20 Reasons Why You Should Consider Getting Chickens
Owning chickens may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering a pet, but let me tell you, it’s a decision worth considering. Chickens are adorable and fascinating creatures and offer many benefits that make them a brilliant addition to any household. Today, I want to talk about 20 reasons why you should consider getting chickens.
1. Fresh Eggs Every Day
One of the most obvious advantages of owning chickens is the abundance of fresh eggs available in your own backyard. Imagine entering your backyard every morning to collect a basket of delicious, organic eggs. No more trips to the grocery store for supermarket eggs or worrying about the quality of your eggs. 8 Types of Eggs You Can Eat
2. Natural Pest Control
Your own chickens are excellent at controlling insects and pests in your yard. They love to forage for bugs, snails, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, and grubs, reducing the need for harmful pesticides. Say goodbye to unwanted pests and hello to a thriving garden. Keeping Pests Away from Food Storage
3. Fertilizer for Your Garden
In addition to pest control, chickens provide a constant supply of natural free fertilizer. Chicken manure or chicken poop is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, essential nutrients for healthy plant growth. Your garden will flourish with the help of these guys! 12 Budget-Friendly Beautiful Garden Tips
The good thing is that you can feel comfortable spreading the manure in the garden since you know it doesn’t have harmful chemicals. If you have a seasonal garden, mix the chicken manure with food scraps, leaves, lawn clippings, and other materials to make a compost pile. That way, you’ll have ready fertilizer for the following year’s plantings.
4. Entertainment Value
Chickens are highly entertaining creatures. Their quirky behaviors will provide entertainment for everyone. Watching them scratch, peck, set up a natural pecking order, and interact with each other is quite funny! Whether it’s to raise some of your food, form a new hobby, or be entertained, chickens can be fun to be around.
5. Educational Opportunities
Owning chickens can be a fantastic educational experience for everyone, particularly kids. It teaches them responsibility, compassion, and the cycle of life. Kids can learn about incubation, hatching, and the care required to raise healthy chickens. Your kids might take to the chickens more than you ever thought. Home Economic Skills You Should Teach Your Kids
6. Stress Relief
Spending time with chickens has been proven to reduce stress. Watching them roam around as free-range chickens producing free-range eggs, listening to their soothing clucks, and knowing they are reducing pests can relieve stress. Take the time to feel the softness of their feathers because it can have a calming effect on you. Managing the Mental Stress of Prepping
7. Sustainability
When keeping chickens, you are taking a step towards sustainable living. You’re reducing your reliance on everyday food production and leaning toward a self-sufficient lifestyle. It’s a small way to be self-sufficient and reap a positive reward. 17 Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient
8. Low Maintenance
Contrary to popular belief, chickens are relatively low-maintenance pets that happen to lay eggs. Your backyard flock requires minimal space, basic shelter, and regular access to food and water. You can quickly meet their needs with little effort, even with a busy schedule.
If you worry about natural predators attacking your chickens while also providing some shelter from adverse weather conditions, keeping them in a chicken coop is an option. Allowing them to be backyard chickens is optimal, mainly if you’ve seen them raised in factory farms with the related cramped conditions. Providing them with a nesting box is a nice touch that shouldn’t cost you much.
9. Natural Weed Control
Chickens are skilled weed eaters. They love to peck at grass and weeds, reducing the need for manual weeding. Let them loose in your garden, and watch as they control much of the unwanted vegetation, leaving you with a beautifully maintained space.
10. Companionship
While chickens may not snuggle up on your lap like a dog or cat, they still offer companionship in their unique way. Chickens are social animals that can form bonds with their owners. They enjoy human interaction and thrive in a good environment.
11. Reduce Food Waste
Chickens are fantastic at reducing food waste. They happily consume kitchen scraps, vegetable peelings, and leftovers as their chicken feed, turning them into nutritious eggs and manure. It’s an excellent way to use food that would otherwise go to waste. How To Store Your Food Storage
12. Pest Deterrent
Did you know that chickens can also deter larger pests? Their presence alone can remove rats, mice, and snakes from your property. With chickens around, many unwanted visitors will think twice before making themselves home on your property.
13. Eggshell Art
When you have chickens, you also have access to beautifully colored eggshells. These shells can be used for various art projects, such as dyeing and painting. Sometimes, it’s fun to cook with eggs with different colored shells.
14. Encourages Physical Activity
Caring for chickens involves some physical activity, whether feeding them, cleaning their coop, or letting them out to roam. This can be an excellent way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine and stay somewhat active. Fitness for Survival
15. Connect with Nature
Owning your chickens and raising them allows you to reconnect with nature. Watching them interact with the environment is relaxing and a great way to escape the daily grind.
16. Source of Income
If you have the space and resources, owning chickens can be profitable, depending on your egg production. Selling surplus eggs, chicks, or even fully grown chickens can provide you with income. Cash vs. Credit Card: Which is Better in an Emergency? Make sure your location’s zoning laws allow raising and breeding the chickens.
17. Community Building
Owning chickens can be a great way to connect with your community. You can join local poultry groups, participate in chicken-related events, and even share your knowledge and experiences with others, even some local farmers. How to Make a Community in Your Neighborhood
18. Teach Responsibility to Children
Having chickens teaches children responsibility from a young age. They learn the importance of feeding, watering, and caring for another living being. This is one of my favorite reasons to consider getting chickens. 9 Necessary Survival Skills For Kids: It’s Never Too Young to Learn
19. Great for the Economy and Environment
Keeping chickens aligns with sustainable practices by promoting a healthy economy. Their waste can be composted and used as fertilizer for your garden, closing the loop and reducing waste. 15 Valuable Skills I Learned In Home Economics
20. Connection with a Food Source
In a time of mass-produced food, owning chickens allows you to reconnect with your food source. You have control over their diet, ensuring that they are well-nourished and healthy.
It’s also a great way to eat healthily. Flocks of chickens, made up of hens and some roosters, can provide the protein you need, along with vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids, which are nutrients we all need. Chicken meat tends to be low in cholesterol, which is great for good heart health. Their meat tastes great in so many meal entrees, making deciding to raise your chickens an easy decision.
More Tips
- Egg Chickens: What You Need to Know
- Meat Chickens: What You Need to Know
- Types of Birds Safe to Eat in an Emergency
Final Word
Are you intrigued by the reasons you should consider getting chickens? Owning chickens can benefit your life, whether you live in a rural or urban setting. If you have the time, space, and physical ability to have chickens, go for it. If you’ve had some experience raising chickens, I’d love to have you comment about why it was such a positive experience for you and your family. May God bless this World, Linda
Copyright Images: Chickens Outside Depositphotos_52996331_S by Yulia-zl18, Chickens Outside 1 Depositphotos_52996023_S by Yulia-zl18
I would like to get some chickens. The constant supply of eggs is what I am interested in.
HI Janet, it’s the eggs that help so many families. It would be a great skill to learn as well. I have friends that raise them but I do not have any experience in that area. Linda
The color of the yolks from Farm Fresh Eggs is almost orange compared to egg from the store. You better have room in the frig. Even just 4 hens….laying 3-4 eggs a day…everyday….adds up quick.
HI FLAPrepper1, life is good if you have chickens, great tip on how many! Linda
I currently have 15 dozen eggs in a fridge and am getting between 5 and 8 more every day from my 8 birds. Some of those eggs I will treat with food grade mineral oil so they will last us through the period when the hens are molting or otherwise stop laying. None of the eggs have had the bloom washed off of them. I have accumulated those eggs in less than one month’s time–in spite of my wife and I eating them for breakfast and using them in her extensive baking. And we’ve given several dozen away to our neighbors. If this keeps up I’ll have to check with the local food bank to see if they’ll accept some. I’ve already done that with my excess tomatoes. I supplement their feed with greens from my garden beds and during the winter months feed them mash, crimped oats and some corn–which is very economical feed.
Get some chickens!
Hi Ray, oh my gosh, that is a lot of eggs! What a blessing to have 8 birds! We have a few neighbors who have chickens and I love watching them Great comment, Ray! Linda
Keep in mind that egg production drops off dramatically during molt.
Also chickens don’t lay daily. It’s a 26-28hr cycle so every so often they won’t lay that day.
Bad thing about chickens is they taste like chicken and everything likes the taste of chicken
Hi Matt, thanks for the information on the chickens you raise. I hope this is okay to say, but Matt had a back experience when a fox attacked and killed his chickens that he raised and loved for 3 years. He then had to start all over. I will leave the other details out, but it was very tramatic. In other words, raising chickens is a bit harder than I had ever realized. Matt has taught me a lot about how to raise chickens. Everything does indeed like the taste of chickens. Thanks for sharing, my friend. Linda
I’ve had chickens for 13 years, Everything list above is correct.
Entertainment wise, I have one chicken (Ms. Adventure) who I think somehow is channeling Chevy Chase. While all the other chickens come out of the coop every morning calmly and orderly….the last chicken out is always Ms. Adventure. She comes out stumbling and bumbling….crashing into other chickens. The other chickens look at her and you can almost read their minds, “IDIOT!”
She’s like Buzz Lightyear…..Falling with Style……..
HI FLAPrepper1, I got the giggles over Ms. Adventure and Chevy Chase, best story ever. LOL!! I love it. What a blessing to have chickens. I would love to just watch them, I get to go see my neighbors chickens sometimes, what a treat! Linda