# Clandestine Chickens



## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

"Adventures of Keeping Basement Chickens and General Mayhem Around Our Urban Farm!"

I think this lady's onto something good. I do wonder if they make the cost of their investment back in eggs. What do you think? This is of course for those of us in areas where farm animals aren't allowed.

Clandestine Chickens


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Poultry in the home is a bad idea.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

hawgrider said:


> Poultry in the home is a bad idea.


Why? Too messy?


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## jimcosta (Jun 11, 2017)

*'Taint Worth It.*

Our Prepper group has lots of chickens that can be free ranged in time of activation after the chicken food runs out. We have no roosters as they make too much noise. When a hen lays she brags but we don't have neighbors close enough to hear them. That is our plan.

We built a rabbit barn with 15 does and bucks to began producing meat. But we then discovered we could not store enough rabbit food to produce lots of rabbits that would take many months to become dinner. We could not free range them like the chickens because they would not come home at nights as the hens would. So we abandoned that project and gave away the cages & equipment.

Here was our deliberate reasoning once we came to our senses. Eggs are sentimental. So too with rabbits, unless you are planning for an Adam & Eve long term event.

*What we really wanted was protein.* That is the real goal.

The cheapest way to get protein is rice and about 7 ounces (half a can) of beans within 8 hours of each other (or in one meal), each day. This allows the rice to then become protein. That is why most of the world lives on that stuff! You can buy red, kidney, black, pinto or other canned beans in any of the Dollar stores for about $0.70 per can. This is better than dry beans because anything in a can is fully cooked and requires no energy to eat it, whereas it takes at least an hour and a half to cook dry beans. You do the fuel costs.

So here is the kicker. While you are in the Dollar stores, you can purchase a one pound canned ham (Bristle brand I believe) for $3.00. That meat is cheaper than raising chickens or rabbits for meat! Plus it too is fully cooked.

Therefore, for us the chickens and eggs will be for fun. But the protein for our estimated stay is next to the forks and can opener, after a lot of trial and error. This looked better than running out into the night half asleep and dying to protect the chicken coop. Cans are quiet.

*See: * Sam's Club / Costco Type Food For Members. 

*See Also: *  Rice Insurance


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

Guinea pigs.


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## jimcosta (Jun 11, 2017)

If you live within sight of neighbors it still isn't worth it. 

To feed a critter one must venture outside to empty waste and fetch something for them to eat. Stored food lasts only about 3 months.

If you are seen you will appear to others as wearing a flashing neon sign that says, "We have food, come kill us for it."


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Annie said:


> Why? Too messy?


The list is long on reasons why not here is just one -


> Can you get sick from chickens in the house?
> Backyard chickens and other poultry (ducks, turkeys) can carry germs like Salmonella. After you touch a bird, or anything in the area where birds live and roam, wash your hands so you don't get sick! ... However, people have gotten sick with Salmonella from handling poultry or items in the area where they live and roam.Mar 18, 2019
> https://www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellapoultry/index.html


Here is another for good measure-


> Can chickens cause illness in humans?
> Intestinal bacteria from poultry can infect humans and cause urinary tract infections. A new study looks into disease transmission from animals to humans in a world of increasing antibiotic resistance. The intestinal bacterium Enterococcus faecalis can transmit from chickens to humans, causing urinary tract infections.Mar 5, 2012 Chickens cause serious infections in humans | ScienceNordic


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

chicken are a great food source - but - you shouldn't & really can't co-habituate directly with them - and thinking you can keep them secret is a joke ....


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

"*Clandestine Chickens*."

Sounds like the name of a millennials' hard rock band...


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

A friend of mine once told me a story about someone she knew who kept the pig in her basement. This person had a trapdoor in their kitchen and would toss the scraps down cellar to the pig.

Sent from my SM-S337TL using Tapatalk


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Annie said:


> A friend of mine once told me a story about someone she knew who kept the pig in her basement. This person had a trapdoor in their kitchen and would toss the scraps down cellar to the pig.
> 
> Sent from my SM-S337TL using Tapatalk


Y'all from West Virginia? :vs_lol:


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

hawgrider said:


> Y'all from West Virginia? :vs_lol:


No, it was Jersey. I kid you not.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Annie said:


> Why? Too messy?


Ever worked on a farm and cleaned a neglected coop or pig pen?

Pigs are pretty good and will crap in one place unless things get out of hand. Chickens, nope.

We had a nice chicken coop , with lots of windows , and little doors the birds could go out each day. Needed to get them back inside at night, because of weasels, *****, skunks, fishers.

Chickens don't do well without lots of sunshine, and they do better eating stuff outside.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

jimcosta said:


> *'Taint Worth It.*
> 
> Our Prepper group has lots of chickens that can be free ranged in time of activation after the chicken food runs out. We have no roosters as they make too much noise. When a hen lays she brags but we don't have neighbors close enough to hear them. That is our plan.
> 
> ...


Let the chickens out to play and they will get plenty of protein eating insects, slugs, worms, ticks, seeds....... Just be wary of daytime predators like hawks.

How much rice and beans you growing?

Rice don't work for me, I grow potatoes, put in a hundred this year. Beans grow fine.

I left some pole beans up last fall. In cold northeast the leftover seed pods seeded all the places in. I'd of thought frost /cold would have killed them.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Annie said:


> A friend of mine once told me a story about someone she knew who kept the pig in her basement. This person had a trapdoor in their kitchen and would toss the scraps down cellar to the pig.
> 
> Sent from my SM-S337TL using Tapatalk


Should work just great if you can train the pigs to toss their poop up the stairs, huh?


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

For all you northerners who aint been keeping up .... there is a reason we call them yard birds!


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> For all you northerners who aint been keeping up .... there is a reason we call them yard birds!


Whoa there... wait a second... I may live near the 45th parallel but I ain't no northerner! :tango_face_wink:


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> For all you northerners who aint been keeping up .... there is a reason we call them yard birds!


Yes need to keep them out even if you loose a few. But keep up fencing/coops for night. Weasels are evil. Hawks can be worse and owls too.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

A Watchman said:


> For all you northerners who aint been keeping up .... there is a reason we call them yard birds!


P.S. You getting the "tourists" the Mexicans sending much "loafer/worker? Even in Northeast we are seeing lots but not in the hills, no free $#!T there.

SOBs are taking no-tax jobs and doing no-tax work for < locals. Most are BIGGER companies that the CEO and administration should be in "CROW BAR HOTEL"


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Annie asked about making the investment back in eggs.
We keep between 40 and 50 hens and roos, and average feeding 300 pounds of layer pellets per month, at around $15 per 50 pound sack.
We no not sell eggs, too much chance for government interference. We do get an average of two dozen eggs per day. What we don’t eat we give to friends who help us. Not an “official “ barter system, just returning the favor. Give us fresh vegetables, get fresh eggs, for example.

We have been keeping chickens for over 20 years. Why? Once you have had eggs from REAL free range, well fed chickens, you can see the difference between those and the mass produced “product” sold in stores.
We do not butcher them after they are done laying, it is just too much work. Although we have in the past and could again.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Mad Trapper said:


> P.S. You getting the *"tourists"* the Mexicans sending much "loafer/worker?


...I almost took offense at this...


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Wife orders feed and pre pays online with Tractor Supply, then goes down to pick up. They have it ready on a pallet. We do this once a month when the Social Security check hits.
Now that we are down to only one horse the biggest expense is the chickens. The horses got expensive.

I love country life. Never want to live in even a small town anymore, let alone a city.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

@tourist

Fine with me , not directed at you.

I was referring to the "toursists" that come here as criminals, then stay, then say they have "right" to be here.... 

When their smelly asses just should have been deported like IKE did! In OPERATION ******* circa 1955.

No Wall, ENFORCE THE LAWS, if employers are complicient, it's a FELONY, jail them.


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

I've got a BIG pasture, but need new fence. Would have to move horses to Northeast.

No Charge and free water ir you help fix fence.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Mad Trapper said:


> @tourist, Fine with me , not directed at you.


Oh, I know it was not meant in harm. It's just funny to open the forum on your first cup of coffee and find that you're infamous...LOL


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

No chicken or pork that is a live in the house period.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Mad Trapper said:


> Ever worked on a farm and cleaned a neglected coop or pig pen?


As a young girl I cleaned up many a horses' stall. Groomed them, road them. Earned lots of fancy ribbons, too. Horses were heaven to me. As a woman I've been "paid in gold" as my mum used to say, by five breastfeeding infants. They were heaven, too--even better than horses.



> Pigs are pretty good and will crap in one place unless things get out of hand. Chickens, nope.
> 
> We had a nice chicken coop , with lots of windows , and little doors the birds could go out each day. Needed to get them back inside at night, because of weasels, *****, skunks, fishers.
> 
> Chickens don't do well without lots of sunshine, and they do better eating stuff outside.


I will admit I have a lot to learn there.


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## Schattentarn (Jul 6, 2019)

No livestock inside for me but chickens are a great idea. The eggs contain just about every oil based vitamin there is. The chickens themselves can be eaten for meat and it is not too big a problem to do this.

The problem for chickens (besides others stealing them) are raccoons, skunks, coyotes and foxes and perhaps even bears. A chicken coop is really needed at night and a fence. Even then some sort of alert system is necessary---perhaps a dog? Free range chickens are great and fun and easy unless it turns into a fast food restaurant for the local wild life.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

jimcosta said:


> *'Taint Worth It.*
> 
> Our Prepper group has lots of chickens that can be free ranged in time of activation after the chicken food runs out. We have no roosters as they make too much noise. When a hen lays she brags but we don't have neighbors close enough to hear them. That is our plan.
> 
> ...


Great tips Sir. Thanks. A book that set the hook in me for preppering back in the 70s..How to survive the coming hard times. Howard Ruff...gave good advice on the synergy of rice and beans...he said a bit of corn helps too. Which brings us to what a lot of down home folks eat in Mexico plus a few peppers and cheese if they can find some. Corn tortillas are loaded with so much calicum no need to drink milk. The canned beans are a billiant idea..Im thinking beanie weenies would be best. They have all the food groups plus with meat and water. Whatcha think? 
PS Edit...quickly back to chickens. Ducks seem more rational and fun to hang out with. They are sorta like Frenchmen in that they will eat anything. Very tolerant of weather extrremes and love it when it rains. They girl ducks lay an egg a day most days. Very rich flavor and texture. A person might get tired eating them after a while but they could always trade out duck eggs for chicken eggs.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Bunny wabbits are noiseless, and pretty easy to care for.


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