Covid Chickens

Occasionally, I will join a Facebook group or list-serv to audit a culture and see their concerns.

For example, when the AKC doggy-moms were hyperventilating about PETA and HSUS attacking dairy, I was on a Maryland dairy list-serv. No dairy man mentioned PETA or HSUS; they were focused on the proper floor slope for milking sheds.

Huh.

And so, when Covid-19 hit, I was a new member of a backyard chicken group to hear that was going on in that world.

To tell the truth, a lot of the posts documented a daily litany of disease, surprise roosters, neighbor wars, zoning problems, and (of course) predation by folks unable or unwilling to build secure coops and runs.

Just this morning, the “genius” advice on the board was to take a shotgun to raiding hawks — not to build a secure run with a wire mesh top.

I almost asked: “Would you like federal charges with your eggs, sir?” Happily, someone noted the law, and another noted this was Facebook — hello DNR.

About a month ago, I finally posted an open set of questions to (perhaps) spark some soul-searching and re-evaluation about those experimenting with Covid chickens.

For what its worth, here’s what I posted, and a thumbnail summary of the answers:

LOOKING BACK ON BACKYARD CHICKENS

I realize Facebook groups about any hobby or activity generate a lot of “newbie” questions, and that during the pandemic a lot of folks may have jumped into backyard chickens a bit quick.

Nine months into the pandemic, however, I wonder:

When you read all the posts about hawks, fox, raccoons, rats, snakes, coyotes, eagles, possums, and dogs stealing eggs and ripping chickens to death, do you ever wonder if backyard chickens are *really* the “more humane” way?

Does that answer change when your chickens have mites and lice? When they peck each other to death? When they fall over from bumble foot, worms, egg binding, sour crop, and nutritional deficiencies?

When you drop $2,000 into a coop, a run, fencing, feeders, hot wires, water heaters, and deep bedding, do you *still* think you’re getting cheaper eggs? Over the last year, what’s each egg cost you, including capital costs? Does that matter?

How many chickens did you “lose” before investing time, money, and materials to make your backyard poultry operation truly predator proof? Is it safe, even now, from rats and snakes?

When even chefs can’t tell the difference in a blind taste test, do you still think you’re getting better tasting eggs than store-bought eggs?

When the “straight run” chicks you purchased at Tractor Supply are 70 percent rooster and 10 percent the wrong breed, are you ready to chop off their heads and turn them into broilers and soup, while racking up the lost time and money as a learning experience?

Planning a family reunion or vacation? Who’s going to tend the flock while you’re away for a week? How do you feel about chickens tethering you to your coop?

Chicken coops build up dust, caked feces, mites, spiders, and potential disease. After a year of neglect, you may want a respirator to tackle the Augean task of cleaning it out to fresh. Have you done that yet, or will you pay someone else to do it?

In short, how prepared were you, and how different was your real-world experience from what you imagined?

Would you do it again? If so, why? If not, why not?

The answers back were varied, and were as self-selecting for positive experience as the “what’s coming into my coop and eating the eggs?” questions that peppered the page were self-selecting for ignorance and sloth.

Some folks said they really researched and built tight coops and acquired good stock.

No one thought the $2,000 coop number was high.

No ond said they expected cheap eggs and some joked their eggs had cost them $25 a unit.

Some folks said they did not believe the blind taste tests on eggs. Others said by the time you butter the pan, add salt, cheese, put it in a cake mix.... sure.

Some folks said they did it to avoid the “horrible” conditions of professional chicken operations, but almost none expressed much concern about the horror of chickens eaten alive by rats, fox, hawks, raccoon, coyotes, and neighbor dogs. No one mentioned there is close to zero predation in commercial chicken operations, or that meat and laying bird mortality has never been lower.

Almost all treated chickens were evaluated as entertainment and pets, and all economic or time analysis of the endeavor was rejected.

One of the better comments was that excess eggs given away to neighbors or at the office or work site strengthened social bonds.

No one shouldered the question of slaughter, and this morning someone asked and was referred to a farm that would slaughter and pluck at $3 a bird — with additional costs to package parts. No one mentioned that chicken legs are 59 cents a pound at H-Mart, or that massive 6-pound pre-cooked rotisserie chickens are $4.99 at Costco.

Some said they cleaned their coops routinely, but a coop cleaning service was also mentioned.

The first response was the most commercial response:

In almost 11 years we have raised close to 8300 birds. We have hatched out 10000 eggs plus. We have lost hundreds of chicks because they just didn't thrive. We have lost another hundred plus due to hawks, foxes, coons, and coyotes.

With all the chickens we have raised, we have never had issues with diseases, nor the birds having issues. This comes from my OCD ways of bio security and not letting others in.

We have spent probably $95k on trailers, coops, feed, fencing, heaters, feeders, and all other farming-related items.

I do not care what chefs say about eggs. I personally do not care what anyone thinks about farm eggs. They have a right to their opinion. Like I have my right.

If you’re buying chicks from a feed store, you should be aware of the issues with the birds and you should truly understand that they are a business and will buy and sell what’s cheap. As far as a vacation goes, we still actively go out of town multiple times a year. This is why you hire help. And if you are spending a year not cleaning your coops you should not own birds in the first place. New pandemic chick owners should have spent time reading and researching prior to ownership.

Many of the posts about their children making them buy them or they just had to have them are completely irresponsible. With all that said, we got chickens 11 years ago to become self sufficient. Like many are now seeing how fast it takes for the stores to be sold out of items. We were creating a good, safe and trusted source for our family.

It ended with us turning it into a business and helping other families.