are cute when they are little...but that fades fast and most of my experience with this is trying to make rooster heads explode at 3 a.m. psychically.

Sadly, it never worked.

They are loud, mean and stupid, pretty brutal...if one is injured the others peck it to death.

Like the GB?

 

[JohnnySavage]

I'd like to have chickens, but I don't know what I'd do with them in the winter

 

[Recidiva]

Like the GB?

The GB has never woken me up every night at 3 a.m.

But yeah, there are a few similarities otherwise.

Modern chickens have had every bit of sense bred out of them. It was sad.

Give me a pig. Those guys have survived domestication gloriously. One week back in the wild and they are a menace with tusks.

Also kinda like the GB.

 

[chillywilly2]

I'd like to have chickens, but I don't know what I'd do with them in the winter

keep them in the basement...what else

 

[thør]

I'd like to have chickens, but I don't know what I'd do with them in the winter

Soup?

 

[Recidiva]

keep them in the basement...what else

Oh the stench.

 

[chillywilly2]

Oh the stench.

Its Johnnys place...no biggy

 

[Recidiva]

Soup?

That is best. Free chickens need to be braised. My dad kept barbecuing them and they tasted like rubber bands. We were quiet about it until the day my uncle came over, took one bite, said "You must have had to kill this son of a bitch with a sledge hammer" and gave my sister money to go buy pizza.

Our Hero.

 

[thør]

That is best. Free chickens need to be braised. My dad kept barbecuing them and they tasted like rubber bands. We were quiet about it until the day my uncle came over, took one bite, said "You must have had to kill this son of a bitch with a sledge hammer" and gave my sister money to go buy pizza.

Our Hero.

Coq Au Vin.........

 

[Recidiva]

Coq Au Vin.........

Traditionally made from roosters. Perfect.

 

[Aglaopheme]

I most instances where you are able to keep chickens in urban areas roosters are not allowed.

 

[Recidiva]

I most instances where you are able to keep chickens in urban areas roosters are not allowed.

There was some deal where my dad got live chicks shipped with one 'mystery chick' that always ended up being a rooster. My dad loved them. He was mostly deaf.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Damned Noisy Roosters!

The GB has never woken me up every night at 3 a.m.

But yeah, there are a few similarities otherwise.(Some members are noisy, some are chicken shits, some are trying to lay a hen at all hours of the night)

Modern chickens have had every bit of sense bred out of them. It was sad. (Much like some Litster members)

Give me a pig. Those guys have survived domestication gloriously. One week back in the wild and they are a menace with tusks. (We live near a large game and hunting preserve. The woods are full of large ferrel hogs that the game wardens beg people to kill)

Also kinda like the GB.(Yep)

We live in both worlds. We're on a 1/2 mile dead end road with nothing across the street except piney trees. All lots are wooded five acres. The two old guys to our east have chickens and raise ferrel hogs.
When their freezer gets low they shoot a deer. They both enjoy staring at Dollie's titties. They bring us fresh eggs, frozen hog meat, and deer meat. All it costs me is exposing my wife's tits to them now and then.
Also the winds usually blow toward the east. No smell, no noise, no problem. Except those damned roosters crowing all hours of the day and night!
Don't need to feed, kill, or worry about what to do with stupid chickens in winter. We have no winter.

 

[Aglaopheme]

There was some deal where my dad got live chicks shipped with one 'mystery chick' that always ended up being a rooster. My dad loved them. He was mostly deaf.

Lucky fellow. We had neighbors in St Paul that illegally kept chickens in their garage including roosters. I was very happy when they moved out, damn cocks.

 

[Recidiva]

Lucky fellow. We had neighbors in St Paul that illegally kept chickens in their garage including roosters. I was very happy when they moved out, damn cocks.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were illegal here. But my dad was the nicest guy in the world, nobody would complain to his face.

They complained to my mom all the time and go to her first. "Are YOUR chickens supposed to be in MY yard?"

Dad built a coop from cinder block and a loose wire cover. On a windy day they went walkabout.

 

[Noor]

Lucky fellow. We had neighbors in St Paul that illegally kept chickens in their garage including roosters. I was very happy when they moved out, damn cocks.

It's legal now
Arrrggghhh!

https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/...l-information/keeping-chickens-and-other-fowl

 

[Aphro]

I would love to keep chickens. But the coyotes and the raccoons would eat them before we got any eggs.

 

[chillywilly2]

A lot of city ordinances don't allow roosters, only hens. I know Baltimore, MD is that way. You don't need a rooster to get eggs from the hens. They'll lay anyway; they just won't be fertilized (obviously).

As for winter, heavy breeds will lay almost all the way through winter depending on how cold it gets. My Australorps do up until it drops below freezing during the day. The Bantams stop in late fall. We call that the Persephone Days of winter when nothing grows. It's a good time to relax a bit on a farm.

Its not winter unless its below freezing 24/7 for a month and hitting zeroF in there for a week

 

[Noor]

I would love to keep chickens. But the coyotes and the raccoons would eat them before we got any eggs.

It's different in the city, we are so close together that you can hear and smell other people's stuff.

 

[chillywilly2]

I would love to keep chickens. But the coyotes and the raccoons would eat them before we got any eggs.

Just set some snares around the coop...coyote fur is amazing..you would like it