Chickens?

[Fluffy_Guinea]

Well I have wondered this for a while and decided to ask I know a few people have chickens and if you let their eggs hatch would that be considered breeding or only if you let their eggs hatch? Sorry If I'm being thick but I'm just curious.

[TX_2_Pigs]

Yes that is breeding. So yes I breed chickens. We mostly use our hens for eggs, but we do have a couple roosters. We let our chickens free range and unless we pen up the roosters, they will do their business. We collect the eggs everyday so even though they are fertile, they won't hatch because they don't get incubated. Most of the time, if we get a hen that wants to sit, we will put a day or two's eggs under her and let her hatch them off. Right now though, we have enough hens and (more than enough) roosters, so we don't intend to let them sit.

We have 5 acres in the country so we have to contend with coyotes and hawks. We lose chickens during the day to the hawks since we let them roam around and catch bugs. That makes for better tasting eggs. Not all the chickens go back into the coup at night to be shut up and protected from the coyotes. In fact, we just lost one the other night.

[ellenvega]

When we had chickens we forced them back into the coop at night, whether they liked it or not. Way too many wild critters who would kill a chicken if given half a chance.

[Maisiepaisie]

TX 2 Pigs would it not be possible to put chicken wire or something similiar over the area they roam? Maybe chicken wire wouldn't be strong enough to protect from hawks, I don't know, but its better than nothing. It sounds like the chickens are very vunerable to predators.

[Jennicat]

Chickens, unfortunately, are very vulnerable to predation. I think of them a lot like guinea pigs... not a lot of natural defenses, and plump for whatever wants to come after them.

My mom and stepdad have been going through hoops trying to keep their chickens safe. They shut them up at night, but have had raccoons successfully avoid electric fences, and then reach through the holes in their coops and kill them that way. Hawks have also managed to come inside the building their coops are in and kill then through what I would consider very fine wire.

[thalestral]

I'm just wondering why breeding chickens is okay, when breeding guinea pigs is not?

Is this a livestock versus pets issue?

[FoolOnTheHill]

Yes I guess it is breeding after all you are choosing to allow the eggs to become fertile and hatch.

I don't think there's anything wrong with breeding chickens...they're not overpopulated, aren't sold by pet stores, breeders are usually enthusiastic and care for their chickens, they probably won't be bought for children like guinea pigs and other small animals are.

[TX_2_Pigs]

Once we let them out of the coop they have 5 acres to roam. We want them to have access to all of the property not just whatever limited amount we decide to fence off. Five acres with a chicken wire roof would just not be feasible.

If it isn't a complete enclosure there will always be something that can get them. If it is a complete enclosure, regardless of how large, I don't consider that free range.

We used to try to get all of the chickens back in the coop, but have you ever chased a chicken? There is always one or two chickens that absolutely refuse to go where you want them to.