The 4 main reasons to raise your own chickens, just in case you haven't given it much thought, are: Delicious and nutritious organic eggs Pest control - Chickens eat ticks, grasshoppers and many other pests Fertile chicken manure for your garden Fresh, organic chicken meat (unless, of course, you're vegetarian - in which case the first three points are reason enough)
how many hens and cocks would you need to satisfy all your egg and meat requirements, and how do you select those to be eaten?
There is a covenant on the land that my house is on forbidding me to keep chickens! It's a shame as I really would like one of these
Three chickens is the minimum number for a succesful 'social' group, that woman recently who spent £1800 on her one chuck and couldn't understand why it was depressed should have done some research. (mind you I would probably get depressed having to live with someone so stupid they spent £1800 on a chicken). Then its up to you. If you get 3 that are 'designed' to lay an egg a day then you should have plenty and lots to give away too. And it will let you play with adding things to their diet to get the most extraordinarily coloured yolks. But they have very little meat. Our first three, of this type, when dispatched gave, between them, just enough meat for a coq-au-vin for 4 people. And the egg laying ability of those varieties bred for eggs rapidly drops away after 12 months or so, as we are currently finding out with our second lot (15 months old and soon to head for the great hen-house in the sky) If you go for modern meaty varieties, then they will be full sized and ready to eat before they reach egg-laying age. (and off course all males will be eaten as they are useless when it comes to eggs!, no further comments required here). Or you can pick a blended variety, some meat, some eggs. As for choosing, well the males, off course and then after that, they all look the same to me.
No, cocks are far too noisy and troublesome. Replacement hens at point of lay are only 7 or 8 euros each from the local market (more in the UK tho'), so it makes more sense to replace when necessary. Raising hens from eggs, while terribly cute as they pass through the early stages (ie the 'cat toy' stage), can be a real pain. You need space, heating lamps, food for 12 weeks before you get anything back in the form of eggs and half of those will be cocks which have to be despatched, otherwise they fight.
I was looking up the word "chuck" as I wasn't sure whether it was some obscure farming term for Cock, and thus the Coolidge Effect, or some northern term of endearment for a male companion. Anyway, I'm no closer to knowing, but I did find this. http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games2/gameindex/chicken.htm Chicken Chuck
I would never be able to make my own meal literally from start to finish *shudder* Before anyone says, I have no problem and indeed prefer the supermarket doing all the preparation work for me
Main reasons for not raising chickens. - They are noisy - I can eat them faster than I can raise them - They smell - Couldnt be arsed to pluck them - I dont have tics or Grasshoppers
We've had chickens for the last 15 years, replaced them every year or so when they stop laying Currently got 6 white ones, can't remember the actual breed... Oh, and they arnt noisy or smelly!