Broiler Chickens as Pets: We Solved Our Awkward Problem

It was the day before Easter. Elizabeth and I were at the feed store and decided that it was time to pick up our spring broilers, something we wanted to make a tradition to keep the freezer stocked. The price was right, the timing was right and the universe just kind of came together and said, 'Just Do It.' Ok, so we did. 

Fifteen healthy, active and bright-eyed broiler chickens were selected, boxed-up, paid for and loaded into the truck for the ride home. It's only a twenty-minute ride, not too far away. 

Well, maybe it was just a little too long to have a twelve-year-old empathetic pescatarian sharing the back seat with fifteen cute, yellow, fuzzy baby chicks.. 

Elizabeth started bonding, picks one and says it's her new pet.

One down.

When we got home, Wendie chose her favorite, named it and cuddled it close to her heart. Now we're down two chicken dinners.

Ten-year-old Carolyn wanted her own, so she chose a puffy cutie and called it hers. The kids' friends came over the next day and what do you know, all said and done seven of the broilers meant for the freezer were 'saved', given names and markers and became destined not for the freezer, but the egg flock. 

Ho, boy.

Can You Keep Broilers as Pets?

Yes, you can keep broilers as pets. We know this because of last year's late-summer broiler chicken order when only half of them went to the butcher. The remainder were integrated into the egg flock thanks in part to two September nights of a rampant raccoon that took four of our ladies. 

We had nothing to lose, so we tried the broilers as replacements. Yes, they're heavy and slow, but not in an unhealthy, commercial meat-bird kind of way. They are a NH Red and RI Red cross, chubby and friendly. We did alright. They survived winter and are thriving as we speak.

But to be clear, broilers are not the ideal egg flock bird. They eat a lot, are a little stupid and to date, haven't bonded with any of us. Do broiler chickens lay eggs? Oh yes, they produce. Quite nicely, in fact. I would say they're easily on par with our old Asa Browns, with 8-10 eggs coming in daily from a flock of eleven ladies and Bruce, our big rooster. 

Bruce, by the way, was also rescued from the oven in that same late-summer batch.

Broilers as Pets

So that brings us to this season, where we were supposed to raise fifteen birds for the freezer but are now looking at keeping seven of them as pets. 

I'm smart enough to go with the family flow, but how about some diversity? A few different breeds, you know, ones that are perfect for our purposes?

It's been three weeks, and the chicks aren't so cute anymore. They still have to be in the brooder, taking up space in my workshop for a further three weeks until they feather out.

Their heads are maturing, their soft, baby-cute down is scraggly and sparse, and they aren't peeping so adorably anymore. More like an eek eek eek. And most importantly, the markings put on them by Wendie and the kids are gone. The plan is to harvest between eight and twelve weeks. All of them.

Our Fool-Proof Broiler Solution

But then, what about the kids? The point of this whole story is that we tried something new and it worked. Kind of. Last year. It wasn't ideal, but things turned out for the best. This morning, Wendie and I did the feed and clean on the broilers and made a decision. No more broilers as pets. 

A trip to the feed store after lunch saw us picking up straw for the summer coop and run so the broiler chicks will be comfy, picking up a chock block for the egg coop, a couple dog bones for Bailey, some sunflower and annual seeds as well as ordering 6 new birds meant for egg laying to replace the broilers we definitely weren't keeping this year. None of the kids will know, right? It's just like replacing a goldfish left accidentally on the radiator, right? Fingers crossed.

Also, No More baby Chicks. Probably.

Did you know you can buy chicks that have already passed that awkward, teenaged phase? We didn't, and now we do. They were a little more expensive than buying them as chicks, of course, but we're OK with that. Eight dollars a bird to skip puberty. Yes, definitely worth it. We'll share more about these little ladies in tomorrow's post when we bring them home to roost.

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