Who here on /an/ owns chickens?
My little brother wants to get a chicken, but I wanted to hear some anecdotal stories from /an/ to see if it's worth getting one for him. Also, we are not sure which breed we should get him, if we do confirm we are getting him one.
Please post pictures of your chickens and what breed they are!
>>2131341
Where do you live? Country/state/city
How big is your backyard?
Can you only have /one/ chicken or are you ready to get two+? [spoiler]You cant have just one, they need friends[/spoiler]
How much are your ready to pay to have chickens?
Full grown or chicks?
>>2131341
Get a buff orpington and a speckled sussex. The two friendliest and tamest breeds, IMHO.
>>2131341
I live inner city and had 4 chickens with my family growing up. They regularly escaped and I was often late to school because I had to recapture them. They were infamous amongst our neighbours and eventually all surrounding houses were fed up and demanded we do something. We decided that the only way to keep them would be to let them out in the afternoon when everyone was home to keep an eye on them but then they were only able to roam for 4/5 hours a day.
They seemed happy enough though and fresh eggs are awesome. Unfortunately, they died pretty horrifically. They caught lice/fleas from somewhere that we tried treating with a couple of different chemicals to know avail. Eventually they started doing that thing where they pick at each others anus's until the guts are hanging out, incur a massive infection and die.
I held them down while dad cut off their heads early in the morning before my mum or little brother woke up. We did the first two separately but after a while decided 3/4 were suffering too much and did the last two in the same morning. I don't think they knew it was coming. and they had a good few years before that.
We named the white and black ones after my Aunties Nell and Kell and the two brown ones were Dorris and Bertha interchangeably.
Was a good experience overall but killing them was hard. I'd recommend, but there is a bit of work in looking after them
Their shit is the worst smelling shit ever
Keep them clean or you will gag everytime you go near them and in the summer chicken shit is basically the nastiest smelling aubstance on earth
You can potty train then using treats and a clicker.
are ducks better than chickens to keep?
>>2131341
My folks have 5.
Two Orpingtons, one sex link, one Barred Rook, and one australorp. Of those, the Sex Link and australorp are the most friendly. The Orps are kind of timid, and the Barred Rook is huge and sassy.
>>2131711
Whaaaaaat? No way. Maybe if it stays wet or you let it heap up. Otherwise, it dries out and it doesn't stink.
Duck poop is more copious and liquid-y than chicken poop. And ducks like to make mud. Our two ducks made a bigger mess than four chickens.
I have two Australorps which I keep in my backyard.
They're very easy to care for, I throw a handful of food out every day and fill their water jugs and that's pretty much it. I get 2 eggs every day.
Use treats like live mealworms and dried mealworms to get them to be friendly to you, if they are too shy. That stuff is like crack to them. I can pick mine up and pet them without them trying to run away.
>>2131850
Never had ducks but I love ducks and want a few someday. I can't imagine caring for them is any different than with chickens.
I have had multiple flocks of chickens raised from chicks, although the flocks were 'working birds' that ate my compost and combed my yards for pests.
Have had aracanas, road island reds and now a couple of girls that look exactly like op's photo.
If you pick one and play with it every day, handle it and treat it, you will end up with a very tame bird. I will say that chickens have a hard time with boundaries. If I let them think it's at all okay to go somewhere like my porch, that's where they want to hang out 75% of the time. Chickens are breed to follow humans t this point.
>>2131341
Barred Rock/Plymouth Rock are ultra bro tier. Even the roosters are chill as fuck.
I have more chicken breeds than I can remember. I want to get some Black Australorp.
>>2133084
>I can't imagine caring for them is any different than with chickens.
It is a little different, but not much.
>tfw the males ganged up on only 1 female and drowned her trying to mate.
