Pros & Cons of Raising Chicks
Buckeye - March 24, 2009
Lots of people, especially people who raise chickens in the city and so don’t have access to barns wired for electricity where they can plug in heat lamps, choose to buy pullets rather than raise their own baby chicks. We bought chicks mostly because I stubbornly insisted on having at least 2 Buckeyes in our flock and getting them half-grown is not always possible. We also wanted the experience of doing it…and we love animals, especially cute fuzzy ones.
Buckeye - 11 Weeks
Before you decide to raise your own chicks I really suggest having a good reason to do so. If you would be happy with a flock of more common (easy to find) breeds or breeds that you know will be available when you want them you might save yourself weeks of unnecessary work, quite a bit of extra expense and just plan on ordering pullets. Pullets, by the way, are young female chickens.
It was about 2 months before the chicks were out of our house and into their coop…and this is definitely something to think about. When they are fuzzy little babies (up until about 5 weeks) they are fairly low-maintenance. Once they hit about 6 weeks they start to smell really bad…and they are much bigger so if your brooder isn’t big enough (ours barely made the cut) they will be crowded and potentially start pecking.
Finally, the cost, including building brooders and cages for them, supplies and food ended up being somewhere around $200…and we used almost all salvaged material for their brooder…but we did have to buy a heat lamp, feeder & waterer (chick sized; they can fall in the big ones and drown), bedding (cedar chips), food. Not to mention the time we put into it which, as I mentioned before, we love animals so it wasn’t a problem…except the times I was late for work because I had to clean up the cage when they spilled their water, etc.
Silver-Laced Wyandottes - 11 Weeks
We ordered our chicks from Meyer Hatchery with the intention of driving to pick them up (so we could also detour to Lehman’s for some shopping). The day we were supposed to pick them up, however, they weren’t ready. So. We had them sent the old fashioned way – by post. There are lots of opportunities to get chickens more locally (just do a search on craigslist toward the end of March) but, as I said before, we wanted Buckeyes and Meyer Hatchery had good comments on backyardchickens.com.
One good thing about getting chicks from a reputable hatchery is that you won’t be getting inbred pullets with deformities or other problems. If you are planning on raising organic chickens you will have control over what they are fed and be able to avoid the vaccines they’ll get at large farms. You can choose any breed you want and choose a breed that is well-suited to the climate where you live.
Americauna - 11 Weeks
I just thought I’d mention all this because our neighbor bought pullets for 8 dollars each…she saved money and time by doing this and her chickens are beautiful and healthy. So before you order day-old chicks (or, if you are even more adventurous, eggs to hatch) realize that it is fun…but it is WORK. Next summer we want to get a rooster so our hens can do their own baby-raising! Cute and no stinky chickens in our house…not that it won’t be worth it…especially once the girls are laying more eggs than we can eat! At this point the chickens require less time and effort than our dog, they are definitely less likely to scratch the furniture than the cats are…and they are the only “pets” that will be contributing anything concrete to the household.
Aren’t the girls lovely, though! It seems so long ago when they were those cute fuzzy things, now that they are old enough to gather at the gate whenever a human approaches, knowing that they will be fed some nice greens or fat, wriggly protein! Well worth the work and attention.
I know exactly what you mean. My chicks are 6 weeks old and they are getting BIG (and a bit stinky for our bathroom!) and it will still be a long time before we get any eggs! I had the same thought that the next time around, I will probably opt for grown pullets. We bought six “day-old” pullets from Mount Healthy Hatchery and one turned out to be a rooster. He is a Partridge Rock and very tame and sweet, just like a cat. I love him, but we can’t keep him. He is available for adoption if you are interested! I’m in Northside.
Oooh…I DO want a rooster! But I don’t know about the noise or how well he would be accepted by the girls…they are a close-knit group
Why can’t you keep him? & how can you tell he is a rooster already? We have one that we’re still wondering about at 11 weeks!
That’s fabulous that you are keeping chickens in Northside! You shouldn’t have to keep them in too much longer. I think we put our chickens outside between 6 and 8 weeks? I’d have to look back to see exactly. We had to keep them in longer than expected b/c it was still so cold at night. They LOVE being outside now.
We can’t keep him because I am sure that our neighbors would not be very happy to hear a rooster crowing (if they could even hear it over the loud traffic noise and lawnmowers!) But if we could, I would definitely keep him because he is just so lovable. Even though he is only six weeks, it is glaringly obvious that he is a little roo. He has a big red comb and little wattles, huge feet, an iridescent sheen to his feathers, and he has a sort of bulldog stance. He’s sweet though, and does not bully the other chicks at all.
We are so ready to have them outside but our hen house is not yet finished (yikes) but I have been taking them out on nice days to free range which they love. They are so much fun, I am so glad we got them. It just seems “right”, you know? (Except when guests needs to use the bathroom, I have to say “Oh, sorry, please excuse the chickens”)
I’ve been meaning to comment on this for a while and just haven’t done it! I have a brooder of 20 chicks that are now 7 weeks old. It was fun to brood the chicks, but I am not sure I want to do it again. I think I will let the chickens do it themselves from now on. If I lived somewhere that I could not keep a rooster, I might consider brooding chicks again, but I’m really hoping to not have to do that.
I will say that I am also glad we started out small. Brooding 6 chicks was pretty easy (and less smelly). The 20 chicks eat way more, haven’t been handled as much, and do make more smell. They are outside now in the brooder, but they need way more space so I have to figure something out to get us from brooder to free ranging as they are too small to free range with the big chickens.
I raise canaries, but when my son’s kindergarten class brooded chicks and it was time to “send them home” with someone, I couldn’t resist! We started with two. They are about 3 weeks old now. One has rather large beefy legs and feet, so it may be a rooster. Oh boy. Can’t keep a loud rooster here at our house. Luckily we have friends that will likely take him. My husband and I went to our local feed-store today and came home with 3 sexed female chicks. I just can’t come home empty handed! We educated ourselves on the better choices for egg layers. I would love fresh eggs. Can’t kill them for meat. These sweeties are pets, too! My canaries are now indoors, so I have a huge walk-in aviary the chickens will live in outside. Need to build a coop inside it. We will be adding a little door that will lead to a large contained run for them to peck and scratch in. So far the older 2 chicks love being outside in the aviary on nice days. They sunbathe too! Haven’t experienced the “smell” yet. Maybe having fewer chicks helps that…Loving chickens:>