Do you keep any backyard chickens?

[mysteryowl]

I am wondering how popular this is?

Are you experiencing any avian bird flu?

[elleng]

1. No, but my daughter did; they had a small 'farm,'

chickens, goats, ducks; then they moved to the river, so disposed of the animals.

No bird flu.

[mysteryowl]

2. Would that be considered a "hobby farm"?

My mom had a hobby farm with little horses and peacocks and more.
I still have a huge bunch of peacock feathers! They fall off, no pain for the bird!

[elleng]

5. Maybe a 'hobby farm.'

We all ate the eggs, and she milked the goats.

WOW that you have peacock feathers.

[mysteryowl]

8. a couple hundred!

I keep them in a beautiful tall vase.

[Ocelot II]

3. I know several people who do.

One is just around the corner from me - they've got five chickens in a backyard coop. Urban chickens have become kind of a thing but I haven't heard anything about bird flu, which is likely to be more of a problem in industrial poultry farms. The chicken keepers I know love their chickens, and one of them has a gorgeous rooster, but it sounds like a lot of work to me.

[mysteryowl]

7. Yep, that part.

a lot of work!

[Chipper Chat]

9. I once raised chickens in my garage.

They were Leghorn's not known for their friendliness. But one particular hen became my pet. I named her Mister Bumble. In the summer every morning at 6am she would sit below my bedroom window and cluck until I would get up and let her in the window. She loved taking baths in the kitchen sink. I was heartbroken when a racoon killed her one night.

[Dave in VA]

4. Not me, but

my nephew and his wife have 6 hens. They and their boys love them like pets. They live in suburbia and the hens live in a chicken "mansion" in the backyard.

[mysteryowl]

6. chicken mansion!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. My buddy built one of those.

He kept calling me bouncing ideas off me for roofing a checkered tile floors.

When it was all built I think he had $1500 bucks in it. I said congratulations you paid $5 bucks an egg!

[markie]

10. yes

never had any disease problems

[MissB]

11. I have a backyard flock

Large coop, 11 hens. Several are quite old and don’t lay eggs anymore. They live out their retirement with no obligations other than to provide company.

This time of year I tend to get 6-8 eggs a day. I have two siblings and a niece that live close, so they get dozens a week. I used to take them into work to share with coworkers but we went remote.

Minimal work. No bird flu here.

[UTUSN]

12. I don't know whether fast-food take-out counts.

[targetpractice]

13. Joyce Vance (MSNBC Legal Analyst) does...

... She has lots of pictures on her instagram... They are crazy looking, really long feathers.

[Patterson]

14. Does it pay off, egg-wise?

[mysteryowl]

15. Not for the chicken

[3catwoman3]

16. My husband's daughter has a few.

Her brother has named them Florentine, Marsala, Primavera, Alfredo and so forth.

[TomSlick]

17. If you live in town, check local ordinances before you buy any chickens.

Even if the local government does not enforce its laws, the neighbors may sue to abate a nuisance.

[Hekate]

24. The usual unofficial limit for a backyard flock seems to be 4 hens. Apparently neighbors seldom...

… complain about that number. Never get a rooster, though.

[TomSlick]

27. Every local ordinance will be different.

Check the local ordinance before spending any money.

[TlalocW]

18. My sister and bro-in-law did

They also had a quasi-tamed tabby cat who became good friends with their rooster. Unfortunately, some coyotes got the cluckers.

If I get a house, along with keeping bees, I'll have chickens. And I'll use this educational film as a basis for everything I do.

TlalocW

[Phoenix61]

19. I don't but I want a Silkie sooo bad.

[Coventina]

20. I really want to, but I have too many predators in my neighborhood.

[sakabatou]

21. One of my counselors does. She has several chickens.

[Hekate]

23. I was gifted 4 hens when my daughter evacuated from a wildfire, & I fell in love with them...

They were easy to keep, curious and friendly. They lived quite a few years, and kept laying except during the winter. They produced too many eggs for just my husband and me, so he would give them away to the neighbors — amazingly, nobody ever complained about us having chickens!

We built a coop for them to sleep in safely, and would latch its door at sunset every night. We had a fenced-in side yard that I turned over to them. I found that if they had access to the whole back yard they laid their eggs wherever, and also ate every single bit of greenery that was tender. I had a lot of potted herbs & didn’t want them denuded.

I was hoping to start another little flock when we moved, but I found our new neighborhood was solidly in the wildland/urban interface, and they would be in constant danger of coyotes, bobcats, and gods know what else even during the daytime.

But I enjoyed the years we had them.

[Hekate]

25. DU used to have a forum that included backyard flocks & I can no longer find it. Dang.

[Marthe48]

26. My daughter does

So far, they are healthy. She is keeping an eye on the situation.