Backyard Chickens, good idea or bad idea?

[Rerun]

NIMBY ... or hopefully my neighbors either.

[Suzles]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

I want to meet the guy who first had the idea that eating unborn chicken fetuses was a good thing.

Only if there is a cockerel around and they are fertilised. Chickens lay eggs anyway - more like a chicken period.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Really? We can do that?

I'm game.

[Jedi Ninja]

So, 16 people have voted yes so far, must be a lot of people logged on from Edmonton today.

[Barnes]

Edit: quoted to fast.

Mmm..

Poached chicken period on english muffin.

Brinner tonight at my house.

[4X4]

My thoughts:

1. It seems a bit odd that Suzles thanked the post about free range chicken eggs tasting better.

2. I'd be a terrible chicken farmer because I'd just keep eating the bird that feeds me.

3. I've always wanted to witness, in real life, the whole "chicken with it's head cut off" thing.

[RougeUnderoos]

Okay we all know I'm pretty dumb so I'm going to ask a dumb question...

Chickens are "outside chickens", right? Well what kind of a structure do you have to build to keep your "outside chickens" alive between Labor Day and the Queen's birthday? It gets pretty cold out there in between them there holidays.

Would it work to empty the hot tub, leave the heater on all winter and put the chickens inside and then put the cover back on? Maybe put a reading light in there or something for them to look around? Would that keep them alive?

[Poison]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Okay we all know I'm pretty dumb so I'm going to ask a dumb question...

Chickens are "outside chickens", right? Well what kind of a structure do you have to build to keep your "outside chickens" alive between Labor Day and the Queen's birthday? It gets pretty cold out there in between them there holidays.

Would it work to empty the hot tub, leave the heater on all winter and put the chickens inside and then put the cover back on? Maybe put a reading light in there or something for them to look around? Would that keep them alive?

Im not sure why everyone is overthinking this winter problem, once it gets cold you go grab the cleaver, problem solved.

[CaptainCrunch]

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Okay we all know I'm pretty dumb so I'm going to ask a dumb question...

Chickens are "outside chickens", right? Well what kind of a structure do you have to build to keep your "outside chickens" alive between Labor Day and the Queen's birthday? It gets pretty cold out there in between them there holidays.

Would it work to empty the hot tub, leave the heater on all winter and put the chickens inside and then put the cover back on? Maybe put a reading light in there or something for them to look around? Would that keep them alive?

When I was growing up on a farm, we had ours wintering in a simple coop with no heating. Just take the ice off the water dish every morning. They were very low maintenance. That's assuming they're all adult, of course.

And honestly, few things from childhood were as fun memories as when one of the cardboard boxes would arrive from the Co-op filled with 24 squeaking little yellow day-old chicks. When you've got the young-uns, a heating lamp is really important, as even in springtime you'll lose a few to hypothermia.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Taste isnt really the issue. Cost is. Also environment, they will have to use more electricity to heat the "barn" in winter. That just adds more CO2 to our atmosphere. Thanks but no thanks. There are farmers markets where you can buy the eggs if you want orange eggs.

The reason the yolks are yellow has nothing to do with free range. It has to do with once the egg is hatched in a barn its taken away from the hen and heated so that the hen can lay even more eggs. I have had eggs from a chicken barn and they have been orange so I dont think that free range has anyhting to do with the color. The diet and supplements used might have something to do with it.

Wrong. What a chicken eats has a lot to do with the color of the yolks of an egg. In fact, at one time, people never liked dark yolks, so then chickens were kept indoors and fed a completely dry grain diet.

When chickens are outside, eating grass, eating vegetable scraps and the like, they get dark yolks.

This is no different than the color of butter. When cows are kept indoors and only have a diet of dried hay, grains etc, the butterfat from the milk produces a nearly white butter.

On the other hand, when cows are on fresh green grass, the butterfat from the milk will produce butter that is quite yellow.

The taste of the eggs, milk, butter can be influenced by what is eaten by the animal as well. There is a reason a common annual weed is called "stink" weed.

That is the name farmers use because if a cow eats quite a bit of stink weed, you can smell it in the milk and taste it as well.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by octothorp

When I was growing up on a farm, we had ours wintering in a simple coop with no heating. Just take the ice off the water dish every morning. They were very low maintenance. That's assuming they're all adult, of course.

And honestly, few things from childhood were as fun memories as when one of the cardboard boxes would arrive from the Co-op filled with 24 squeaking little yellow day-old chicks. When you've got the young-uns, a heating lamp is really important, as even in springtime you'll lose a few to hypothermia.

Chickens might "survive" without heat, but that is about all. When chickens are not housed in some facility that has heat at a constant temperature, their bodies compensate and shut down. That is just nature protecting the chicken so most bodily functions go to keeping it alive.

So then, yes, the chicken might "live" under those conditions, but you won't get eggs on a very regular basis whatsoever. Egg laying becomes very sporadic and under very cold conditions, ceases completely. And in that case, why would one keep chickens in our climate, when you will only get egg production for half the year, unless you provide warm living conditions for the winter?

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by jammies

Have you ever been to a chicken farm? Chickens are the stupidest, smelliest birds on the planet. Every time I eat a chicken wing I am doing God's work by eliminating another one of these feathered vermin.

What kind of chicken farm are we talking? Laying hens? Roasters? Free range chickens? A small flock on a typical family farm or acreage? I do agree, chickens are disgusting and I would not want anything to do with them myself. But If somebody had a pair of chickens in their backyard. I don't think that would be any worse than a neighbor with a large dog with a loud bark. Still, I think the idea of having chickens in your backyard in the city is insane.

[DOK]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Would it work to empty the hot tub, leave the heater on all winter and put the chickens inside and then put the cover back on? Maybe put a reading light in there or something for them to look around? Would that keep them alive?

How, exactly, do you think hot tubs work?

And I wanted to add, '-a-doodle-don't, even though they don't -a-doodle-doo'. Probably the wittiest thing I've said on cp yet.

[Gozer]

[Boblobla]

Gobbles

[Methanolic]

PuhhhLeeeez!


"I got the chickens so I have food, that's why I got them, and I have three kids and it's hard to feed three kids. Everybody knows that ".

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome


This Woman sounds like one of those "high maintenance" neighbours.

[Boblobla]

March is getting a lot of support from a group known as CLUCK which is the Calgary Liberated Urban Chicken Klub.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

CLUCK?

Klub?

LAAAAAAAME

[I-Hate-Hulse]

People often hate City Hall for all the seemingly nanny state regulations that come out of it. The unfortunate fact is, they're not writing it for average citizens, but for the lowest common denominator, of which this lady is a member of.

There's nothing like serving as Condo board president to really destroy your faith in humanity.

To be fair, maybe this lady knows how to raise non smelling quiet chickens. I guarantee there'll be someone that goes and gets a Rooster that wakes the neighborhood at the crack of dawn. Or goes and gets 50 chickens. Or doesn't clean the cage.

[driveway]

I like the idea.