If you're thinking about getting some backyard chickens, this should be the year to take the leap! Not only are chickens great for providing eggs, but they can also be useful helpers around the yard and garden. Read about our top 7 reasons to keep chickens and why we think every family should keep chickens.
1. Chickens provide a sustainable source of eggs.
Eggs are a great source of protein, and they're a daily staple in our diet. Chickens can lay up to 250 eggs per year, making them a very efficient and dependable source of food for our family.
Plus, chickens require very little feed and water to produce eggs. In fact, according to the Delmarva Poultry Industry Association, it takes only about two pounds of feed to produce one dozen eggs.
That means that each chicken needs only about four ounces of feed per day or less than half a pound of feed per week. Furthermore, when raised and pastured on grass, as we do at Little Hoof Farm, chickens will consume even less feed.
Additionally, "Compared to eggs of the commercial hens, eggs from pastured hens eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats, more than double the total omega-3 fatty acids, and less than half the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids..." shown in a study done by Penn State's College of Agricultural Science.
So, if you're looking for a sustainable source of egg protein, our pastured chicken eggs are a great option!
2. Chickens provide a sustainable source of meat.
Chicken meat is a healthy, lean protein that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Plus, it's a great source of vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association states: "Pasture-raised chicken meat tends to be higher in iron, higher in Omega 3, have a lower Omega 6:3 ratio, and be higher in antioxidants (Vitamin E, for example). Pasture-raised eggs have higher Omega 3s, a lower Omega 6:3 ratio, increased vitamin D, and more antioxidants."
And like eggs, chicken meat is a very efficient source of protein. It takes only about two pounds of feed to produce one pound of chicken meat.
So if you're looking for a sustainable source of protein that is also healthy and delicious, our whole pastured chickens will be available beginning in May 2022!
3. Chickens help control pests like ticks and grubs in your yard or garden.
In fact, they will eat these pests off the ground and the skilled chickens will snatch them right out of the air! This helps to keep our yard and gardens free of these unwanted critters. Since chickens are omnivorous, insects are an excellent and naturally occurring source of protein for their diet.
4. Chickens can eat yard waste and kitchen scraps significantly reducing our waste output.
Chickens will eat weeds and other plants that we remove from our yard and garden. Most of the trimmings and cutting from our weeds, grass, and fallen leaves go directly to our small layer flock, whose primary job is to compost our waste. They immediately get busy picking, snacking, and spreading the trimmings around their run, and it becomes next season's compost.
In addition to composting our yard trimmings, all of our kitchen scraps go to the chickens. They love our table scraps like fruits and vegetables, even their empty eggshells! Since we are shooting for zero food waste here at Little Hoof Farm, our chickens are integral to that goal!
5. Chickens provide fertilizer for our gardens and fruit trees.
Chicken manure is an excellent fertilizer for gardens and lawns. The key to using it safely as fertilizer is to compost it first. Composting breaks down the ammonia or any pathogens in chicken manure and makes it safe to use on gardens and lawns. It also helps to reduce the strong odor we're so familiar with from commercial chicken farms on the Eastern Shore.
We compost our chicken manure directly in our chicken run by adding all of our green and brown yard waste and letting a small flock of our chickens scratch and spread it around. Then we use it on our gardens, trees, and lawns twice a year!
It's a great way to close the loop and reduce our environmental impact because NONE of our animal waste has to be taken off our property. We are working to build healthy soils that will provide food and habitat for beneficial insects, worms, and microbes. Chickens are our FAVORITE way to do that!
6. Chickens are EASY and everyone should have a few!
You don't need a lot of space, expensive equipment, or even a lot of time to raise chickens. We have found that 20-30 minutes a day is all it takes to take care of our flock of 50 layer chickens and just a few more minutes for our pastured meat bird flock. A small backyard flock of 4 birds literally takes just a few minutes morning and evening.
All they need is a dry, draft-free place to sleep up off the ground, food, water, and fresh air. They do not need heat in the winter in most of the continental US, and with the proper setup, chickens can even fend for themselves while we go away for a night or two. For longer vacations, it's not hard to find a young person who is excited to collect eggs and top off the water and feed each day. Chickens are so easy to have around.
7. Chickens are fun!
We call them our "little feathered dinosaurs" because they are so much fun to watch! Chickens are social creatures and watching them interact is endlessly entertaining. Once we added roosters to our flocks, the entertainment only increased. Kevin the Rooster sounds an alarming crow whenever he senses his girls might be in danger and runs to the front of the flock to watch for impending doom. Whether he feels threatened by the wind in the trees or a barn cat as she harmlessly strolls by, he's ready to defend!
Kevin the Rooster, when he was just a young guy.
So, that's why we love keeping chickens! What are some of the reasons you keep chickens? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments