After paying $8.17 for dozen and a half (18) eggs. I mentioned it to wife as soon as I got home. Then I announced we were only hiding a dozen eggs this year for Easter and not the normal 8 dozen.

Fresh eggs are best, other than that I know nothing of raising chickens and city ordinances...

Chicken wire keeps chickens in, not predators out. If you build a run, or want to secure the coop (windows, underneath, etc) use wire cloth. Pre built coops (Amazon, Tractor supply, etc) are fine as a starting point, but if you’re still doing it in a year, you’ll need to upgrade. Look for coops on Facebook marketplace, you can usually find them for free if you move them. They’re fun to have around, good luck!

Don’t forget to close the door to the chicken coop before sunset.

Buy a load of chicks and toss corn meal all over the living room, you'll be dining on economical omelets in no time!

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Boob will get in there if you don't

My little Chiweenie dog Boo hates chickens. Began when a neighbor's rooster managed to fly into my backyard and Boo went bezerk. After that just the sound of a chicken cluck-clucking on TV would make her bark. So I'll have to keep buying my eggs retail.

make sure you buy correct feed, we used to raise rowen ducks and i would get chicken feed from the ufa. every two months i would switch to to the medicated version to keep them healthy. consider a waterer with a self regulated warmer ( so doesnt freeze) i also had a trouble light with a 60watt bulb hanging in the coop to keep the air warm. the syrofoam incubator was stupid money expensive! lets the chickens sit on them if you want to hatch more, ducks are vicious and will kill a clutch of hatchlings so need to separate and incubate.

i bought a wooden DIY shed kit, so when we moved on from ducks i could use the shed as garden storage. if you go this route, you will build the floor first as a platform and stand the walls on that. when i built the platform ( the 2x4 base) prior to sheeting i laid 1 1/2" foam board, then 3/4 T&G plywood, and capped the entire surface with linoleum for a sealed washable surface, then started on building walls. bird fowl are messy pets.

You DO NOT want a bulb or any heater in the coop. Chickens self regulate down to -20. If you have a warmer, and the power goes out, they will die because they’re used to it being warm.

I think you need a permit in some towns to have a rooster. Mostly for the noise.

not at -40c + wind chill=-60c

From what I remember, the chickens all slept on top of one another to stay warm. That all ended the night I forgot to shut the door.

Original poster is in CA, he will never see that low.

We’re not allowed a rooster, but we needed a permit for our hens. Was easy, wanted to be legal in case someone complained.

But we’re urban chicken farmers, not in a rural area with a decent amount of land between us and neighbors.

I like having chickens, but now that my kids are older, one in college one in high school, I think we’re done after this run of birds.

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I've got 4 road Island reds, 2 amberlinks, and blue laced onyx, mine just started laying and we are getting 4-6 eggs daily, this number may increase. They taste better, I don't care what anyone says! Cost wise starting over from laying period(now) we are saving money, not whole lot but we are saving, my daughter likes to bake and me and my boys like eggs in the morning, we are using most the eggs, what we dont use we barter for bacon cuts with my wife's dad.

Pre made coops are junk, I built mine with what I had lying around including scrap fence wood from hurricane IAN. We let them out daily but they tear up the garden so my wife is in the process of shifting all that around. We cut down on their feed costs by having two compost areas where earthworms run rampant.

Not to start an argument but we were told by a chicken farmer you should help them out around 40 degrees with heat source.

This is not true, they are extremely hearty once they have their feathers, just keep them out of the wind. We keep chicks indoors under heat lamp until they are about 4 months and then put them outside. The lamp does not go in the coop, we learned that the hard way. We just got new chicks today so they will be ready to go outside when the weather improves. We will post our old flock on marketplace for free before we move the new flock out. They do not mix, we learned that the hard way as well. Our coop is an old shed that is raised off the ground with roofing membrane over the floor. We made a pvc feeder and use a heated waterer that hangs. The run is chicken wire with wrapped around t post held down by bricks with deer netting around and over top. This is our fifth flock and we have never lost one to a predator. My favorite type has been Isa browns, very good layers and good temperment. They were easy to train to come to us by shaking a bag of dried worms. They didn't wander too far either.
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Years past I had friends that raised chickens, not in the city. Running around, foxes got one a month, helps keep the adrenaline up. Eating bugs and stuff. Chickens and eggs tasted a whole lot better than any store bought.

LTG : )

I haven't seen an answer to the daily routine part of your question yet, so my personal experience is that it's ridiculously easy to keep them happy. I give them a scoop of feed in the morning and open the run so they can roam the yard. Then after sunset I latch the run closed and check for eggs. So maybe 3 minutes a day? They give back so much for the little that they require.

For a coop and run, I bought one of these used: https://roostandroot.com/product/round-top-backyaard-chicken-coop/#1-choose-standard-or-xl-model-coop It's fantastic, the run is covered with actual hardware cloth, not chicken wire, the waterer and feeder are super user friendly, and the occasional cleaning routine is drastically reduced by the fact that there's not a floor to clean below the roosting bars - the floorless coop sits directly on top of the hardware cloth that covers the run.

For overnight safety, I laid down hardware cloth on the ground a foot wider in each dimension than the run, and set the run on top of that and staked the edges down, so there's no way anyone can get at them by digging underneath. And there's a carabiner on each latch, so raccoons can't open them. (the woman I bought the coop from lived in a rural area, and the only time she lost a chicken to an overnight predator was when a raccoon opened one of the latches)

I can understand peoples' reasoning behind raising chickens but there are downsides as well.

In my local, the City ten years ago, when eggs were dirt cheap, allowed urban backyard (and now front yard) chicken raising. That year two hundred cats and some small dogs went 'missing', including my two cherished cats, who for ten years had free and safe range of my yard and surroundings.

Soon, poster after poster of missing pets adorned most telephone poles, literally crying for any sign of their beloved pets, all in vain. Coincidence...no. What was left of my two cats and others I found was mixed with coyote fur. People end up beefing up their chicken coops to make them impregnable to bears, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and other predators. The home KFC drive thru with its appealing aroma and sounds, now unavailable, still kept drawing an increasing number of predators. Well you can guess what happened. The predators, particularly coyotes went for the next best and easier target.

People said, 'Should have kept your cats inside.' After ten years of being free, that was never going to happen. Just look at felines in a zoo, endlessly pacing, very sad. Cats love being free and they did a damn fine job of keeping the mice and voles in check. Now virtually every yard and garden in the entire City has a plague of mice, voles and their endless diggings when before that wasn't an issue. People switched to huge pet dogs and now there is an unsightly plague of huge brown canine calling cards. It was an unforeseen and unwanted biological domino effect.

Ok, ten years ago urban chickens seemed more about virtue signaling and maybe still but also now about necessity. That won't change some of the negative, unforeseen and heartbreaking consequences. The real disheartening part of the whole thing is that many of my neighbours have given up on raising chickens, saying it just got to be too much bother.

Oh well...I may be pet-less now but at least I have a Bad Cats!

I have been raising chickens for about a year now. I built a large coop (12x8). And had 20 birds in there. Lost one to a hawk, 1 to not making it across the road, and 1 just died. I get about 12-15 eggs a day, that i sell for 3 a dozen. That covers the cost of feed. I could probably sell for more, but oh well. I actually enjoy dealing with them except cleaning the coop. I may double down this spring and put another coop up. I could probably fit about 10 more in my coop, but i dont want them to be unhappy.

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Great post from amkoepfer above. My gf had a similar set up and says yours looks great. Kudos on enjoying it.

The only thing she would add is that red sexlink aka red star are probably the most prolific egg layers.

At what point do they become pets? Egg laying hens have a shelf life unless they are in the freezer.

In my experience, something usually gets to them before their egg laying ends.

When you give them names.

We free-ranged chickens when I grew up. Many of them got ran over when foraging for grain that blew off of trucks taking their crop to market. It was certainly a chore when it came time to butcher them.

If you think you will save money, you won’t. Commercial chicken/layers have economies of scale.

If one does it, go organic. It’s the only way.I did it for 6 years and it was a good experience until the end. I also tried turkeys and quail in my garage. Not a good idea.

Yeah, you have to be a sick bastards to announce at the table “well kids, how does Buttons taste?”

Yes, selling eggs for a small flock will not make you money. I probably have 2500 in it from the coop and run amd feed. Ive sold almost every egg theyve laid for about 5 months now and im just over 200 bucks. Should break even in 2095

Callie

Skye

Michelle

Lizzie

When we got our chicks everyone in the family picked their own breed. Michelle is "my" chicken, she's a Dominique. If you're not going to go all in on the pets/emotional part my personal advice is save the time, effort, and money.

Tell her thanks

A little honey and we're good to go.

LTG : )

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If you don’t see them as pets from the start, save your money. You’ll never make all of your money back, the eggs are a bonus.

I imagine growing chickens/eggs is just like a garden. Do it because you enjoy it.

Get a few Peacocks, I’m sure your neighbor will love them.

Chickens are messy eaters. But that’s okay because the rats come and make sure all the chicken feed gets eaten. Once the neighbors moved and left with their chickens there were no more rats for the kids to shoot with a pellet gun after a while.

Like your humor

Can confirm, chickens and rats go together far more than people talk about….

Nothing goes together better than chickens and deep fryers though.

Don't get a rooster, just get laying hens.

Chickens genuinely good people. Good pets. Get " BUCKEYE" breed and some issues abated due to great genetics.

If you have chickens you will have rodents.

If you have chickens you will have less predator
issues if you build coop with steel edging around doors and openings.

There are auto opening/closing coop doors to make life easier on you.

if your chickens free range the eggs will have better taste. Insects in the area hens range will provide your family entertainment watching the hens hunt.

Your opinion of your neighbors may well suffer.
Niebhoor dogs will kill your hens. Niebhoor may/may not take responsibility and fence their dogs. Unlikely they will believe their precious companion is a predator.

If they blow off control of their dog get your county dog warden on speed dial. After verbal notification to the dog owner next attack should be addressed by the warden.

The saying good fences make for good Neighbors deeply based in fact.

For your consideration.

Enjoy the day Shane

They are Cheap and easy. Our only beef is the dig up the flower gardens. Our best layers we’re road island reds. Chickens will eat pretty much anything like a garbage disposal

With $8.17/18 = $0.45, A JBSLE costs 44444 eggs, to put this in perspective. Those hens better get to work!!!

We've had chickens for about 10 years now. This year looks like it's going to be tough to get the chicks you want as everybody is jumping on the chicken wagon since egg prices are high. The truth about raising chickens is that it's always going to be more expensive than just buying eggs, even if egg prices are high. Chicken feed, etc. has risen with inflation, some of it up 50% in just a couple years. Unless you can do it at scale, you'll never break even. The eggs are way better than store bought though so there's that.

Premade coops are garbage. Don't buy one. Build your own. Make it strong and weatherproof and consider weak points where predators can get inside. Build a burly fence while you're at it.

Chickens aren't really pets. You'll name them at first but after a couple years realize it doesn't matter. They're dirty and smelly and mean ("pecking order" is a saying for a reason and when you see a chicken scalp another and you have to glue the attacked chicken's head back together with super glue you'll understand). But they're not really much work either. Water and feed in the morning. Auto-timer coop. Clean them when things get gnarly (they don't care though).

To really get good results, you'll need to cull your chickens every year or two (commercial chickens are all culled after their first laying season) - some people eat them, but they're not very good for the most part unless you like soup. Most of the generic sexlink chickens lay great and are cold hardy, like black and red stars and americanas. Avoid all the fancy breeds if you just want layers, but if the kids want a couple exotic ones you can throw those in for fun (just don't get too attached because those ones are usually the first to meet untimely ends). I personally like to have a couple brahmas in with the good layers because they're just such beasts.

Also get ready for more death and killing stuff. For us it's raccoons which we trap and kill during the summer. They're very hard on chicks if you have them in a separate coop that's not bullet proof. Minks and foxes can also be problems but in my experience, not as much. And of course, the ultimate predator, as mentioned: the neighbor's dog(s). I've disappeared a couple dogs over the years that I caught killing chickens. Depending on your relationships with neighbors, that may or may not be a good move, but when you're going into fall and there's a dog killing your layers, yeah... terminated.

Good luck with your chickens z

You left out the letter ‘z’

Added it for you, smart guy.