I’m thinking of buying chickens because organic eggs are too expensive. Thoughts, suggestions?
Question by Susy: I’m thinking of buying chickens because organic eggs are too expensive. Thoughts, suggestions?
I have some questions like:
What kind of food do they eat?
Will they be ok at very low temperatures (-10° f)?
What other things should I do to take care of them besides building a coop?
Any other suggestions would be great!
Give your answer to this question below!
You are confusing organic with “free range” which means they have a great life roaming outside. Organic doesn’t mean they have a good quality of life it just means they are fed on organic chicken food with no GM products etc. If you want “organic” eggs you cannot feed your chickens on regular chicken food. Organic chicken food costs a fortune this is why the eggs are so expensive!
Look keeping chickens is hard work & even normal layers food is expensive do you realise that? You need a large predator proof enclosure with a secure wooden coop, you have to be around every single day to let them out, feed them & shut them up for the night. If you have -10F (-23C) then they will get frost bite & die unless you keep them in a heated coop. Their water will freeze within 10 minutes of you putting it out.
Just buy regular free range eggs this means the hens have a good life & freedom to roam but are not necessarily fed on organic feed. If you really do want chickens then look into it carefully, they can live for 10 years & believe you me they are a tie in that your life does tend to revolve around their care & well-being, no more holidays without getting a “chicken-sitter” Check out this website http://www.backyardchickens.com/
Trust Me I'm a Doctor ♥
February 14, 2014 at 3:27 pm
I found this site a month ago and am recommending it to all chicken fans.
This site has free PDF downloadable books about Chicken care and health, to download just tap the book and wait for the download to finish and scroll down to the bottom of the pages and hit the save and put it somewhere in your computer to read later. These books are on sale at feed stores or online at amazon for about $ 20. so this is a good deal. The Chicken Health handbook by Gail Damerow is consider the best there is to diagnose and treat health problem in chickens- and you can get your copy free- (I had to buy mine brand new about a decade ago).
http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Food…
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/home-garden/Hobby-Farming/Raising-Chickens.html
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-raise-backyard-chickens-in-your-city-the-basics-of-raising-chickens
the above site is great and has a blog site that will not cost you points and has great responsive people – i joined.
http://www.almanac.com/blog/raising-chickens/raising-chickens-101-how-get-started
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/03/26/how-to-raise-backyard-chickens/
http://www.richsoil.com/raising-chickens.jsp
really in depth on coop or other ways to house chickens
http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Chickens-in-a-City
http://www.chickencoop.org/
http://www.buildingachickencoop.com/?hop=davyusa
basic info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=PIMUhSMY0aM&feature=endscreen
There are tons more every month online- you do not need to come to yahoo questions and wait for answers that cost you points and this site really has too little words allowed to answer in depth. Just go online and type in -how to raise chickens – and over 10 pages come up. Or -how to make homemade chicken feeders- and pages come up. Almost every thing you need to know to make cheap homemade stuff – like coops, chicken nest boxes, Feed, etc is online.
Hope this helps
Grandma Laura
February 14, 2014 at 4:21 pm
Raising your own will cost more than buying from the store or farmers market but the eggs will be much better than store bought (but the same as what you will find at a farmers market). First off you have to find certified organic feed which runs around $ 0.75 a pound or more and very few places carry it. I know you can order it from TSC for around $ 1.50 a pound in 25 pound sacks. If you are not feeding organic feed than you are feeding the birds GMO’s and probably some medications as most conventional chicken feed is medicated. You will need a coop that will keep dogs, raccoons, foxes, owls, etc., out.
You will have to deal with them 7 days a week/365 days a year which means if you want to go on vacation you must find a chicken sitter (not easy to do).
as long as the coop is dry and free from drafts most heavy breeds can take cold down to -25F but there is the danger of combs getting frost bitten and falling off. I would put a heat lamp in the coop if it was going below zero at night to keep the girls reasonably warm.
You will need a small coop, waterers, feeders and fencing to put around the coop so they can roam a bit. Do not let them range without human supervision or they will destroy flower beds and other vegetation you want to keep intact
Ohiorganic
February 14, 2014 at 5:15 pm