What’s a good way to find
free chickens?
You might have a neighbor who
raises chickens but is a little timid about slaughtering their own
birds. I heard of an arrangement where one person does all the dirty
work for you on processing day and keeps half the meat in exchange for
their hard work.
It’s probably not a good idea
to make this offer to someone who has a name for each of their
chickens, but they might be interested in you helping them clean out
their coop for a few dozen eggs.
How to find free chickens
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About The Author
Anna & Mark
Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton are a pair of back-to-the-landers who have been homesteading for over a decade.
Lots of people in my area want to put eggs under a broody hen, so their kids can experience seeing chicks hatch and grown up. Some of those people are sensible, and have already thought about what they’ll do with the inevitable 50% roosters that will hatch. Others remain blissfully ignorant of the problem until it hits :-).
So I offer people fertile eggs for their broody hens, with a promise to take back any chickens they don’t want to keep. By the time the young roosters start crowing, they’re not far off butchering size – so someone else has paid for all the feed! People sometimes don’t want all the pullets, either, so I get some of those back that I can keep or sell or trade to other people wanting layers. Occasionally I also get their old stewing hens, now that they have refreshed their flocks.
I’ve also cultivated a reputation as the guy to call if you want to get rid of any poultry. I have a few spare chicken tractors around the yard, and people sometimes drop ducks and chickens to me for “retirement”.
If you don’t already have chickens, you could approach a local homesteader with the above deal – offer to incubate a clutch of eggs for them and raise the hatchlings, in exchange for keeping some of the laying hens. They may even lend you their incubator. Someone like me would jump at that deal!
Darren — Very smart! It does seem that right now it’s awfully easy to find cockerels for the asking since so many people are getting into chickens who wouldn’t consider butchering. I’ll bet someone could live off free chickens if they kept their eyes open….