I want chickens

If you’ve ever read my about page you’ll know that I would quite like to keep chickens. Part of it is because I just have this thing about animals but mostly it’s because we spend an absolute fortune on eggs. I eat them in cakes & mayonnaise, Isabel can eat 3-4 hardboiled eggs in one go, and then there’s the egg butties, egg fried rice, eggy bread… yeah, we like eggs :)

Now that Flymo is in the shed with Rosie, his old hutch (which is actually this chicken coop) can be tidied up and re-used for actual chickens! That lay eggs! For cakes! Yay! (Exciting, hence the exclamation marks, you know…)

Buuuut, there is a slight problem in that I want more rabbits. Because they’re cute and furry:

obligatory cute bunny pic

obligatory cute bunny pic

However, as it can be difficult to bond multiples of rabbits if it didn’t work we’d have to house them in something else, like the old “hutch”, so if we put chickens in it there would be no room for furry bunnies. We can’t justify new hutches at the minute because of the costs of the shed (and just prior to that we had to replace the guinea pig’s hutches) so that leaves a choice: chickens or rabbits.

Hmm. There is actually a bigger problem than this tiny wee dilemma, actually: Karl doesn’t want any more animals right now. Probably should crack that nut first, eh?

10 Comments

  1. I think owning chickens is hilarious because at home it would not occur to me at all to own my own chickens, BUT my parents’ back neighbours are British and THEY had chickens for a little bit (but it’s actually against bylaw to raise any livestock in the city so they had to get rid of them).

    So I kind of want you to get chickens just so I can come look at them. And I think that will be enough to convince Karl. ;)

  2. chickens!

    although most chickens (if you get youngun’s wont start laying until their a little older but if you get ex bettery hens they’ll lay straight away sadly some don’t lay in the winter when its cold.) also you will have to check with your neighbours because even if you dont have a cockeral sometimes the ladies think their boys and try to crow like one and they sound like their being strangled (its flipping weird!!) and yeah, neighbours don’t like that. but you can pay them off with eggs!

    ps. get bantams they have fluffy feet!

    • Jem

      04 Nov at 10:03 am

      An ex-colleague of mine did ex-battery hens (I wrote hans first time, ha!) and so I’d almost certainly go that route if we did get some. We have a couple of neighbours with chickens so it’s hopefully not going to be too much of a controversial issue ;)

  3. Question: Are chickens and bunnies low maintenance and relatively inexpensive? I do not understand how you and Karl handle two jobs, two kids, and all your animals!

    • Jem

      04 Nov at 10:01 am

      I don’t know about chickens, I need to do my research, but certainly the bunnies are not what I’d all low maintenance (not compared to say… the cats).

  4. I vote chickens! We got chickens about 3 years ago, and I love them. They are also super low maintenance, and believe it or not, they do have personalities and are fun to play with. Plus, the eggs taste a million times better, and they are good for your garden! You can let them out and they will eat the insects out of the yard!

  5. That is a hard decision to make. I think chickens are really cute too. I had one pet one when I was a kid and adored her. :D

  6. I’d go for chickens, too. They’re more practical, and you can always get another bunny down the line.

    The cool thing about chickens is if you get an older, laying one that becomes broody, you can buy fertilised eggs & have the chicken incubate them. Baby chicks are just about the cutest out (I’ve had to hand raise a few and they were happy to spend a lot of time down my jumper!). Of course, the issue with hatching is getting boys and having to sell those or take them to a rescue. The issue of people using them for food factors in here. Either way, chickens are fun and sweet (but their poop is absolutely horrible smelling).