Owning a few chickens, how hard can it be?
Give em seed, leftover greens, fresh water, shelter, room to do their chicken thing then sit back and enjoy.
The scratching, the dust bathing, the sun baking, the cute clucking.
Therapy pets in your own back yard, delightful.
The eggs taste better too (do they?) the yolks a sunny contrast to their pale supermarket friends.
But take note …
Free-range chooks and tidy garden beds don’t go together. Don’t shout when they dig up yer nasturtiums.
And keep track. If one mysteriously disappears, turning up three weeks later cute fluffy chicks in tow, guarantee half will be roosters.
Roosters crow at 3am, the neighbours might hate you
The smaller the rooster, the nastier
A mean rooster coming at you doesn’t feel nice, even if only 20cm tall. You’re allowed to scream.
No one wants yer roosters even the big handsome, gentle ones. No one 🤷♀️
Chickens poop a lot. Behind the scenes of the cute photo, the perfect straw nest and perfect clean eggs is an ongoing poop – cleaning – coop sorting show. Can you be bothered?
Advice to former self who didn’t know she’d be living on a freakin chicken farm🙄 invest in easy to clean chicken tractor or build well-designed enormous chicken palace (like the neighbours.)
Snakes love eating yer chickens, course they do so dig that coop wire deep into the ground or prepare for the sight of curled up python in a nest box, chicken bulge in it’s middle or worse, catch mid murder, chicken legs protruding from it’s wide open jaw (been there, horrible.)
Chooks coming indoors might seem cute but quickly become a cleaning pain in the arse. No chickens in the hoose 🙅♀️ Off ye go! Oot!
Chickens get mites. Ongoing situation.
Mites love humans too. Just saying, have remedies.
Also chickens = Rats = Inevitable. Control of these disgusting creatures also ongoing.
Chickens on death’s door can look the picture of health, conversely, a barely able to stand sick chicken can be nursed back to health, especially the family favourite.
Cute fluffy breeds have health issues
Finally, if you like eating chicken, butchering and consuming your own should, in theory, be doable.
You could research a quick humane method, discuss with willing family members then hide with headphones on while the deed is done.
Help enthusiastically with plucking and prepping. Pretend to enjoy eating.
At the very least don’t buy or eat meat from tortured chickens or eggs from battery hens, just don’t do it.
Love yer chooks, if you own them you must 🐣🐥