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Calling All Chicken Owners - Chicken Survey

12 years ago

Hi fellow chicken owners. I'm writing a posting for my gardening blog on who owns chickens and why. I reached out to the USDA for information on this subject, but they haven't really collected any information on backyard chicken keepers.

If you own chickens, please let me know a little bit about how many you own and why by taking the Backyard Chicken Survey. It will only take a few minutes and I'd really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken Survey

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Comments (2)

velvet_sparrow
12 years ago
Took your survey! :)

To add to it--we keep our mixed flock of chickens as pets who happen to give eggs, and also they are great as little garbage disposals for table & garden scraps--which in turn gives us better eggs and chicken poop for the garden, which they also get a chance to 'till' at the end of the growing season. :) While ours are for entertainment/pets/eggs, when I was growing up we also had some for meat, which we killed & processed ourselves. Plucking chickens isn't high on my list of 'fun things to do' but I'm glad I know how--and home-grown meat tastes awesome and is far and away better for you. I admire people who raise their own animals for table.

Our daughter is now 12 and has been around chickens her whole life, her observing and participating in the life cycle (we hatch chicks every year and do our annual 'Chickam' webcast of the hatch & next 8 weeks of life 24/7 which has been VERY popular) has really helped her understand and better mesh with the world around her. As a side benefit it's also helped her with science projects and simplified 'Facts of Life' talks! Yay, roosters! :)

Velvet ~:>
nan_e_fan
12 years ago
I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger response to the original Query about backyard chickens. One thing I know the eggs are superior to any you can buy, and my chickens are easy to keep and are relatively quiet and clean (keep them off your porch). They wander the property during the day and kept in their coop at night(which they return to at dusk). They are smarter than one would think they would be. I have one who fully recognizes her name when called. All that is in question now is how they will get along with the young ducks I have when it's time for them to leave the adjacent coop and go out and about. One of my chickens actually hatched out one of the ducks but she couldn't keep up with it so I took it away and bought it a companion duckling at the feed store. Chickens are easy, just if you are going to let them out make sure it's a safe environment and if you or your neighbors have dogs,that will be a potential hazard you will have to factor in. Always lock the birds up safely at dusk (I learned the hard way).
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Control. It's about control. Breed specific legislation, government owned waterways, Real ID, EPA pollution legislation, gun control, terminator seeds & patented plants, shall I go on? Taxes, higher taxes will be needed to pay for these programs, how much more can our children's children bear? What of those on fixed income? What of those religeous groups? So many other arguments. If big ag want's it for export, let them bear the cost & responsibility. In the meantime, we keep importing inferior produce & meats for our tables, that don't have these guidelines. Go figure. Our food source is the safest in the world, can't say the same for imports. Sigh, will you not speak out before it's too late? Have we no backbone left? Have we become such a society of sheeples that we actually believe there will come some good from this? Goodness government is supposed to be working for us, not the corporations with the biggest donations & favors! I'm weary of this already. Godspeed to those who've seen the light, done their homework, & know what's coming. Thank you to each & every one of you. I'll stand with you, proudly. Brendasue
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OK, I'll give it a try. :) Your older chicks: The black one with the silly white poof on it's head is a White Crested Black Polish. The fluffy white bird in the same pictures with it appears to be a Brahma or possibly a Cochin, although it looks too tall in the shank of the leg to be a Cochin. The gray/white striped bird in the turkey pics is a Barred Rock or Dominique, the bird with the 'eyeliner' in the same pic is an Americaunas, the other reddish bird could be a Cinnamon Brown or a Red Star. With your baby chicks, the light colored one with the feathered feet (Clementine) looks like a Cochin, the other one with the chipmunk stripes (Hazel) in an Americaunas. Gertrude looks like a Australorp or a Jersey Giant. Penny looks to possibly be a Rhode Island Red, but she also has big fluffy cheeks like a Buff Orpington--but not the gigantic feet of one. Hmmmm...... feathersite.com has tons of chicken pics by breed, with baby chick pics that might help you really nail these little guys down. Enjoy your chicks! :) Velvet ~:>
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Comments (23)
I grew up on a farm, and we had chickens also - just for the eggs. It was scary sometimes collecting eggs because I would frequently find cottonmouth snakes in the barn, and they are very dangerous. I liked the chickens when I was very young and used to chase them around to pet them. Of course they didn't like being caught, but I would chase them until they got tired and gave up. I didn't name them because they were all white, and I couldn't tell them apart. After we no longer had chickens, a couple of wild (or loose) peacocks (one peacock and one peahen) decided to move into the empty chicken coop. The peacock moved in first and was a bit neurotic because he wasn't getting enough attention, and so he would strut for anything with a pair of eyes, including my agoraphobic cat, whom he terrorized whenever I took him outside. The cat was named Tina, but that was before I found out he was a male. He was married to my other cat Eichendorff, whom I called "Ike" for short, although I had to have the marriage annulled. Lars
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Thanks, Teresa, I don't think I've ever seen a chicken pie recipe without vegetables, that looks really interesting and efficient, because Bud and Makayla wouldn't have to pick out the pieces of veggies, LOL. Ruthanna, the chicken pudding looks good, I'm going to try a couple of these as meals when Elery's family comes. I'll have 11 visitors for 5 days over the 4th of July weekend, so I'm going to have to find things that I can bake ahead or multiply to get enough servings. The following week is Fair Week too, so Bud and Makayla are spending the night tomorrow night, the fair entries will just have to be baked and frozen, then thawed for the fair. (shrug) Just as well, they're getting too complacent about all those ribbons every year, make 'em work at it this time! Ryse, where are you that you need to move to Tennessee for a better climate? I live in North/West Michigan and I really like to process chickens in the fall, far fewer flies and I don't rush so much to get the birds on ice like I do when it's warmer here. sleevendog, the traffic cones actually worked pretty well, but they weren't quite deep enough. Hey, I'm creative! I didn't have enough room to partially freeze all those halves before packaging, that was part of the problem, I think. On another food related note, the second calf of the year was born today, hooray. I left Mama to tend it and didn't bother them by getting close enough to determine whether it was a heifer or bull, I'll know soon enough. Oh, and Elery and I had chicken on the grill last night. No salting or pre-brining, because I wanted to see just how it was. Elery cooked it slowlyl on the cooler side of the grill and it was moist, juicy and delicious. I'm happy. Annie
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