Backyard Organic Chickens

As 2014, it seems as though having your own organic farm is trendy in the healthy living society. Celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon, Hilary Swank, Martha Stewart and now Nicole Kidman all have backyard organic produce and chickens. The reason for this is to promote organic eating for themselves and their family.

If you had the money to have an overall organic farm in your backyard, would you do it? The concept of having produce and eggs will almost always be fresh when you need it seems delightful and overall a save. If you were to have your own organic farm, would you take care of it yourself, or hire someone to help you?

I would love to have a few backyard chickens, and if it were allowed where I live; I would get just a few hens to cluck around the back yard and produce some eggs.
As long as a person only had chickens for their own use, there would be no need to have anyone else take care of them; and if you did have so many that you needed help in caring for the chickens, then it would certainly NOT be backyard organic chickens, it would be a chicken farm.
Chickens are very intelligent, and are considered to be as smart as most dogs, and even comparable to primates for intelligence. They are happy little bug eaters, and will fertilize your lawn as they go about their bug-hunting activities.
Unless you have a rooster, chickens are pretty quiet little creatures, making only contented little clucks and a few squawks if they get upset with each other, or you disturb their nest.
I can see not allowing roosters in town, but I see no reason not to allow a few backyard chickens.

&Happyflowerlady That bites that you're not allowed backyard chickens. Are you at least allowed to grow organic produce in your backyard or is that also banned? Some areas disallow certain changes to their backyard because it takes away from uniform -- depending if it's a gated community, military housing, and so forth.

Well there are some people that want to eat healthy, but may not have a lot of time to keep up with their backyard duties. So what better than to hire someone to do so once a week? Obviously, if you were owning chickens, you'd have time to feed them as though they were your pet and spend time with them. But the dirty work of the garden such as weed picking, maintenance and more would be for someone that you hire to do.

I also wouldn't recommend roosters because then your eggs may be fertilized without notice. And that's not entirely something to eat.

Bloomsie, we are allowed to grow our own veggies and fruit here; so I have a small back yard garden, and I am also in the process of putting in berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and gooseberries) so that in a year or so, we can have our own fresh organic fruit as well.
They do allow some animals besides dogs and cats; so bunny rabbits are acceptable, but not much else. The city council has been debating whether to allow chickens; but so far, they have decided not to do so. I think that they must be getting quite a few requests for this, or they would not even be considering it; so maybe evntually, it will prevail.
I used to have a little rabbit in a rabbit hutch out back, and I used the manure on my garden as fertilizer. I have been thinking about doing that again, I really like rabbits, and they are good little pets, unless they scratch you with those strong hind feet.

Happyflowerlady, Your backyard sounds like it will be very lovely within the year! I've always wanted to have different berries, fruits and vegetables in the back. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to take care of plants. I worked as a Assistant Manager in a Floral department at the nearby grocery store, but that's it. I can just create arrangements or sell you flowers. Haha! I like the idea of using the manure of your rabbit as soil for the plants. It's brilliant and definitely cost effective.
Hopefully your city will get that passed. So far, there have been a lot of requests in my city. Some areas have been accepted, but most areas have not. So right now we're going through a little bit of a 'health war'. Ha!

It seems like we are getting more and more of our food (for both us and our pets) that is either manufactured in China, or is made here in the United States, but with ingredients from China.
After the big scare a few years back where the dogs and cats were dying all over from the pet foods and treats that had Chinese products in their ingredients; I started deciding that I wanted to produce as much of our own food as I can, and what i need to buy, I try to get either local, or at least, organic.
I make enough food for dinner that there are leftovers for the dogs, and their dog food comes from an American company (Diamond Pet Foods), and I just don't buy any of the packaged treats, period.
Even if you have never gardened, you can always start doing it. Youtube has tutorials for just about everything, and I am always learning about how to do something from youtube. Berries last for years once they are planted, so it is not like a garden that you have to plant each spring.
And it is FUN ! Chipper even comes out and helps me pull weeds. He will get a bit of one in his mouth, and pull it up and then wait for me to take it out of his mouth. He is an amazing little dog, and I love him so much ! !

Rearing backyard chicken is a fad nowadays. You find busy professionals with disposable cash venturing into chicken as a side hustle in urban and peri-urban zones. Organic chicken are not widely reared in some places due to the need to make a quick buck using broilers which are anything but a reservoir of inorganic materials which accumulate in their bodies for fast growth. I guess that in my case, I would keep a limited number of backyard chicken which I can be able to attend to. This is in order to have the personal touch of keeping them which is healing. I consider every animal in the compound to be a pet. In my area, pople have began keeping traditional chicken in large numbers since they fetch a premium in terms of prices and the perceived health dividend of consuming organic products. They are easier and cheaper to rear on free range and don't require the formulations recommended for broilers at the end of the day, I concentrate on the pet aspect of the animals and any profits accruing from the activity are a welcome by product.

Yes, I totally plan on having a couple chickens so that I can have fresh eggs daily.  I also plan to use them to help me garden by having them eat bugs and fertilized my ground before I plant my trees, flowers, and vegetables.  I've been watching Geoff Lawton with his chicken tractor and his chicken look really heathy and happy because they are doing something they would have done in the wild.  I'm just saving up right now to build a chicken tractor and a more stable coop for the brooding hens.  I'm also looking into putting a coop into my greenhouse to help keep it warm during the winter.  So, I'm still in the middle of my research of chickens before I feel like I can properly provide for them.

We've been trying to get the town council to allow chickens where I live. The town planning board has recommended it, but a couple of the counselors are balking, so I'm not sure where that's going to go.

I don't know about it being a fad, although I suppose it could be in some places, or for some people. I grew up on a small farm, and although I live in a small town now, I can appreciate the value of a few chickens. If you know what you're doing or prepare yourself ahead of time, so that you do, just a few chickens can keep you in eggs.

If you are able to build your own chicken coop and avoid paying high prices for some of the other stuff you'll need, you can save on the cost of eggs, even with the cost of chicken food, etc. On the other hand, if you plan on buying everything you'll need at retail costs, it might take you a long time to get your money back. Even so, most people will find it affordable, and if you can enjoy raising chickens, you'll have to consider that as a benefit as well.

The greatest benefit, though, is not the cost of eggs but the quality of the eggs you eat. Your eggs will be fresh, and you'll know where they came from, so when you're comparing the cost of buying eggs in the grocery store over raising your own chickens, consider the higher cost of cage-free organic eggs, not the lower-priced eggs.

Although I grew up on a farm, I was never involved in the nastier stuff, like harvesting a chicken for meat. Unless I were desperate for food, this is not something that I would be interested in, and I don't anticipate being desperate. My chickens will probably have names, but still my experience with chickens is that they don't make the best of pets.

We have an extended garden in the vacant lot beside our property. Early this year, we saw the neighbor who tends our garden with 3 chickens - 1 female and 2 male. To make the mixture of gender even, we bought 3 chickens - 2 female and 1 male - and gave it to the caretaker. Now she has 3 pairs of chicken with 1 hen already laying eggs. We are hoping to see chicks roaming around our garden soon. We are just quite worried because it is already rainy season and it might affect the hatching of eggs.

I also agree that backyard organic chickens are the best because you give them the best and organic feed as compared to regular chicken. I heard and read several issues about the poor feeding at regular chicken farms that could be a rick for human health.

(05-16-2019, 10:23 PM)CodyCobey Wrote: I also agree that backyard organic chickens are the best because you give them the best and organic feed as compared to regular chicken. I heard and read several issues about the poor feeding at regular chicken farms that could be a rick for human health.

While we can certainly make sure our chicken eat organic food and thus making them organic chicken , most of the feeds out there are not organic.  

For example, we have two Amish families nearby right outside the town.   While their chickens are free range, they feed them with corn.  Since they do not grow corn themselves, so they have to buy it.   Most corn in the US is GMO.  So I am not so sure about the Amish chicken around here is truly organic.   

It also costs more to buy organic grain to feed the chicken.   I would think the best way is to grow your own organic grain and use it to feed your organic chicken.  I have built a raised bed in my yard for some crops last year. I will add one or two more raised beds for more crops.  However, so far I have only grown vegetables like tomatoes, bell pepper, etc.   And I have no chicken yet lol.     Michigan laws support the right to have backyard chickens.  So I do not think it will be a problem if I try.

(05-17-2019, 07:20 PM)Thor Wrote: While we can certainly make sure our chicken eat organic food and thus making them organic chicken , most of the feeds out there are not organic.  

For example, we have two Amish families nearby right outside the town.   While their chickens are free range, they feed them with corn.  Since they do not grow corn themselves, so they have to buy it.   Most corn in the US is GMO.  So I am not so sure about the Amish chicken around here is truly organic.   

It also costs more to buy organic grain to feed the chicken.   I would think the best way is to grow your own organic grain and use it to feed your organic chicken.  I have built a raised bed in my yard for some crops last year. I will add one or two more raised beds for more crops.  However, so far I have only grown vegetables like tomatoes, bell pepper, etc.   And I have no chicken yet lol.     Michigan laws support the right to have backyard chickens.  So I do not think it will be a problem if I try.

I agree that we can't grow everything at home but I was referring to the farms that use poor breed for chickens. Especially, such breeds are used to increase the growth of chickens. Many of them also use steroid injections etc.