Reasons Why You Should Keep Chickens
Chickens: they’re not your average animal to have in your household, but these days, more and more people are making the decision to keep them. So why is that, and why should you consider opening up your doors (or at least part of your garden) to these feathered friends?
1. Moneysaving
Ok, so there’s got to be easier ways to save a few pennies than by deciding to keep chickens, but sometimes we can get a little bored with voucher codes and deals. So, what better way to liven up your moneysaving activities than by keeping chickens?
Although you’re hardly likely to save a fortune, calculations show that just by keeping a few chickens at home you will save you more money than buying free-range eggs at the supermarket. However, you’ll have to keep the chickens for the love of it, as if you start factoring in the time you spend looking after them, you probably won’t see any returns for your investment.
2. As a Hobby
Chickens might not be as ready for a cuddle or a game of tug as your average dog is (come to think of it, we’re not sure beaks are made for games of tug), but chickens do provide lots of enjoyment when you keep them as pets. Beside the obvious benefit of freshly laid eggs, just being able to watch your chickens cluck and scratch their way around your garden provides many people with a great deal of satisfaction. Just make sure you don’t let them near your prize Marigolds!
Keeping chickens can also be exceptionally fun if you’ve got children in your household. Kids will enjoy learning about the chickens, feeding them, and collecting their eggs. Having live animals for children to help look after is a great hands-on educational way to help them learn about caring for and looking after animals.
The DIY enthusiast could also get a lot of potential enjoyment from keeping chickens by building their pen, coop, or even going wild and creating a chicken obstacle course for them to enjoy.
3. Animal Welfare
For a long time, chickens have all too often been given a poor deal. Thousands of them spend their short lives cooped up in huge sheds with barely any room to move. As a result they develop disorders, become fatter than they should do, and generally live a short and bleak life. Chickens kept like this are done so for one reason only: cheapness.
If you decide to keep your own chickens – whether from chicks or from rescued battery hens – you know you’ll be giving these harmless creatures a happy and contented life. Not only that, but you’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing where your food comes from and that you’re not contributing to any of these cruel ways of keeping chickens.
4. A Better Diet
According to scientific research, free-range eggs have more folic acid, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A in them than eggs from battery chickens. Having free-range eggs on hand will mean your diet benefits. Aside from that, if you’re feeding your chickens a healthy and nutritionally varied diet you can rest assured that the eggs they provide will be better for you than shop-bought eggs where you don’t know what foods the chickens have been fed on.
Anything else to Consider?
Aside from these positives, there are always other factors you should consider when deciding to keep any sort of animal at home. Firstly, the most important – and probably obvious – point is whether you have enough space in your garden. Chickens can be kept in a relatively small space – for instance, in an Eglu, but even these compact hen homes need to be moved around the garden so your chickens can have access to fresh grass and your lawn doesn’t get completely bare in one patch.
You should also take into consideration any other pets you may already own. Dogs and cats might not make the best of friends for a chicken, and if you want to let your chickens occasionally roam free around your garden you’ll need to remember to keep your other animals elsewhere.
Finally, make sure you check with your local council to find out whether you’re allowed to keep chickens. Getting set up and moving your chickens in only to find out you’re unable to keep them due to regulations will cause both you and the chickens unnecessary upset.
Once you’ve taken all these things into consideration we hope you’ll see there are far more benefits to owning these feathered friends than minuses, so we wish you good luck!
