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1. Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 16-May-2023 03:42:48 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:
   I have always preferred hatching my own chickens over buying them. Our first flock was hatched at home, and then we added 2 hens to the mix a few months later. You can usually find local fertilized eggs although you may not always be able to get a specific breed.
   
   When we started building our flock we were lucky enough to have someone near us that raised seramas and we bought 18 eggs. Only 2 hatched and both were rootsers. They were probably my favorite birds. Tiny little cocky bastards that had no fear.
   
   One problem with buying eggs from randos is that you have no idea what kind of rooster fertilized the eggs, so if for example you want an easter egger, you might see a nice blue egg and think oh that'll be pretty and find out later it's just laying regular brown or white eggs.
   
   You also end up with a pretty even mix of males to females, so you have to decide how to handle that. You don't want too many males or everybody gets abused (including the males). So you're either going to have to eat them or sell them. (side note you can find free or very cheap roosters from people who just want to get rid of them [because selling roosters is harder than selling hens] if you are comfortable with the culling process. Young roosters are good food for you or your dogs. Older roosters are good for soup or dogfood only. I once got 18 roosters for 0 dollars)
   • wopu@merovingian.club's status on Tuesday, 16-May-2023 04:10:57 JST Wopu

     in reply to

     @thatguyoverthere I'd love to have a chicken and a quail run. I'm not big into pets but taking care of a flock that gives you breakfast everyday seems more rewarding to me.

     Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: likes this.
   • Flick 🇬🇧 (flick@spinster.xyz)'s status on Tuesday, 16-May-2023 04:10:58 JST Flick 🇬🇧

     in reply to

     @thatguyoverthere I remember once when I was looking for a muscovy (to keep my rescue muscovy company, as the runners didn’t hang out with her), it was £35 for a duck or £30 for a duck and drake.

     Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: likes this.
   • Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 16-May-2023 04:12:43 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:

     in reply to

     • Flick 🇬🇧
     @Flick smart. drakes are even worse than roos. Absolute shitheads if there are too many around.
   • Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Tuesday, 16-May-2023 04:15:48 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:

     in reply to

     • Wopu
     @Wopu yeah I mean I am also a pet person, but the rewards of pet ownership are definitely less tangible. I also use the birds to help other food grow both in speeding up how fast I can create compost and adding nitrogen with their poop. They are also good at weeding if you can protect the things you don't want them to eat.
     
     Being able to appreciate the entire process from grain and bug to egg to chicken dinner also is it's own kind of reward.