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Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

(civileats.com)
310 points greenie_beans | 11 comments | 19 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.646s | source | bottom
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qq99 ◴[20 Feb 25 05:00 UTC] No.43111299[source]▶
As someone who once built a large coop [1] then just bought a pre-built shed for the 2nd coop, it's definitely _not_ the _monetary_ solution. You will probably lose money overall for quite some time. I'm still probably underwater.

BUT, there are definite upsides:

- Chickens are very sweet animals, and are quite intelligent. You will grow to love all the silly things they do. You can pet them, they are super soft, and can become quite tame. They can purr.

- I'm told the eggs taste way better, I don't really notice it because I really only eat my own eggs, but perhaps I just got used to them

- It's fantastic to get ~8 free eggs per day (from 13, 3 are not laying this winter)

- Morally/ethically, it seems like the best way to eat eggs if you're caring for them in a loving manner (compare to factory farms)

Consider the downsides:

- You may have to euthanize a chicken, likely by hand (literally) via cervical dislocation. It still ranks among the worst things I've ever had to do in my life. Imagine euthanizing your dog or cat by hand...

- Predators, foxes and hawks, you need defenses

- Veterinary services can be harder to find. Most vets don't want to deal with chickens. However, it also tends to be cheaper than a vet for a dog/cat.

- Your wife may one day want a chicken to live inside the house. You may one day agree to this, and then miss it when the chicken is living outside the house again...

- If you really like eating chicken, you may end up finding it difficult to eat them again in the future after you develop a bond with them.

I think there are more upsides than downsides, but you should think about these downsides before taking the plunge. Don't let it dissuade you. Overall, they have enriched our lives immensely and I would recommend it to others!

1: https://www.anthonycameron.com/projects/cameron-acreage-chic...

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1. giantg2 ◴[20 Feb 25 13:52 UTC] No.43114625[source]▶
"If you really like eating chicken, you may end up finding it difficult to eat them again in the future after you develop a bond with them."

Or you might find them delicious and need to raise more of them.

replies(2): >>43114647 #>>43114917 #
2. ilikecakeandpie ◴[20 Feb 25 13:55 UTC] No.43114647[source]▶
Do you know anyone where this has been the case?
replies(2): >>43114716 #>>43116079 #
3. slothtrop ◴[20 Feb 25 14:01 UTC] No.43114716[source]▶
* gestures to most of recorded history *

Before the industrial revolution, 80% of us worked the land, most familiar with animal agriculture.

replies(1): >>43115896 #
4. threetonesun ◴[20 Feb 25 14:18 UTC] No.43114917[source]▶
Raising animals to eat for meat is a very different endeavor than raising them for milk/eggs. Especially if you eat meat daily (or more than once a day!), do some mental math on how many animals you'd need to sustain yourself.
replies(2): >>43114953 #>>43119057 #
5. giantg2 ◴[20 Feb 25 14:21 UTC] No.43114953[source]▶
It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

Anyways, one buck and 2-3 doe rabbits can give you something like 300+ pounds of meat per year. Close to a pound a day would be sufficient for most people. Of course you aren't going to eat only one thing, so you will have other sources of meat for variety

6. ilikecakeandpie ◴[20 Feb 25 15:32 UTC] No.43115896{3}[source]▶
This is irrelevant. Do you bring up that before the industrial revolution that grown men used to marry children when people talk about modern views on grooming?
replies(1): >>43116688 #
7. giantg2 ◴[20 Feb 25 15:44 UTC] No.43116079[source]▶
Yes, I know people who raise chickens for dual purpose. There are entire breeds of chickens that are dedicated to dual production.
8. slothtrop ◴[20 Feb 25 16:26 UTC] No.43116688{4}[source]▶
Did you miss the context? The other user questions whether people have ever been unperturbed by slaughter when raising animals. It's a strange sentiment when you consider that historically we have been much, much closer to the animals we consume and intimately familiar with the process of how they get to the table.
9. lsaferite ◴[20 Feb 25 19:31 UTC] No.43119057[source]▶
Not to mention, raising meat chickens is sad. We've bread them to gorge themselves so they bulk up fast. That results in essentially morbidly obese chickens. We ended up with two on accident and they couldn't even climb the ramp into the coop after a few weeks. The just gorged and sat around in the dirt. It was very sad. Raising non-meat chickens takes a lot longer and the meat output is much lower.
replies(2): >>43120102 #>>43130676 #
10. canucker2016 ◴[20 Feb 25 20:57 UTC] No.43120102{3}[source]▶
Picture in the following article shows the difference in size of chickens since the 1950s.

see https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/how-chickens-tripled...

11. giantg2 ◴[21 Feb 25 17:56 UTC] No.43130676{3}[source]▶
There are such things as heritage and forager breeds, not to mention dual purpose breeds. The industrial meat birds are the only ones that really have the issues you describe. Look into Kosher Kings or Freedom Rangers and you'll see they don't have those problems. As others have mentioned, raising them yourself is much more humane than buying it in the store. The only reason it would be more sad is because the suffering of the birds in the store is hidden from you.