Should You Buy Chickens?

I am editing this for April of 2020. With the Corona Virus upon us, a lot of people are considering getting their own chickens. As someone who's had them since 2001, I have some thoughts on this.

The first thing you need to know is, owning your own chickens will not save you money. Not at all. Not on eggs, not on meat. Just walk away if you're thinking that. It will cost you lots of money at first, and more than the food would cost down the road. My grandfather had chickens (as did his father) and my grandmother used to quip about "The $10,000 Eggs" he'd get. But if you're sure you don't care about the cost, read on. Also remember, you can find a farmer near you from whom to buy eggs at Local Harvest.

There are two basic types of people who own chickens: those who treat them as pets, and those who treat them as livestock.

Of course, there's a lot of grey in there, it's not all black and white. But if you boil it down, that's what you get. Most people who breed chickens seriously treat them as livestock. I am one of those. If you ever catch me kissing a chicken or putting a diaper or sweater on it you will know I've gone 'round the bend and should have my keys taken away.

But either way, there are some cold hard truths that people need to face before they get poultry. And the main one is, what will I do when a chicken needs to be culled?

There's that word, culling. It means, bluntly, usually, to put to death. To remove from the breeding pool. To kill.

And if you own chickens, sooner or later, you're going to have to kill one (or more, more likely, as time goes on.)

There are very few vets who deal with chickens, and the ones who do, generally don't know as much as the seasoned poultry breeder does about the birds. Poultry health is typically not something vets learn in university, and for the most part, most of the medications breeders use on chickens are off-label, as there just aren't that many developed for chickens.

I don't know who said it originally, but I'm pretty sure it was poultry judge and longtime breeder Matt Lhamon who quipped to me early on in my chicken adventures "The best cure for a sick chicken is an axe." And sadly, it's true.

Chickens are peculiar. When they become ill, they hide it very well until they are very ill, and close to death. So once a chicken starts showing signs of illness, they are usually too far gone to do anything about.

As well, there's the problem of the law of averages when it comes to hatching chicks. Give or take, about half of the chicks that hatch will be males. And unfortunately, most people don't need a flock of half males and half females for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that a lot of males will fight each other, sometimes to death. I find a good ratio of males to females is about 1 male to every 8 or so females. So then you have to decide, what will I do with all those extra males?

You can try to sell them of course, or give them away, but if you do it's likely they'll wind up being killed anyway to make dinner for someone. No one wants a yard full of cockerels as pets. And I prefer to keep my extra males and eat them myself.

So ideally, before a person gets chickens, they need to ask themselves, "Will I be able to kill a chicken when the time comes?"

If you can't answer that question with a yes, then you shouldn't get chickens, in my opinion. Of course, your mileage may vary, and I am sure there are lots of people who get chickens who don't ever kill one. I suppose a vet, paid enough money, will euthanize a chicken, but I know I've never gone that route. But over time that would get relatively expensive, and isn't a really practical way to go.

I encourage friends who have the space for them to get chickens, I think it's a great thing for kids to learn about animal husbandry, and nothing beats an egg warm from the hen when it comes to taste. But anyone thinking about it should also be sure they can answer that question. Because sooner or later, the time will come when you'll have to kill a chicken.

Shipping Chicks - Baby Chickens in the Mail

For the past five years or so I've shipped day-old Buckeye chicks all across the US, about 400 or so a year.

This year I'm taking off, for several reasons, and encouraging others to pick up the baton and run with it, to get some of their lines out there. One of those is my friend Sharon Fildes, who lives in Ohio, and who has a ton of various rare breeds of poultry and waterfowl. She also has some great Buckeyes, in both large fowl and bantam. And this year she's ramping up to hatch and ship a lot of large fowl Buckeye chicks at a very reasonable price.

She has a Facebook Page you should check out: S.M. Fildes Rare and Endangered Poultry, which she's still working on, but which will soon have her price list and photos of her Buckeyes. You can also email her to get on her waiting list, the time to do so is now if you want chicks in the spring! You can also find other breeders of Buckeyes on the American Buckeye Poultry Club website.

And for those of you who haven't shipped chicks before because you weren't sure what it entailed, I encourage you to do so. It's much more efficient and cost-effective than shipping hatching eggs, due mostly to the damage eggs receive during shipment which prevents them from hatching. If done right, shipping chicks is safe, easy, and gives one a much better base of stock to work with.

When I ship chicks I buy several items from Cutler Supply: 25 chick shipping boxes, sisal mat box liners, heater pads to ensure the chicks stay warm, and Grow Gel Plus, which keeps the chicks hydrated during their journey (I usually buy the larger bag of it to ensure I have enough in each box.)

Where I put the heater pad depends on what the temperature is out when I ship - when it's very cold I will put it on top of the sisal mat, when it's warmer I put it underneath the mat. But I always use one, as you never know where a box of chicks will wind up. I stop shipping in early June, as it's too hot to do so by then here in KY.

That's really all you need. Oh, that and a spreadsheet to keep track of your wait list, which if anyone wants they can send me a message and I'll be happy to share the one I have made up so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Your next step is to get your birds into breeding pens, make sure they're getting a good quality breeder ration, and collect eggs several times a day (eggs which get too cold lose fertility.) Do a test hatch or two to make sure your fertility rates are good, then hatch away!

I like to set hatches on a Monday afternoon or early evening, which means the majority of the chicks are hatched out by 21 days later, ready to ship by a Tuesday. I don't ship on Mondays, because there's often a lot of mail going out on Mondays and I want the birds to get where they're going with no delay.

I always ship chicks via Express Mail. It's just not worth it to to me to take the chance with Priority Mail, although I know some folks do. I generally include the cost of the shipping in the per chick price, so it's a flat rate for everyone.

I also have a roll of Express Mail tape that I convinced my local USPS to give me (they're really great in Grant County!) and I use that to put the boxes together. Once the chicks are hatched they get popped in the box and off to the PO I go.

I know some people print postage labels online, and while I do that for work, I'm more comfortable having the Posties do my labels for chicks, although I do get copies ahead of time and fill them out before I go. I also have some plastic envelopes that I use to attach the NPIP paperwork right on the box, in case the state to which I am shipping requires it.

Be sure to get the phone number of the person to whom you are shipping, as Express Mail labels require it, and then call or email the buyer to let them know when you shipped and what the tracking number is. That way they can be sure to make arrangements to either pick the chicks up at their local PO or to be home for delivery. Its generally easier on the chicks for the buyer to pick them up, just tell them let their local Postmaster know they have chicks coming and they will get a call once the box arrives.

That's really all there is to it folks. Easier than it seems, and a great way to get your customers the birds they're clamoring for. If you have any questions, send me an email, or stop by the Facebook Page for the American Buckeye Poultry Club and give me a shout, happy to help!

Spring has sprung!

I've been seeing signs of an early spring this year, although I am somewhat behind with farm chores. Spring is a time of mixed emotions for me, as it's when my mom died suddenly four years ago, but it's also my favorite time of year. Spring brings thoughts of newness: new livestock babies gamboling in the fields, new chicks hatching in the incubator, new grass and flowers sending up shoots. But since Mom died, spring has also been a time of ending, which is hard to correlate with how I normally have thought about the season.

Be that as it may, spring has sprung, and life goes along tickety-boo here at the farm. The hens have finally started laying more, (I don't put lights on my large fowl birds to stimulate their production) and I've set some hatches, better later than never I suppose.

The grass has started growing in the yard and pastures, and soon James and I will have our annual disagreement about when we should start to mow. I like to start early, to avoid having it get too high and not being able to mulch. James likes to wait, as he feels once you start to mow, the grass grows much faster, and you have to mow all the time. I am not convinced that mowing makes the grass grow faster, just dunno about that.

And this year, for the first time since before the girls were born, we're going to plant a vegetable garden! We had one when we lived in Saskatoon before the girls were born. We grew all sorts of things that year, including tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, all sorts of lettuce, potatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkins, melons, the works.

At any rate, this year I purchased some wonderful organic seeds for heirloom tomatoes through Local Harvest, from their listee Happy Cat Organics, and was lucky enough to win the seeds for free during LC's birthday celebration! I'm working on finding some nice, organic seed potatoes, as those are the two things we want to focus on this year, other than the obligatory sweet corn, of course.

Not sure how we'll keep the local deer/raccoon population out of the garden. I've considered planting it right next to the goat pen, where Toby the Anatolian Shepherd Dog lives, but that area doesn't get as much sunlight as I'd like. I do have some extra electric poultry netting I might try, normally I use it in the chicken pens, but it might work around a garden. We'll see.

DD#2 and I recently discussed getting back into goats, which has been very tempting, especially since seeing the kids born to friends, especially the cute buckling born to my soaping friend, who runs Simply Eden, where you can see pics of her goaties. But James put the kibosh on that, which is probably a good thing, as I don't really have time to do dairy these days, especially if I'm adding a garden. Maybe some other year...

Not much new going on here other than the usual spring stuff, which is pretty well typified by one of my favorite New Yorker magazine cartoons, which can be seen HERE. Well, enough blathering here in this blog, off to get some work done!