The "small devourer" (chickens/chicks) problem

[TheMeInTeam]

You didn't pay attention to the part where I said chickens are too resource-intensive compared to other larger animals.

You... didn't actually say that in your original post.

That's why I didn't know why you thought chickens ate too much. If a chicken eats more grass than a muffalo, that's kind of silly.

Are you saying the chicken's food bar isn't as big as the amount of nutrition grass is worth? (I don't have time to do actual testing or dig through game files right now) If so, making it bigger (likewise for anything else that eats grass) would solve the problem, though chickens would have to be rebalanced if the eggs are balanced around how many you get for free right now. The other effect is that chickens would eat less often, but I don't think "how often chickens have to eat" is a real balance concern.

In addition to how they interact with grass (IE overeat nutrition needs), chickens do arguably "eat too much".  Their nutrition intake:

- Equals monkeys and wargs (?)
- Is .05 less than panthers, cougars, emus, and cassowaries (!)
- is .1 less than bears, ibex rams, and wild boars (...)

Bears are the same deal in reverse (eating less than dogs and the same as racoons?  Wat.)

[The Nickman]

Has anyone ever owned chickens??  They absolutely eat EVERYTHING you put in their pen, and there's no grass left within a week!

[quilzas]

Has anyone ever owned chickens??  They absolutely eat EVERYTHING you put in their pen, and there's no grass left within a week!

A good friend of mine owns chickens and ducks. It is amazing how they will decimate an area.

[SpaceDorf]

Has anyone ever owned chickens??  They absolutely eat EVERYTHING you put in their pen, and there's no grass left within a week!

A good friend of mine owns chickens and ducks. It is amazing how they will decimate an area.

How big in tiles would you say this chicken pen is ?
And how many chicken are in this pen ?

The problem with those birds is that they, like goats, eat all of the plants,
including the roots.
That way there is nothing left that regrows.

[quilzas]

Has anyone ever owned chickens??  They absolutely eat EVERYTHING you put in their pen, and there's no grass left within a week!

A good friend of mine owns chickens and ducks. It is amazing how they will decimate an area.

How big in tiles would you say this chicken pen is ?
And how many chicken are in this pen ?

The problem with those birds is that they, like goats, eat all of the plants,
including the roots.
That way there is nothing left that regrows.

Hmmmm..  Maybe 10x20 squares. It is an area that's largely shaded by 4 trees. When she started I think she had a dozen chickens and ducks. I thought the grass would last at least twice as long as it did. It was an amazing transformation.

Sidenote - She has about an acre property and they are let out to roam around during the day, and then back into the pen at night.

[Bozobub]

Actually, much of that devastation is from chicken poop, which "burns" the plants out with its very high nitrates content.  If you let chickens roam completely free — once your crop is past seedling stage; a foot high is usually enough — they're actually quite good at patrolling your crop for both weeds and pests; they leave larger plants completely alone.

The real problem with chickens in RimWorld is that IRL, chickens are one of the more efficient methods of turning feed into animal protein; about 2.1-2.5 lbs. of feed per lb. of chicken.  You have to go to fish and/or insects to get a better ratio; tilapia, for example, run about 1.1-1.2 lbs. feed per lb. of tilapia.  Yet in the game, chickens are one of the, if not THE *least* efficient methods to gain meat/animal protein, even including eggs.

[The Nickman]

So what's the general consensus here? Are chickens still not worth farming? I only ask because I've JUST bought a hen and  a rooster from a trader, but if they're not worth it I'll feed them to the pigs. Literally

[Wheatley]

I've tried large scale chicken farms. You can sell the adults in huge quantities to traders for around 54 each, and you get a ridiculous amount of eggs in the meantime. However you need to produce a lot of haygrass and manage the males properly so the population doesn't get out of hand, which leads to wasted pawn time and a fair amount of micromanagement.

So its viable, just up to you if you want to put the effort in.

[Lord Ossor]

Hi there,

I own chickens, in this case they are "Serama", meaning the smallest chickens in the world. They live on a 10x20m area, and they are 5 girls and 1 boy.

And I can tell you: There is _nothing_ absolutely _nothing_ - apart from a few plants that they don't eat -  left on this area. They don't eat the roots though, so every years the plants try again

[Lord Ossor]

That said I am experimenting with super fast growing plants, such as "Tobinambur" (aka "Jerusalem artichoke"), which serves both as a plant growing fast enough to survive in the chicken's area, and can be used by both Humans and Animals as food.

[eadras]

I have a chicken farm in my current A17 colony.  This was not part of my plan, but I got the "chickens join" event, so figured I would give it a try.  Managing the population is not difficult.  Simply cull most of the roosters, and separate the remaining roosters from the hens until you want to expand your flock.  They do eat a lot, though.  The only real benefit is that each egg replaces the meat component in a fine meal, reducing the amount of hunting micromanagement required.  Overall I prefer farming muffalos, as they provide wool, milk (works for fine meals as well in a17), and very sturdy defense vs. raiders or manhunters.