More on Raising Chickens

by Catherine Haug

As I’ve noted in a recent newsletter, we will be presenting a gathering Wednesday evening, February 24, on raising chickens (and other poultry, and rabbits too). Edmund forwarded a couple articles from the Oil Drum on the subject, that I thought I’d share with you:

See also my previous post on this topic: Raising Chickens (Dec. 5, 2009 post)

Raising Chickens at Home

See http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6036. Main topics in the article are:

  • Why raise chickens (benefits)
  • Tips on raising chickens
  • Questions on: raising chickens without modern conveniences
  • Some other questions.

The author doesn’t provide answers to all the questions, but there are 132 comments that perhaps contain some answers.

Leading Farm Animal Sanctuaries and Avian Experts Discourage Backyard Chicken Flocks

See: http://www.theoildrum.com/pdf/theoildrum_6036.pdf. This article concerns unwanted birds, a problem that exists for all family pets. The author says:

“I think a lot of people will feel that these groups are overreacting. The point that needs to be made, though, is that before a person takes on a project like raising chickens (or any other kind of livestock, or even a pet), it is important to think through the whole project carefully, and make sure that it is a project you can manage and are willing to stick with.”

Roosters

One major aspect of this problem has to do with roosters. When you get a chick, you don’t know if it is male or female until it gets older. Some cities ban roosters in backyard flocks; certainly they can be annoying to the neighborhood. What do you do with unwanted roosters?

Butcher it, of course….

Butchering Chickens

Ah, there’s the rub. It’s hard for some to kill a pet, but it must be done. What if you’re raising chickens for meat, do you have the stomach to do your own butchering? If not, do you know of someone who can do it for you?

And that brings up the question: Is there anyone in our community who could butcher your chickens for you?

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