Raising backyard chickens is a great idea for most families! Learn the reasons why every home should have a chicken coop and get ideas on how to get started.
Have you thought about raising backyard chickens for your family? It has been one of the best decisions we have made for our family!
There are so many benefits to keeping chickens in your backyard if your local city allows it. While most of us think of the convenience of having fresh eggs in the backyard, there are other reasons to keep chickens too!
If you’ve been thinking about getting chicks this year, here are 5 reasons why you should raise backyard chickens.
1. Fresh Eggs
Need I say more? With the rise in the price of eggs, this reason alone could be enough to convince many people that backyard chickens are the perfect pet. Eggs raised in your backyard are healthier and more humane than factory farmed eggs you get in the supermarket.
Plus, you can control what they eat. We fed our chickens a primarily organic, corn-free diet and got the best eggs ever!
2. Bug Control
What is a chickens favorite snack? Bugs. These creepy crawling critters that roam around all summer are a delicacy to chickens, and backyard chickens will keep them away from you.
As weather cools and unwanted pests like roaches make a break for your home to build a safe winter nest, your chickens will snatch them up for breakfast long before they get a chance to find that crack in your siding.
Be sure to check out our other tips for natural insect control.
3. Powerful Garden Fertilizer
Chicken manure makes a great fertilizer for your garden. Just toss the bedding right into your compost bin and let it sit to break down for up to 6 weeks. Add to your garden and enjoy the extra produce as a result.
Chicken poop is high in nitrogen so it must be composted for up to 6 weeks to prevent the nitrogen from burning the plants. We used the Deep Litter Method with our chickens to compost right in the coop.
After it has composted in the coop for a few months, it’s removed and composted with food scraps for longer. Using this method helped our tomato plants to grow phenomenally tall in a short period of time!
4. Lawn Maintenance
Chickens will keep the birds and ants from destroying your lawn, all while aerating the soil and composting your grass down. The manure left behind will work its way down and help the lawn look lush and pretty.
Even better, all you have to do is water and let the birds out every morning. It’s an easy peasy way to help your lawn and make your chickens happy.
15. The Best Meat
Home grown chicken is raised humanely and clean of chemicals, fillers, hormones and antibiotics. You know exactly what is in your home raised meat and the life your chickens lived. The year we raised meat birds, I ate the best chicken I’ve ever had. It literally melted in your mouth. If you have the space, raise backyard chickens for meat and eggs.
As you can see, there are many reasons to get your own backyard chickens. Not only will you have fresh eggs, but they can help keep your yard weed and insect free too!
Interested in learning more about raising backyard chickens? Learn all about the tough topics in The Chicken Chick’s Guide to Raising Backyard Chickens.
