The Profits And The Pleasures Of Raising Chickens

There are both profits and pleasures in raising chickens. However, it is not entirely certain which is the chicken and which is the egg. The small scale hobbyist might be motivated primarily by pleasure but the industrial scale chicken millionaire might have had his eyes on profit from the outset.

Profit and pleasure do not always come together because some people have business acumen but not all poultry men do. There are recorded stories of men who have started out in a humble job with a few hens in the back yard and have died as millionaires leaving a profitable business for the heirs. In other cases a hobby never becomes a business because the hobbyist has neither the desire nor the ability to make a hobby into a business.

The poultry industry has been able to afford extensive breeding programs. Improved strains have been developed that produce either meat or eggs on the minimum amounts of food. The process starts with fertile egg production.

Fertile eggs are hatched in incubators. Chicks not sold as day olds will be kept as either broilers or layers. Production can also be used with the use of growth hormones and this rather dubious process may be one reason why the popularity of backyard chicken pens is increasing.

As the poultry production process proceeds chicks are supplied with clean conditions and easily accessible food and water. Such details are in the interests of productivity. The fowls grow rapidly and in about ninety days will be slaughtered, dismembered, packed and exported. In the case of laying pullets they may be crammed into wire batteries where they will eat minimum food and produce the maximum number of eggs, being culled the moment they stop laying..

The tiny brains of the few chicks chosen for dispatch to a hobbyist will never comprehend their good fortune, tantamount to winning a lottery. These lucky individuals will be kept in a secure pen with a varied diet. There will be places for them to scratch and take sand baths and cocks may have the opportunity to lord it over a few hens and wake everyone at dawn by crowing to announce their satisfaction with life.

Some small scale poultry producers who have day jobs derive aesthetic and intellectual profit from breeding heritage fowls. Old breeds the forebears of new strains that are nearly extinct, may be kept pure. In some cases they have traits encoded in their genes that could make them resistant to new viruses or diseases. This could make them invaluable in breeding programs.

In many human habitations chickens play a useful role. Raising chickens and keeping dogs are activities dating back to the earliest times. In communities where people still live in huts made from straw and mud there are often a few fowls that live off scraps thrown out and from what they can find by scratching. Raptors and rats may live off their eggs and other predators come at night to catch them but even so there are some eggs and neat left over for humans. In more organized communities they may be kept more carefully and are consequently more productive. They can serve as educational resources for young children or as a source of genuinely organic eggs.


The Two Styles Of Raising Chickens

On one hand raising chickens is a huge and profitable industry. On the other hand it can be an absorbing hobby followed on one's own plot at low cost, or even profit. In these instances interest and pleasure are most often the motivating factors.

There are people who have started in a small way, with just a hen and her chickens, and ended up as a multimillionaire with a huge operation listed on a stock exchange. However, this does not always happen because a great deal of business acumen is need for doing poultry on an industrial scale. Not every person who starts out in a small way has the desire or the ability to fly high.

A business operation needs to make profits, often at the cost of the birds. Much attention has been paid to genetics, in order to breed strains that are great deal more productive than their forebears. Laying strains produce eggs in a continuous stream and buxom broilers grow rapidly.

Fertile eggs are incubated artificially and in some cases the chicks may be sold at one day old. Those not sold may be gassed or kept as either broilers or layers. In some cases hormones and other dubious means may be followed to maximize productivity. The popularity of garden poultry pens may be ascribed partially to these practices.

As they are sexed by experts day old chicks have their short futures decided for them. Some will be destined for laying cages where they will soon start production. After a furious bout of laying is over so too will be their lives and they will be consigned to the supermarket possibly in bits and pieces. Broilers will start eating and in about ninety days it will all be over for them.

The lucky few day olds that might be transported to a garden pen in a shoe box will probably never know their good fortune. Their owner may take pleasure in watching them grow and feeding them delicacies such as crickets and cockroaches. Watching them take sand baths, scratching for insects and hearing them wake the neighborhood at dawn with crowing will delight the chicken fancier.

Heritage fowls sometimes afford great pleasure to poultry lovers. They may have fine feathers covering precious genetic heritages that have become almost extinct. Breeding such birds does a great favor for genetic diversity which is seriously under threat. They may be quite valuable in breeding programs on account of their particular traits which might make them resistant to mutant viruses or diseases. Breeders also derive aesthetic pleasures from them.

Raising chickens has a part to play in many domestic situations. Where people live in huts made of straw and mud there are almost always a few fowls roaming around a village. They scratch for bugs, eat scraps and provide food for cats, reptiles and raptors. In some cases there are a few eggs left over for human consumption. In more organized communities the chickens may be kept in well designed pens bought off the Internet. Every facility may be provided for a happy life and in addition to providing an educational resource the fowls can provide organic eggs to offset the cost of their keep.


Raising Chickens For Profit And Pleasure

Raising chickens is a fulfilling hobby at one extreme and a million dollar industry at another. This does not necessarily mean that a person who starts small will always be able to build up and get bigger and bigger, eventually becoming a chicken tycoon. The reason for this is that there are temperamental differences between the poultry hobbyist and the poultry entrepreneur.

There are instances of people who have started on a small scale, perfected a good business model and grown big enough to eventually be on the Stock Exchange. However, there are probably many more people who start in the back yard and remain there as happy hobbyists. Probably they do not aim to grow into a business in most instances.

Large scale poultry farming works on an industrial scale. Fertile eggs are obtained from large sheds where hens run with cocks. Both hens and cocks are likely to have been genetically improved for either egg or flesh production.

Fertile eggs are incubated in massive incubators. Shortly after hatching they are sexed and can be sold as day old chicks, which in itself can be a money making operation. Chicks that are not sold at a day old must be kept in carefully controlled conditions. Temperatures must be carefully controlled and food must be readily available together with fresh water and clean litter.

As the chicks grow rapidly they are allocated to their futures as layers or broilers and within a few months of life it may all be over. The broilers will find themselves in plastic packets and the layers will lay regularly until they can no more when they too will be consigned to the abattoir.

This sort of routine is of little interest to the hobbyist. He enjoys witnessing the chicken and egg process in a much more reflective and pleasurable way. He may buy a decorative chicken coop off the Internet and install it as a feature in his garden. Chickens going through their natural rhythms can wake the family and neighbors at cock crow every morning and live out their lives as educational resources for the children. Unfortunately their small brains will never know how lucky they are when compared with their factory brethren.

Other hobbyists breed heritage fowls to preserve rare breeds from extinction. Wyandots, Indian Game, Buff Rocks and Leghorns are just a few of the breeds that are the ancestors of their more productive descendants but have in them genes that are still valuable for breeding purposes. Such fowls often have very beautiful feathers and provide great aesthetic pleasure for the people who breed them.

Raising chickens has a long history as an aspect of domestic economics. In some societies they cluck about human habitations, eating scraps and bugs. They contribute eggs and meat as important elements in the diets not only of humans but also of animals and bird predators, snakes and reptiles. In more developed situations they may be kept in predator proof runs with clean egg boxes lined with straw. Here they may deposit healthy eggs and these will offset, to an extent, the cost of expensive fowl food.



