why backyard chickens are bad

The huge factory farms that produce eggs only use special hybrid … Chickens are one of the lowest things on the food chain, and everyone enjoys a good chicken dinner. 1. So there you have it, backyard chickens, the good, the bad and the ugly. Compost Material – chicken manure is a great addition to your compost piles. Bug Eaters – backyard chickens can keep your bug population down. They aren’t always legal – so you could get turned in by your neighbors and lose your flock. Filed Under: Backyard Homestead, Backyard Livestock, Chickens. Whether you have a small or large backyard flock your egg-laying hens are on fire after winter ends. This is stressful for the birds, and often times one playful bite or pounce from a larger dog will injure them to the point that they can’t recover. This includes coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, skunks, weasels, hawks, owls, and even domestic dogs that might be roaming the neighborhood. Depending on the size of your yard and your interest in composting and gardening, this may be a good thing or an annoyance. This is Dizzy the Guinea. Though the quality is already great, you can boost the appearance of egg yolk by including the right amount of brown seaweed in their feed. So, I give you chicken keeping: the good, the bad, and the ugly: Number one–obviously–is fresh eggs direct from your back yard! Required fields are marked *. Chickens aren’t silent, even the hens make noise during egg laying. Chickens are relatively easy keepers, especially if you have a small flock. For some people this is no bother at all, and they’re happy to allow their hens to live out their natural lives as pets, whether they are productive or not. If you are able to allow your chickens time out in your backyard every single day, then you will notice a huge decrease in the number of pests that you have. If you’re fortunate to live somewhere that you can allow your hens to free range, it is well worth the time to sit in a lawn chair and enjoy the free “Chicken TV” drama that goes on as they wander about the yard hunting bugs and interacting with each other. For all you people singing the praises of backyard chickens, let me give you a perspective of someone who hates my neighbor’s chickens! Another quick tip: best to stick with strictly hens if you’re going to be asking strangers to tend to your chickens frequently while you are away. They are dirty, smelly, and the manure is a nightmare to deal with.” I think this is a huge exaggeration. You won’t find all those colors at your big box grocery store! Chickens aren’t silent, even the hens make noise during egg laying. Here's a newsflash, poor people all over the world keep chickens, and apart from a few dollars (note, not hundreds, or thousands) for chicken feed (there's a reason 'chicken feed' is slang for cheap, by the way), it costs virtually nothing. My family and I live on a little red farmstead in northwestern Pennsylvania where we raise dairy goats and poultry. Your email address will not be published. Fresh Eggs. This is our fave chicken feed. I recently shared a post on the @littleredfarmstead Instagram feed and asked my followers what they’d like to read about here on the blog. Our little flock isn’t much extra bother to care for, and I enjoy the fresh eggs and the entertainment of seeing them wander around the farm. Stray or indoor/outdoor cats can also attack chickens, particularly bantam or young birds. Hawks, raccoons, cats or a giant slug can freak out chickens. So while the idea of free range chickens is a lovely and romantic notion, if you’re someone who doesn’t want your yard messy or potentially damaged, you might want to think about an enclosed run or a mobile chicken tractor instead of letting your poultry wander. Keeping chickens is a big responsibility and does not fit every lifestyle. March 16, 2016 by Tiffany Davis 2 Comments. Roosters. But you should go into chicken raising with ALL the facts. Getting in touch with where your food comes from. Access to the freshest eggs Eggs have gotten a bad rep based on cholesterol-related research conducted in the past few decades. It … I debated on whether to put this in the “good” or “ugly” category, but ultimately settled on somewhere in the middle because I think its accurate to call it both good AND bad. OK, let’s get the obvious one out of the way. In the morning you’ll let them out of their coop, give them fresh water, feed them, and collect any eggs that might have been laid early in the morning. Chickens might be egg machines, but they are poop tornadoes. Lawn furniture? Plan on doing a deeper-cleaning of the coop about weekly, depending on how many birds you have and the size of your coop. Your neighborhood birds will LOVE your yard – free food and water….aka more poop. Chickens may not take as much time as other pets but one thing they do require is a safe home and being locked up tight in the evenings. Since everyone kept them, everyone knew about them: what they ate, when to expect eggs, what made them sick. Day to day care – chickens, like any animal require work. I don’t think an acre is a backyard. Vulnerable creatures: Chickens can easily be killed by predators. Fresh eggs! After the initial startup costs, it is relatively inexpensive to keep chickens. But it is well worth the wait! You won’t be able to just go out of town; and finding a chicken-sitter can be challenging. Garden helpers – after you harvest your garden, let your chickens in there to dig out bugs, weeds, slugs, etc. Help Preserve Genetic Diversity. You Have to Gather Eggs Daily. Eggs of all colors – there are so many colors besides white and brown eggs like pinks, olives and blues. Kids’ sandbox or play house? It is generally difficult for a true “backyard” homesteader to have the room to raise meat birds; at least in my experience. And those wild birds carry diseases that can hurt your birds (like lice). Secret Backyard Chickens – How to Keep a Stealth Coop, www.cafemedia.com/publisher-advertising-privacy-policy. Your email address will not be published. They are noisy and worst of all, they draw in predators that your neighbors will have to deal with. Most dogs, even very good natured ones, will enjoy chasing chickens for fun. As with any other animal, however, chickens require a lot of work and loving attention—definitely more than your common dog or house cat. One question that came up was asking about the pros and cons of keeping backyard chickens. Why We No Longer Keep Backyard Chickens 1. But this can be avoided with secure food like. But if you need a little convincing, here are 10 reasons to keep backyard chickens (townies included!) They are garden gangsters – they get in where they aren’t supposed to and can eat / ruin your garden. Scratched up. I recommend you read all you can, talk to experienced backyard chicken folk and then decide if your family is ready to raise them. I am a web developer and homesteader. They are not dogs and will poop places you’d really rather they didn’t. Of course, the eggs! 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. Keeping backyard poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, and turkeys) is becoming more popular. That lovely flower garden? For others, backyard chickens are livestock, and as such, they have to be productive to be useful, otherwise they become a liability. The mall... 2. Backyard Chickens and Bird Flu: How to Spot It and Why It Matters Posted by The Happy Chicken Coop on December 30, 2019 Posted In: Features In December 2014 it was confirmed that bird flu (also known as Avian Influenza or HPAI H5) … Your Kids Will Never, Ever Leave Your House. Chickens are also extremely entertaining. Inexpensive. That is the biggest problem I see with most of the backyard chicken ordinances; they treat the chickens as pets. Why is it important to stop: The sight of blood can cause other chickens to peck at the wound and make it worse. Chickens can get lice and mites, not to mention intestinal worms and other icky parasites. Fresh, Organic Eggs. But I think the term backyard has been widely overused. Ginger working one of my empty raised beds. The most stressful part of having chickens is staying on top of predator issues. Chickens … Check out Secret Backyard Chickens – How to Keep a Stealth Coop. Chickens can live 8-12 years, so that means a lot of years that you’ll be putting expensive chicken feed into an animal that may only lay a handful of eggs per month. But a ballot measure in November put the question to rest — by a narrow margin. Chicken manure is considered a hot manure, which means it has to be composted before you can put it on plants. Everyone is going to have differing opinions on this, but I thought I’d share my thoughts. Remember all those play-dates you once attended? Only you can weigh out the pros and cons, but for our family, I say YES! This may mean using electric poultry netting or an enclosed run instead of free ranging, and you have to accept that you may lose a few chickens, despite your best efforts. Backyard chickens, the good, the bad and the ugly. What Not to Feed Your Chickens: General Guidelines. Yup–you guessed it–POOP! You may have been frightened by a protective hen or an aggressive rooster, or you may recall the surprise of finding eggs. Most of us backyard farmers don’t have the space to keep hens they aren’t laying regularly; that means you’ll need to butcher them or give them to someone who will. They need to be cleaned up after and often. So what’s so great about keeping chickens out back? But I do, wholeheartedly, believe in raising chickens for meat if you have the space. An increasing number of people are crying “fowl” when it comes to supermarket eggs and embracing the trend of keeping live chickens in their backyard. The not-so fun part of cleaning the coop is, well, what to DO with all that poop? Fresh Eggs. The ‘Ewww’ Factor. Snakes and possums are also predators you might find in your coop, but they much prefer eggs or very small chicks more so than full grown chickens. I'm a firm believer that while blogs and YouTube are amazing resources, having hard-copy books on hand is invaluable. I am absolutely smitten. Pooped on. While alcohol and caffeine are coping substances for many people, chickens don’t need an extra boost of caffeine to get going in the morning and don’t need a toddy to relax before bed. Some of the exceptions for what not to feed your chickens are obvious. I almost forgot about this one because I don’t eat eggs currently … It's the 10th time since 2011 the CDC has identified an outbreak due to live poultry. But even backyard chickens have an environmental footprint. An Internet search for information on the cons of raising backyard chickens doesn't yield much useful information. 7 Reasons Why You Should Not Get Chickens Chickens Can Be Expensive. Backyard chickens are to blame for yet another outbreak of salmonella. If you want to go on vacation, you may struggle to find someone to babysit your chickens. While this is the obvious reason, there is more to it than you might think. Hi, I’m Amanda. With growing interest in keeping backyard chickens, there are plenty of advocates to extol the benefits of having a home flock.No one really mentions the negatives of keeping chickens, yet there are many challenges. They can also get egg bound (have a stuck egg) or just up and die, like our friend’s chicken, Mr. Fluffy Pants did. (I recommend 3 to 6 for beginners.) Poop–as in manure. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Backyard chickens are good for everyone and everything involved: your family, your land, the chickens, and the health of your spirit and your body. They don’t lay forever – so you’ll have to make a choice when your layers aren’t laying. One of the worst parts about chicken keeping is that after about 2 to 3 years of age, a chicken’s egg production will drop dramatically. )  Chickens are somewhat messy, but not terrible. Especially … Somehow we got away from that after the 2nd world war, but they are making a come back! My beautiful Luna-Belle posed for some glamour sho, Thawing 15 pounds of ground beef. I enjoy just sitting on my chair outside and watching them scratching and pecking. Amanda lives with her family on a little red farmstead in northwestern Pennsylvania. Until the middle of the 20th century, keeping a few chickens was common. But are backyard chickens right for you? Covered in chicken poop. Depending on the size of your coop and the number of chickens you keep, usually weekly or bi-weekly cleanings will keep everything under control. They need fresh food and water daily and for you to keep a close eye on their health. If you’ve been thinking about getting chicks this year, here are 5 reasons why you should raise backyard chickens. Most people keep chickens for … More nutritious eggs – chickens that eat bugs, greens and live a healthy humane life produce healthier eggs for us. Although, with the right know-how and a can-do attitude, one can raise and utilize backyard chickens quite successfully. But while keeping chickens may seem quaint, it’s a bit more complicated than you might think. The park? There’s about a 5 percent chance that your hen will turn out to be a rooster. Need I say more? In this case, you might  make the decision to cull the bird and use it for a stew hen. There really is no such thing as a free lunch past 40 years free food and water daily for... 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