If you’ve opted to raise backyard chickens. You’ve joined a growing number of individuals who recognize the numerous advantages that these lovely birds provide.
Before you run out and get your boots and feed bucket, think about whether raising backyard chickens is right for your land and lifestyle.
We adore our fluffy, feathery friends, who have a lot of personalities and are excellent companions. However, we want to ensure that you realize the effort required to maintain high standards of chicken care. So, in this article, we’ll go through the pros and cons of raising chickens, as well as some other basic info about chickens.
Pros and Cons of Raising Backyard Chickens
Pros:
Chickens control pests
If you’re fighting flies, mosquitoes, and other insects throughout the summer, you’ll be grateful for raising backyard chickens, who will cheerfully consume these pests and keep their numbers down. Insects are a vast source of nutrition for your chickens, and they may make a big difference in the quality of your eggs.
Reduce food waste
Feeding food scraps to your hens won’t meet all of their nutritional needs, but it will provide diversity to their diet and reduce waste in your home. Fruits and vegetable peels, pasta, and rice may all be boiled into a hearty mash and fed to your birds once they’ve cooled.
Meat, eggs, avocado, onions, and some pips and seeds are all off-limits when it comes to leftovers. Junk and processed foods are likewise unhealthy and should be avoided at all costs.
Eggs galore!
You’ll have a half-dozen reasons to be grateful for raising backyard chickens every morning. If you haven’t experienced organic eggs from healthy, well-cared-for chickens, you will be astounded by the flavor, quality, and rich pert yokes (often double) that are far superior to anything you’ll find in the supermarket.
Eggs are a fantastic reward for the time and effort you put into adequately caring for your hens. If you rear layers from chicks, you may enjoy one egg each day from about 18 weeks of age.
Garden clearing is a benefit of raising backyard chickens.
It’s incredible to see how much scraping, pecking, and uprooting a few chickens can do, so it’s worth letting them go in weed-infested sections of your land.
They may, however, be harmful if confined to limited space for an extended length of time. As a result, we suggest a chicken coop tractor can be relocated to the garden. This will help to keep the damage to your plants and grass to a minimum.
Surprisingly simple to care for and maintain
Organizing and routinely caring for chickens is surprisingly simple, with a bit of self-discipline. Your top priorities are to keep them well-nourished and exercised, as well as to keep their living quarters clean and secure.
Fine fertilizer for your garden
Farmers may make a lot of money selling chicken manure since it is such an excellent natural fertilizer. Add your hen-house bedding to your compost bin to enhance it, or give it to a gardener who appreciates it.
Countless hours of fun
Chickens are adorable birds who are a lot of fun to watch and chase, especially if you’re looking for eggs. Taking care of your hens can be a great family project, and even little children may help with some of the chores.
Overall, chickens make excellent family pets that you will grow to adore.
Cons:
Your Chickens will require some room
For the excellent welfare of raising backyard chickens, an adequate amount of room is a must. Within your hen house, you must be able to give a minimum of 2 to 3 square feet of space and up to 10 feet per bird outside. Overcrowding and its consequences, such as stress, pecking, and sickness, are avoided when there is enough space.
Chickens are noisy
It’s essential to have forgiving neighbors who will appreciate your chickens if you are raising backyard chickens, since they may be somewhat noisy as they go about their day. They can get violent and become noisy as they establish their pecking order, but things usually calm out soon.
Costs may pile up quickly
Housing, bedding, and feed are all inevitable upfront costs when raising backyard chickens. Investing in a good chicken coop and suitable run will, of course, enhance the health and well-being of your chickens.
The reward will be a dozen fresh eggs to reduce your food expenditure. You’ll also find yourself becoming a voracious collector of various gadgets and goodies to pamper your chickens.
Make sure you can get used to the chicken odor
Even if you keep your chicken coop clean, you’ll have to get used to the persistent and pervasive stink of chicken excrement, which may get very unpleasant in warmer weather.
You still have a chicken to look after once the eggs are gone
Even the most ardent layer will retire at some point. Chickens may live up to seven years. So have to offer your chickens feed even when they are egg-free
Keep an eye out for local predators
Foxes, raccoons, badgers, weasels, and even opportunistic predators are likely to target your flock. You’ll have to keep an eye out for them and keep your chickens safe at night. Negligence will be taken advantage of.
If not correctly managed, poop goes into everything
Be prepared for smatterings of chicken excrement all over your yard if you let your backyard chickens free roam. You’ll need a safe and secure location to dispose of it. When chickens defecate, it isn’t very healthy for humans, and it’s also bad for plants and the compost heap.
The toxic acids in their feces will only be broken down by rain and cold temperatures. So having a secure location to dispose of it is essential.
Caring for pet chickens in your backyard or garden may be a rewarding hobby when done correctly.
5 Questions About Raising Backyard Chickens
What’s the best number of chickens to get?
Because chickens are sociable birds who do not perform well on their own, you should have at least more than one bird.
As a rough estimate, two to three chickens per family member should be enough for egg production, or four if your family is very fond of eggs or wants to give them away occasionally. (If you wish to sell eggs or give away more than a dozen at a time, double the amount!)
What’s the average sq ft per chicken?
Chickens don’t need a lot of room. If they are “cooped up” with no access to the outside, your coop should give at least 4 square feet per chicken.
On the other hand, if they’ll have an outdoor “run” space or be permitted to wander freely, which is ideal, they can get away with just two square feet per bird inside the coop as long as the outside run is at least 10 square feet.
Do you consider them adorable?
Chickens are adorable. Sometimes they perform unusual, unique activities to amuse us.
If you’ve spent time with chickens and don’t care for them, or own them, which is bad for both you and your chickens. And be warned: if you adore them, but your partner does not, you may find yourself caring for them alone!
Are you able to set aside some time each day?
Chickens, although being low maintenance, do require some daily care as well as monthly and semi-annual upkeep. Spend 10 minutes a day on your pet chickens, an hour or two once a month, and a few hours twice a year on semi-annual chores. If all of that seems like too much for you, chickens aren’t for you.
Is it Legal to Have Hens/Chickens in Your Town?
They are not legal in every town. Before you go out and buy chickens, double-check with your local authorities. Mostly in the US, there are no restrictions on raising backyard chickens.
But in cities, there are limitation zones. There may be restrictions on chicken waste disposal too. So check with the local authority first. You’ll prevent unpleasant shocks if you do your homework before bringing chicken.
Furthermore, if you intend to raise roosters, you should research local noise laws. You may be obliged to get rid of your neighbors if they complain.
The advantages of raising backyard chickens exceed the difficulties, and if you do not put them off, you are likely to perform an excellent job of caring for your chickens. Many of the disadvantages may be mitigated by investing in a high-quality chicken coop and run, or an A-frame Chicken Coop that is easy to maintain and has a robust and safe run that fits your backyard.
