Top 5 Reasons to Raise Chickens

Have you considered raising chickens? It is a big decision for some, especially those who have had little to none experience with raising them. Is it worth the cost and work to raise your own chickens? That is a decision you will need to make yourself, however I can give you some insight to know what some of the benefits are to owning them. Here are the top 5 reasons:

1. Organic FRESH eggs: If you have never eaten an organic FRESH farm egg, you have been missing out in life. They taste so much better than the store bought eggs! The reason why is an easy answer. They contain WAY more nutrition. Here is a great article delving deeper into the subject of the nutrition of an organic egg. If you buy organic free range eggs, you will know that they are a lot more expensive than just the regular store bought egg. So it could be a great way to save money on buying those more expensive eggs. So taste and health benefits of the EGGS is a great #1 reason.


2. Organic FREE pest control: Chickens love to go around and eat slugs and snails and other bugs around the yard and garden. They will even eat little seedling plants- so any weeds that pop up, they will most likely gobble it up. All the while scratching up the soil (aerating) while leaving behind great fertilizer. They will eat up your veggies growing in the garden, so if they are left to there own all the time out in the garden, they may help themselves to your whole garden harvest. That is one thing you would have to be careful of. But with your monitoring, they would be a great help to take care of some of those pests in your garden. And a great clean up crew if you have fruit trees that drop some spoiled fruit to the ground- they will take care of that mess. And after the garden is all harvested, letting them loose to clean up all the dropped and spoiled fruit and veggies from the garden would be a great help for the garden.


3. Amazing Organic Fertilizer: Have you tried and failed at making a great fertilizer/ mulch for your garden from kitchen scraps? Well, chickens have a fool proof plan to making amazing organic fertilizer for your garden. Simply feed your kitchen scraps to the chickens. They are omnivores and thus you can give them just about all your kitchen waste and they will provide you with a great addition to your soil in your garden. Done.


4. Save $ on Garbage bill: this goes along with the making your own garden fertilizer. By feeding your chickens the kitchen scraps, this means you will no longer need to throw them away in your garbage- thus giving you less trash. This may mean less garbage cans, or it may not, but you can take pride in knowing you are contributing less waste to the land fill and thus is a greener option. Another small way you can make less of an impact on our environment.


5. Great pets: Having a pet has proven that they help lower your stress levels, and help you be happier. But dose your pet- dog, cat, turtle, etc. give anything back to you? Can you get great tasting eggs, or great fertilizer for your garden from them? Chickens can provide the same effect of happiness as the other pets you may have, but give oh so much more. They require less work than your typical pet too. Many times you do not have to feed them daily, but filling up the feed every few days or so depending on how much feed they go through. And if you are letting them free range, this could mean they go through far less food. Can you let your dog free range to fend for himself??

These are just some of the benefits I have thought of. I am sure there are many more. Please comment and share any that you have experienced yourself! Watch for more articles on the cost of raising chickens, how to get started, and more!

In the mean time, Happy Gardening!