Anyone have chickens?

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monira (WavyGlass)
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by monira (WavyGlass) »

Yes, I have some chickens.

heartwood
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by heartwood »

reported

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Neighmond
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by Neighmond »

Spam and chicken.....yummy!

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shazapple
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by shazapple »

As an update, my chickens are doing well. There was a week of -30*C temps (-20F) where we kept them inside the coop, although they still ventured out into their run and would roost outside. The coldest day I was an hour late getting the eggs and here's what I found. Hard as rocks!
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Lee
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by lisascenic »

Wow, that's impressive.

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shazapple
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by shazapple »

So we took the plunge and got 10 meat chickens. We've had them for a week, and they are growing at an exponential rate! They also eat and poop like there's no tomorrow.

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They are pretty lazy in the small coop. I am looking forward to getting them outside where they will have a little more incentive to free range.
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by lisascenic »

Chickens are champion pooper. I keep telling myself it's good for the soil.

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shazapple
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by shazapple »

Another week closer to the freezer. We are hoping in another week we will be able to put them outside. Right now they are taking up space in the garage.
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Lee
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shazapple
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by shazapple »

The chickens grew so fast that their feathers had a hard time keeping up. We had some good weather and managed to get them into their outdoor coop. They are about 4 weeks old in this picture.
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This was the chickens at 9 weeks old. We waited until week 10 before sending them to the processor. We weighed the as we loaded them and had 140lb of live chicken.
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Today I just picked them up from the processor. The total was approximately 70lb. With gas, food, and processing fees it works out to be about $2.50/lb. For reference, grocery store chicken in my area of Canada is about $3.25/lb.
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It was certainly an interesting experience bringing them to the processor. The chickens had a fairly idyllic homesteady life, and when they go through processing it's very mechanical. Still, I feel ok about the whole process and I'm glad to know where my food came from.
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Re: Anyone have chickens?

Post by cjd »

I was curious if anyone has spec'd out the cost of the eggs gained, just as Shaz did for the meat. My understanding is that it is quite a bit more costly than buying eggs from the grocery, but I think it would be interesting for my kids to make the connection between animals and the food we eat.

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