Why don’t Americans get chickens and a small coop ?
We have 4 chickens in the middle of town and produce more eggs than we can eat. We have to give some to neighbors and friends. We even cook excess for the dogs as treats sometimes.
It’s a country the size of a continent with over 300 million citizens. Lots of Americans do what you suggested, but tell somebody in LA or NYC to “get chickens and a small coop” they’d laugh and tell you their reality is very different from yours.
Not a lot, make sure they have food and water, and that they are sheltered from predators at night. We have six hens and a rooster. The work consists of cleaning the coop once a week, and at the same time clean and refill the water dispenser and fill up the food reservoir. My kids do this in half an hour. We also have to pick up the eggs daily. We raised our Brahma chickens ourselves after hatching them in an incubator, and they are wonderful pets.
Edit: because we feed them a more varied diet, the eggs also taste better.
My first egg cost me $600. I’m 7 years in and if it weren’t for the fact that egg prices have escalated so much I’d still be losing money on every single egg because the industrialization of eggs makes it less expensive to buying them under normal circumstances.
Now let’s talk about the reason they’re currently expensive. Bird flu. Imagine every yard with chickens in it. Instead of a few locations to protect, you now have hundreds of millions. Which results in billions of potential vectors for the spread of disease.
I know everyday that I could walk outside and find my birds sick with the bird flu because some bird pooped by flying overhead. I may have to cull my entire flock of a dozen or so chickens, six five ducks and seven geese. And then when I decide to replace them I’m going to be priced out of the market by everyone else replacing their birds.
Why don’t Americans get chickens and a small coop ? We have 4 chickens in the middle of town and produce more eggs than we can eat. We have to give some to neighbors and friends. We even cook excess for the dogs as treats sometimes.
What a naive comment.
It’s a country the size of a continent with over 300 million citizens. Lots of Americans do what you suggested, but tell somebody in LA or NYC to “get chickens and a small coop” they’d laugh and tell you their reality is very different from yours.
Many Americans live in apartments or condos with minimal to no personal outdoor space, and almost surely a ban on “farm” animals.
How much work is it? If there’s a war or anything, getting chickens is on the top of my list!
Not a lot, make sure they have food and water, and that they are sheltered from predators at night. We have six hens and a rooster. The work consists of cleaning the coop once a week, and at the same time clean and refill the water dispenser and fill up the food reservoir. My kids do this in half an hour. We also have to pick up the eggs daily. We raised our Brahma chickens ourselves after hatching them in an incubator, and they are wonderful pets.
Edit: because we feed them a more varied diet, the eggs also taste better.
So cleaning, refill food and water once a week? And the 6 days left you only pick up eggs?
My first egg cost me $600. I’m 7 years in and if it weren’t for the fact that egg prices have escalated so much I’d still be losing money on every single egg because the industrialization of eggs makes it less expensive to buying them under normal circumstances.
Now let’s talk about the reason they’re currently expensive. Bird flu. Imagine every yard with chickens in it. Instead of a few locations to protect, you now have hundreds of millions. Which results in billions of potential vectors for the spread of disease.
I know everyday that I could walk outside and find my birds sick with the bird flu because some bird pooped by flying overhead. I may have to cull my entire flock of a dozen or so chickens, six five ducks and seven geese. And then when I decide to replace them I’m going to be priced out of the market by everyone else replacing their birds.