Chickens…..the gateway animal?

You may have heard of chickens being referred to as the gateway animal. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s true. Chickens are an easy stepping stone into the farm animal world. When my wife first brought up the idea of raising some chickens I was caught completely off guard. I had raised some meat birds a couple of times growing up, but getting them for ourselves had never even crossed my mind. I remember my reaction being something to the effect of “What do you want to have chickens for?”. I sort of blew the idea off, but Lindsay kept bringing up the idea of getting a few egg layers for our own use. I also remember one of my arguments to Her was that “We don’t even eat many eggs!”, which was true. She kept hinting that she wanted them, and I kept thinking that it was stupid. The math didn’t make sense to me that I would buy chickens, build a coop, feed them, clean them, water them, and hire someone to watch them when we left town; when we probably only would use about 15 dozen eggs a year and we could buy them for $.99 on sale. My wife wanted me to spend hundreds of dollars to get about the $20 bucks worth of eggs we used each year, and that doesn’t even include our labor!  Even now, as I write this out, I’m amazed she talked me into it. She DID talk me into it though, she can be very persuasive…(I have got to remember that!). So, I agreed to getting a few hens, I think I went along with the idea figuring we could do it for a year or two and get it out of her system.

There is something you have to know about me though; when I decide to do something, there is no doing it half way, I am all in. We got some books and started researching online. We immersed ourselves in chickenology as only beginners can. I designed our first coop and built it with a lot of salvaged materials we got our hands on, and man was it ugly; but the chickens never complained (at least not to my face). We went down to a local store and purchased a few birds and kicked off our chicken adventure! We had planned to get about four birds, but after becoming “Internet Experts”, we bought 12 birds so we would have enough, in case of diseases or predators, we would have a few left for ourselves(we didn’t lose a single one).

I remember the first few nights after we brought the little chicks home we would just sit on a couple of stools and watch them. We were hooked! We went back to the store and bought four more. “What’s four more? They’re small.”and we had fun. We learned the ropes quick about what was really important. I have learned in life, when you first start something, you have no idea what you’re doing; you might think you know, but you don’t. The internet and books are great tools but nothing beats real life experience. We will share some of the “Dos and Don’ts” that we have learned from raising poultry some other time.

Getting those first chickens was really an eye opener,  we were already talking about adding ducks and maybe a goat was on the horizon. Chickens gave us the confidence to know we could raise livestock, and chickens showed us how much fun it can be. Chickens really are a gateway animal, they give you a little taste of farm life that leaves you craving for more. I know that chickens are not for everyone. Perhaps some who read this may have had them and are glad to be rid of them, but there are many homesteaders and hobby farmers that know exactly what I’m talking about. Let this be a warning to you, get chickens at your own risk; you do not know where you might end up. If someone told me that getting chickens would lead me down a series of life choices that would end with horse boarding for the Amish, miniature horse births, castrating bull calves, hatching quail eggs, and thinking of shearing sheep; I would never have believed it. The funny thing is, ten years ago that would have sounded awful to me and ridiculous; but now I love it, and can’t wait for what is next.

My encouragement at the end of this story would be for those of you who are thinking about getting a few hens… If you think it might be fun, but are overwhelmed and intimidated by it…..don’t be. It is not for everyone, but you can make it as simple or as complicated as you choose to. You can make caring for your chickens a part time job, or only 15 minutes a day, that is up to you. You don’t have to start big, you can start really small, and if you don’t like it, you can sell your birds and be done. So really what do you have to lose? Just remember chickens are the gateway animal.

– Daniel