# Do you like Chickens?



## Bretrick (Oct 21, 2022)

Do you keep chickens for eggs or as pets?
When I lived on 5 acres I had a dozen Australorp Chickens.
An Australian bred chicken adapted from the British Black Orpington.



The chickens would roam around the acreage and come running when I called them.
I loved to watch the chickens being chickens.
When chickens start to feel a little bit dirty, they will dig a shallow ditch in dry, loose materials, dirt, sand etc in which they will burrow and throw the dirt over themselves.
They will do this until the dirt has coated their feathers and is settled down to their skin- where it is believed to absorb excess moisture and oil, and clog the breathing pores of parasites that may have found their way onto the chicken. 
They will then stand up and shake out all the dirt.
Then they proceed to preen themselves before getting on with their usual chicken business.




I got too close to one of my chickens once and she pecked my eyeball, Bruising it for a few days..
Each chook laid an egg a day so I gave most them to my neighbours.


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## Llynn (Oct 21, 2022)

My Grandparents had a flock of chickens on their dairy farm. I helped feed and tend them, gathered eggs, and caught a hen as needed when my Grandmother had her stew pot ready.  I kind of like chickens and found them interesting to be around. They had Rhode Island Reds for meat and eggs and bantams for no earthly reason that I could ever determine.


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## NorthernLight (Oct 21, 2022)

I cared for chickens for a month while the owner was away. They were pretty cute, but a month was enough.


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## Jules (Oct 21, 2022)

NO!


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## Bella (Oct 21, 2022)

My neighbors used to have chickens, but I don't. As I've said in other "chicken" threads, I like chickens when they're protected from predators and properly housed and cared for. I prefer that the neighbor's chickens aren't turned loose to tear up my gardens, and I don't enjoy seeing that they've been slaughtered by predators on my lawn because the owners have let them run loose. Likewise, I don't think the chickens enjoy it either.


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## Alligatorob (Oct 21, 2022)

Bretrick said:


> Do you like Chickens?​


Yes, fried, bbq'd, and in gumbo!

Never had any desire to keep them myself, but don't mind if the neighbors do.  And I like buying fresh eggs from them.


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## Gary O' (Oct 21, 2022)

Bretrick said:


> The chickens would roam around the acreage and come running when I called them.


Chickens.......are.......hilarious 
They see you comin' with feed, their necks crane, all eyes on you, then they come a runnin'

We had one that was under some social pressure
Took awhile to lay her first egg
Finally, the day came
She had quite the strut around that egg
Clucked her hind end off
Funny thing, that egg was half chicken shit
Musta been quite the strain


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## CathyHorn (Oct 21, 2022)

I have chickens.  Several of them are older, over the age of 4 years.  All the rest are their offspring.  I get eggs but not a lot.  They eat all my food scraps, and are quite fun to watch.


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## HoneyNut (Oct 21, 2022)

I didn't like them when I was a kid and visited relatives and got sent into the hen-house to collect eggs.  I don't know if I wasn't provided sleeves and gloves or not properly taught/supervised, I just remember it as scary/dangerous.
But as an adult when my mom decided to buy a bunch of hens and sell eggs, I learned they have personalities and some are sweet (most all are, except some of the roosters).  And they are so cute when they are babies!


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## NorthernLight (Oct 21, 2022)

HoneyNut said:


> I didn't like them when I was a kid and visited relatives and got sent into the hen-house to collect eggs.  I don't know if I wasn't provided sleeves and gloves or not properly taught/supervised, I just remember it as scary/dangerous.


When the owner was showing me what to do, he reached for an egg and said, "They WILL peck you." I thought, "Oh no they won't." I got the eggs in the afternoons, when the chickens were all off their nests.

A few little bantam hens stayed in the nests. I gently pushed them off with a stick (the side of the stick, not the pokey end). 

I'm not going to get pecked for a freakin egg!


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## HoneyNut (Oct 21, 2022)

NorthernLight said:


> I got the eggs in the afternoons, when the chickens were all off their nests.


That was smart!  
I think (gee my memory is fading) that if there was a broody type that didn't get off her nest to run out for treats, that I'd cup my gloved hand around her face to distract her and have a barrier so she couldn't get a good peck at my other hand that would be sneaking under for the egg.


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## NorthernLight (Oct 21, 2022)

It was smart in a way, but also not. I had to do certain things at certain times (let the chickens in or out, etc). I should have been free in the afternoons. Getting the eggs in the afternoon meant I wasn't.


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## IKE (Oct 21, 2022)

Tried raising quail once and if chickens are anything like messing with them things I don't want nothing to do with them......constant care and more trouble than they were worth.

Now back to the original question which was........*Do you like chickens ?*

Why yes I happen to love chickens.


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## HoneyNut (Oct 21, 2022)

Llynn said:


> and bantams for no earthly reason that I could ever determine


Maybe they were freebies, whenever we got a shipment of chicks there would be some oddball freebies that we didn't know what we had until it got bigger.


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## Gary O' (Oct 21, 2022)

HoneyNut said:


> I didn't like them when I was a kid and visited relatives and got sent into the hen-house to collect eggs. I don't know if I wasn't provided sleeves and gloves or not properly taught/supervised, I just remember it as scary/dangerous.


Yeah, my gramma raised me
Had chickens
Lotsa eggs
When they quit laying, she'd snap their heads off
Fried chickin that night

One time she had a mess of 'em to off
Just raise 'em up by their necks, flip her wrist, and off their heads popped

Pretty freaky scary
three or four chickens running around with no heads
some right at me!
I was around the age of three

She got a real kick out of it


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## Aunt Mavis (Oct 21, 2022)

I have 8 or so grandchickens.


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## jujube (Oct 21, 2022)

Oh, yes !  Fried, baked, broiled, boiled, scrambled..........


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## Blessed (Oct 21, 2022)

My Mom was missing the end of one thumb right at the joint.  When we were old enough to understand she told us she had chopped it off killing a chicken.  This would be back in the late 30s or early 40s.  If a chicken quit laying it was soon in the pot or pan.  They were tenant farmers, if things, did not produce they would become dinner.  This was normal in the day. 

That said, my sister keeps chickens, just 2 or 3.  They are more pets.  They do enjoy the eggs, but would never harm them.  They are allowed to live out their normal lifes.   They love my sister, allow her to pick them up and sit in her lap for a rest. Mind you, my sister is a girly girl, but she is out there everyday, cleaning the coop, putting fresh bedding in for her girls.  That is the part that cracks me up.  She always wants to have hair and make up done and then goes to look after her chickens LOL.!!


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