For sale at Sam's Club: chicken coop

[Hutch]

I ain't even lying.  A chicken coop for ~$350.  Nest boxes, wire, the works.  I am astonishated.

[mtnbkr]

Suburban chicken raising is a thing now.  I'm not surprised at all that Sam's is carrying coops.

Chris

[Hutch]

I just checked the website.  Online, you have several to choose from, even.  I hope hipsters don't take this up.

[mtnbkr]

I hope hipsters don't take this up.

Who do you think is driving this movement?

Chris

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yup I was working on a coop and goat pen for someone today


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[41magsnub]

I hope hipsters don't take this up.

Why?  How could it matter to you?

[Jamisjockey]

Someone in my hood has yard birds but I thought it was against the HOA.
Not my side of the hood so that *expletive deleted*it is between him and his neighbors but I'm definitely gonna investigate.  Raising chickens for the kids would be a neat project.

[Ben]

Interesting timing. My dad called me today to tell me he bought two turkeys and two chickens from the neighbors, who sold their place and are moving into town, and that I need to help him build a coop when I'm back up there later this week.

[Doggy Daddy]

Suburban chicken raising is a thing now.

Nah, that's probably just the cover story for keeping fighting birds.   

I hope hipsters don't take this up. 

Yup, the hipsters are now into cock fighting.   

[mtnbkr]

Nah, that's probably just the cover story for keeping fighting birds.   

On the chance that you're not joking, it really is a thing now and not at all related to fighting birds.  I know a few that raise chickens for eggs, meat, etc (mainly for eggs and as a hobby).  There are magazines devoted to it, facebook groups and discussions, etc.  The current movement is totally not related to chicken fighting.

Chris

[MikeB]

Yep. Very popular these days. I find it funny, my family has been doing it as long as I've been alive when living in a space that had appropriate space. Grandparents always had chickens on their hobby farm. Parents had then at various times when I was growing up when the property was of appropriate size. I've had then off an on depending on where I was living, have had them this time around for about 4 years since I bought by little 5 acre hobby farm.

People are now doing it on small more urban/suburban type properties vs. hobby farms, more rural places. It is a weird mix of people too in some ways. Preppers, health nuts, hobby farmers, etc. You have the people that figure it is a good way to do small scale farming and produce food i.e. the prepper types. You have the hipsters that figure they will produce their own organic eggs. The typical hobby farmers that have been doing this all along. Many other motivations and there is always some that have a crossover of their reasons.

This is probably a smart move by Sam's Club.

[Perd Hapley]

People are now doing it on small more urban/suburban type properties vs. hobby farms, more rural places. It is a weird mix of people too in some ways. Preppers, health nuts, hobby farmers, etc. You have the people that figure it is a good way to do small scale farming and produce food i.e. the prepper types. You have the hipsters that figure they will produce their own organic eggs. The typical hobby farmers that have been doing this all along. Many other motivations and there is always some that have a crossover of their reasons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locavore

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Folks have coops in townhouse backyards


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[Ben]

MikeB and fistful covered it. It's not just hipsters, in fact they may be a smaller segment. Lots of environmentalists and other Birkenstock wearers are really into it (in CA, anyway). People you wouldn't otherwise expect, and not just for eggs, but meat too (though chicken is a vegetable). A person at the old job who was always totally raving about guns and hunting, was pretty proud to tell me she had started raising chickens and rabbits in her backyard, and how hard it was to kill them, but that she wanted to know where her food comes from. Apparently Mark Zuckerberg does the same thing.

A bit hypocritical regarding the anti-hunting, but I think overall it's a positive thing for people to see exactly what it takes to keep them alive. Baby steps I guess.

[Jamisjockey]

Super tempted to try it, if it is in fact okay in my HOA.
Advice on sources for learning about it?  Seems like a very big possibility for teaching the kids a lot about animals, responsibility, and self sustainability. 

[Ben]

Super tempted to try it, if it is in fact okay in my HOA.
Advice on sources for learning about it?  Seems like a very big possibility for teaching the kids a lot about animals, responsibility, and self sustainability. 

If you want to learn about chickens and more, this is a great book:

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Country-Living-10th/dp/1570615535/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426430689&sr=8-2&keywords=encyclopedia+of+country+living

[MikeB]

Super tempted to try it, if it is in fact okay in my HOA.
Advice on sources for learning about it?  Seems like a very big possibility for teaching the kids a lot about animals, responsibility, and self sustainability. 

Lots of good information on the site I use to get some of my chickens. I do a mix of ordering, trading and letting hens brood. A couple neighbors and I trade, order and do brooding together. One is another hobby farmer with a similar size property and one has a horse farm and keeps the chickens for fun/hobby. Have had really good luck with the sexing being right and having all the birds arrive live when ordering from this place. Have had bad luck with buying from places like Agway, Tractor Supply etc. on getting more roosters than hens. The website listed literally ship them in the mail. It's a hoot to pick up the live peeps at the Post Office. They make a racket in their little box.

www.mypetchicken.com

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

It's easy and I was/is great for my kids. Eggs are a bonus


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[Ben]

I just got around to perusing some of those coops for sale. Holy crap! I'd live in some of them myself. The last time I built a coop, I used a bunch of old lumber that was laying around, bought some chicken wire, and probably a couple of sheets of plywood. I'll probably do the same this time around. You can buy a lot of eggs for $1000.

[Jamisjockey]

For me it'd be more about working with the kids and learning something myself.  For instance, I've already learned today that you don't need a rooster to get chickens to lay.
The prefab hutches all have access doors for collection. That would be good for kids.
I'm real curious how my dog would handle chickens, though.  She has a high prey drive but I've never seen her get ahold of anything besides a toad.

[MikeB]

For me it'd be more about working with the kids and learning something myself.  For instance, I've already learned today that you don't need a rooster to get chickens to lay.
The prefab hutches all have access doors for collection. That would be good for kids.
I'm real curious how my dog would handle chickens, though.  She has a high prey drive but I've never seen her get ahold of anything besides a toad.

If I had a nickel for every time someone asks me that question. 

I personally like having a rooster. Probably wouldn't recommend it though for small properties with close neighbors. They can start crowing well before it is light out and it isn't just at dawn like many people think. They will pretty much crow whenever they feel like it, but it is very common early in the morning.

Also if you have young kids you may or may not want a rooster as they can be pretty brutal with the hens when doing their thing. I've had hens with missing feathers and even the occasional wound for a little while when they are breeding. I don't have kids, but I probably wouldn't want to have to explain what is going on to very young children.

My GSD will chase the chickens if she gets in the chicken yard, but never had here actually attack one. Mostly just chases them around. Some breeds will definitely kill chickens though.

[41magsnub]

A brit probably means dead chickens if she could get at them.  When I had quail, my wirehair pointer would cry because she wanted to get at them so badly and just stare, her eyes saying "soon."

[Triphammer]

I've kept chickens on and off, mostly on the last 25 years. I like fresh eggs as compared to the less flavored one offered in the grocery. As to roosters, the girls never seemed to mind if there never was one but remove the rooster for some reason & the get mad. I've had a number stop laying for weeks, one actually died.
 As to dogs, I've had a few I didn't trust but when a bird or two got out they were more protective than aggressive. Right now I've got two pit mixes. Quail, doves, rabbits are all fair game. They don't even look at the chickens when they get out.

[Ben]

For me it'd be more about working with the kids and learning something myself.  For instance, I've already learned today that you don't need a rooster to get chickens to lay.
The prefab hutches all have access doors for collection. That would be good for kids.
I'm real curious how my dog would handle chickens, though.  She has a high prey drive but I've never seen her get ahold of anything besides a toad.

Yeah, I can see a prefab for chickens with the kids. A lot of them look kinda like playhouses, so it could help instill "fun" in their minds.

My dad had stopped keeping birds before Romy came along, but he kept chickens, partridges, and a couple of peacocks for my niece when I had my last lab. She never bothered the chickens and stayed away from the ornery peacocks.

The partridges always stayed in the coop, but one day one of them got away. I guess from being in the coop all the time, it sorta forgot how to fly and just did short bursts. My lab took off after it and caught the thing in midair as it was taking off for another flight. Brought it back alive, but she hardmouthed it a little when she caught it, so we ended up chopping off its head and eating it for lunch.

[Doggy Daddy]

On the chance that you're not joking, it really is a thing now and not at all related to fighting birds.  I know a few that raise chickens for eggs, meat, etc (mainly for eggs and as a hobby).  There are magazines devoted to it, facebook groups and discussions, etc.  The current movement is totally not related to chicken fighting.

Chris

I was joking, but with a hint of reality behind it.  The "hobbyist" cockfighting setups I've seen have been solidly built, but in some cases appeared to be from materials that were not made for that purpose.