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Considering Backyard Chickens? 3 Honest Pros and 3 Real Challenges.


We've had backyard chickens for about 12 years now and believe it or not, I'm still learning things! But there's one thing I know for sure: everyone isn't cut out to own chickens. I already know there will be someone who's going to come at me sideways about this (there's been some sassy responses on my socials about this topic), but I have these opinions based out of a desire to help folks make a good decision about having chickens. Let's jump right into it:


The 3 Pros for Having Chickens:

  1. I know where my food is coming from. I bought organic eggs before having my own egg-laying hens. While not perfect, a USDA Certified Organic label is better than factory-farmed, inhumanely raised chicken eggs. Check out the link for that - it's not good. You'll also see that most of the links are pro-vegetarian, but you can click on most sites and get the same gist: factory farms and battery cages are inhumane. It's definitely something I'd change when your funds allow. This is one of the main reasons I wanted our own chickens.

  2. Chickens are very entertaining. Take a look around social media: chickens are funny! They have personalities, they're smart (except when they aren't!) and ridiculous, all at the same time. I've actually never regretted getting chickens.

  3. They're less work than I thought. Here's the caveat: Chickens are less work than you think if you've done your homework and you're in for it if you haven't (and your chickens will pay the price for it). If you don't spoil them like I do, then they're even a little less work, haha!


The 3 Challenges and the Case Against Owning Chickens:

  1. Sometimes you have to do REALLY yucky stuff. I usually lead with this when folks tell me they want to get backyard chickens. I begin with the gross stuff because if you can't handle it, then chickens ain't for you. Let's see:

    1. poop

    2. goop

    3. oozy stuff

    4. blood

    5. sick chickens

    6. dying chickens

    7. aggressive & bully chickens


These are all real things. You need to scoop poop. Get poop off chickens. Sometimes they lay an egg and it comes out the wrong way and tears up their vent (egg hole)...it can get really goopy. You gotta clean that up; no one else will do it for you. There's not a chicken grooming place, so it's all you. Sometimes chickens get sick and you have to figure it out. Sometimes you can't figure it out and this leads me to...

  1. Sometimes chickens get sick and almost die, as in going to die and it can happen fast. What are you willing to do about it? Listen, I wasn't raised on a farm. I'm not a hunter or a hardcore homesteader/frontier woman. But, I have been in situations where I had a chicken dying - like, kinda disintegrating, and I couldn't let her suffer. So what do you do? I had to kill her myself. As awful as that may sound to you right now, the alternative was let her suffer for hours until she finally died. I chose to not let that happen and killed her quickly and humanely. These issues will almost certainly happen - or I'll be optimistic and say there's a strong possibility this will happen. The point is, that it could and if it does, who will take that on?

  2. At some point, egg laying hens stop laying eggs. Then you have a decision to make: keep the hens as pets, or cull the flock. Cull means kill, so we're clear. We live in the suburbs and I'm only allowed to have a certain number of hens (no roosters), so I can't afford to keep hens that aren't laying eggs, especially since that's why I got them in the first place. I tried and searched hard to find the lady (now friend) that I have now who culls my flock at the end. Quick and humane. That was very important to me after the first round left even my husband in tears. Egg laying hens have a natural life span of about 8-10 years, but stop laying prolifically after the first couple years. Statistically, it drops about 20% on year 3 and continually declines. Many backyard chicken owners swap their flocks every 3-4 years for maximum egg production. You don't have to do this, I'm just giving you the averages. I culled our first two flocks at 3 years and the last flock at 4. The flock we have now, I bet we'll have at least 5 years (they're Green Queens) because they're amazing egg layers and the best group we've ever had. I don't find it entertaining to "swap flocks", not at all, but this is something I squared up in my mind in the beginning and like I said, I don't have the space (literal or headspace) for 12 more pets.


I hope this has helped you make an informed decision. I'll share more information in the coming weeks about my life with chickens. I love having them, they're spoiled and they've definitely enhanced my life...and I try to enhance theirs. I hope you'll do your homework so you can make the best decision for you - and the chickens. The best resource book for backyard chickens is "City Chicks", by Pat Foreman.




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