What are you going to do with them? Where will you keep them?
Chickens are noisy, messy, and can be smelly. If you don't keep them in a pen, they'll lay their eggs anywhere, so you'll have to hunt for them. If you do keep them in a pen, the eggs will be easily found, but they'll kill the grass under the pen.
Unless you're planning to eat several eggs a day, or sell them, or you're planning to eat your chickens, I'd just keep getting eggs at the grocery store.
I was about to say that they are disgusting creatures; dirty, smelly and obnoxious. I'm not big on animal cruelty, but honestly I couldn't care less about factory farming with chickens.
honestly I couldn't care less about factory farming with chickens
The only reason I favor free range farming of chickens is that the free range taste better. People only think chicken is bland and mild because all they've likely eaten is factory farmed overfed chicken. Free range birds have a definite tastiness.
Past that, and based on long experience with chickens, I don't think they have the smarts to know whether they're living in coops, pens, houses, or the moon... so I don't really believe factory farmed chickens suffer that much.
If you're going to raise guinea hens, why pen them up? They're great watchdogs... nothing gets on your property without you knowing it if you have guinea hens.
i've never kept chickens myself, but four people who used to be covenmates of mine bought a smallish farm in Delaware just so they could keep chickens. one of them was so violently allergic to soy products that he could not eat the eggs, milk, or meat of any creature that had been fed on soy - which is pretty much all standard food. they fed the chickens corn and table scraps, and W. could eat the eggs, and when the chickens grew too old to lay eggs they became stewing hens. i visited the farm a couple of times.
chickens are dirty, stupid, and vicious. they will literally bite the hands that feed them - all four of my friends had peck marks all over their hands and forearms. the chickens also fought amongst themselves, and occasionally ganged up on one of their number and pecked it to death. the stink of a place where chickens are kept is appalling. and they're also noisy.
that being said... there is absolutely nothing that compares to a fresh egg, no more than a few days out of the chicken! if you have only ever eaten supermarket
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Last year, we had a gathering of locals, and one of the guests brought us a gift of fresh eggs from her chickens. They really did taste much better. I was especially surprised at how orange the yolks were. When cracked into a pan, the yolks also stood much higher and held their shape better.
Our friend in Newtown, PA who offered us chicks has a dwarf Chinese variety. The eggs are small, smaller even than the "small" eggs at the supermarket, and they are almost spherical.
On the way to and from Englishtown, there is a farm that sells fresh eggs. I must stop there sometime, but I'm always running late for work by that point. Then I have to keep the eggs cool while I'm at the track.
the fresher an egg is, the higher the yolk stands - that's often mentioned in old cookbooks. the color of the yolk, however, has more to do with the particular breed of chicken, and what it's fed; the eggs from the chickens fed on corn were yellower than commercial soy-fed chickens. some commercial operations add marigold petals to the feed - it's harmless, and not only does it produce eggs with yellower yolks, it also gives the chickens' meat a "golden" color. (take a look at a package of Perdue chicken next to a package of Tyson, or store brand - Perdue is yellowish, Tyson is pinkish, and no-name is pale. guess who feeds their chickens marigold petals
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Chickens are noisy, messy, and can be smelly. If you don't keep them in a pen, they'll lay their eggs anywhere, so you'll have to hunt for them. If you do keep them in a pen, the eggs will be easily found, but they'll kill the grass under the pen.
Unless you're planning to eat several eggs a day, or sell them, or you're planning to eat your chickens, I'd just keep getting eggs at the grocery store.
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The only reason I favor free range farming of chickens is that the free range taste better. People only think chicken is bland and mild because all they've likely eaten is factory farmed overfed chicken. Free range birds have a definite tastiness.
Past that, and based on long experience with chickens, I don't think they have the smarts to know whether they're living in coops, pens, houses, or the moon... so I don't really believe factory farmed chickens suffer that much.
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My family kept chickens from my 5th grade into me being in college. WHat're your questions?
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chickens are dirty, stupid, and vicious. they will literally bite the hands that feed them - all four of my friends had peck marks all over their hands and forearms. the chickens also fought amongst themselves, and occasionally ganged up on one of their number and pecked it to death. the stink of a place where chickens are kept is appalling. and they're also noisy.
that being said... there is absolutely nothing that compares to a fresh egg, no more than a few days out of the chicken! if you have only ever eaten supermarket ( ... )
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Our friend in Newtown, PA who offered us chicks has a dwarf Chinese variety. The eggs are small, smaller even than the "small" eggs at the supermarket, and they are almost spherical.
On the way to and from Englishtown, there is a farm that sells fresh eggs. I must stop there sometime, but I'm always running late for work by that point. Then I have to keep the eggs cool while I'm at the track.
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