People enjoy keeping chickens for many different reasons. Some chicken keepers simply have a passion for poultry. Others focus on the benefits chickens provide. In no particular order, here are 30 reasons to love chickens:
Chicks grow fast.
Chicks grow quickly from chickhood to maturity. In less than a year your new flock will settle into your routine.
Hens lay eggs.
One of the main reasons to love chickens is that they ensure a ready supply of freshly laid eggs right outside your back door. At times when you have more than you need, eggs may be stored for those times when your hens take a break.
Eggs come in many different colors.
Eggs can be white, any shade of brown from tan to nearly black, blue, green, olive, and speckled. You can even get Easter Eggers or a rainbow assortment to cover the whole spectrum of colored eggs.
Chickens eat insects.
Ticks and other annoying insects don’t stand a chance with these birds around. And in return, insects provide the flock with essential nutrients, entertainment, and exercise.
Chickens destroy weeds.
Chickens love fresh greens. Whatever weeds and seeds they don’t eat, they’ll scratch up or trample.
Each bird produces homegrown fertilizer.
Composted poultry manure makes outstanding fertilizer for any vegetable or flower garden. Chickens even poop while they sleep, producing 100-plus pounds per chicken per year.
Chickens are bio-recyclers.
A backyard flock will turn kitchen scraps and garden gleanings into valuable resources like eggs, meat, and fertilizer. Keeping chickens reduces the costs of collecting, transporting, and disposing of household garbage.
Hens and roosters are colorful.
They come in many colors, including red, white, blue, and black, as well as unique color patterns like ermine. And they sport many different appearances, like topknots, beards, varying comb styles, feathered legs and feet, and exceptionally long tails.
A small flock needs limited space.
Nearly every backyard has enough space to house at least a couple of birds. The average breed needs only 3 to 4 square feet of coop space plus 8 to 10 square feet of run per bird. Small breeds need even less.
Chickens are unintimidating.
Because chickens are small, most people find them unintimidating They are therefore beloved by the young, the elderly, and the disabled — any of whom might be put off by larger animals.
Children love chickens.
Even the most timid child takes readily to chickens — many a family flock began as a 4-H youth project. A flock is easy to care for, and kids enjoy the daily excitement of collecting eggs.
A flock is endlessly entertaining.
One of the many reasons to love chickens is that they are playful and inquisitive. Provide them with toys — like a swing or a treat toy — and they’re more entertaining to watch than anything you might find on television.
Chickens are good therapy for the soul.
Watching the antics of your birds while relaxing in your own backyard is sure to help you unwind after a hectic day. Their calm and gentle ways are guaranteed to be a soothing stress reliever.
Chickens are livestock.
With just a small flock you can create your own backyard mini farm. In fact, that first flock often leads to a more diversified farm with other types of poultry or even larger four-legged stock.
Chickens teach husbandry.
Just like other livestock, a successful flock needs regular care, protective shelter, fresh water, nutritional feed, and routine healthcare. After learning poultry husbandry, people often move on to more challenging breeds of livestock.
Chickens are educational.
They provide a great way for kids (and adults, too!) to learn where food comes from. It can be quite a revelation to find out that eggs don’t originate in some back room at the grocery store.
Chickens are easy keepers.
Routine flock maintenance requires only a few minutes a day. Any extensive cleaning jobs usually can be put off until the weekend.
Chickens teach responsibility.
Those few minutes of daily visits to the flock offer a painless way for youngsters to develop a sense of responsibility while learning that chores don’t need to be a drudge.
Chickens are good companions.
Chickens always listen to what you have to say, often show affection, and are never judgemental. Some even like to ride in the car or watch television in the company of their humans.
Chickens are inexpensive.
Once you establish your coop and run, keeping a flock is among the least expensive of hobbies. With little additional cost input — mostly for feed — a flock provides you with hours of amusement.
Chickens are sustainable.
If your flock includes a rooster, your birds will reproduce themselves by hatching their own eggs. Or you might prefer the awesome experience of hatching their eggs in an incubator.
Chickens make good eating.
Not everyone will turn their birds into Sunday dinner. But many find that surplus cockerels are tender and tasty grilled or fried, and old hens make delicious stew or soup.
Chickens earn their keep.
Nearly everyone who keeps a flock ends up earning a little “egg money” by selling eggs to neighbors, friends, or coworkers. And, assuming you don’t need it yourself, a flock’s fertilizer is highly sought by gardeners.
You can teach them to do tricks.
With treats and patience, your birds can be trained to do any number of tricks. Just a few of the many tricks you can teach them are to play fetch, jump through a hoop, and ring a bell.
You can teach chickens to behave.
Teaching them needn’t be confined to doing tricks. Some of the practical things you can teach your flock are to come when you call, stay away from your doorway, and even use a litter box.
Chickens are smart.
Chickens show they are smart in these several ways:
- They communicate with each other.
- They have good memories.
- They learn from each other.
- They make decisions through reason.
- They can do basic arithmetic.
Each bird has its own personalities.
Just like humans, each chicken has a unique personality. Not only do they not all act exactly the same, but you can often identify an individual just by the sounds it makes.
Chickens make terrific pets.
Because each chicken has a different personality, many owners of backyard birds name each one. They not only learn to recognize their own names, but they also know the names of other members of their flock.
Chickens create friendships.
People with a passion for poultry enjoy socializing with one another at club meetings and poultry shows. Your flock also makes a good talking point with neighbors as you help them learn to love chickens as much as you do.
Chickens are loads of fun.
When you contemplate all these wonderful reasons to love chickens, you have to ask: “What’s not to love about chickens?”
Helpful Links
20 Weird and Wonderful Facts about Chickens
10 Reasons to Keep Bantam Chickens
5 Reasons to Keep a Rooster, and 5 Reasons Not to
And that’s today’s news from the Cackle Coop.
Gail Damerow has raised chickens and various other poultry for more than 5 decades and has written numerous books about them, man of which are available from the Cackle Bookstore.
