Official BYC Poll: Why Do You Have Chickens - Select All That Apply

You should add showing/exhibition

I love to cook and it's the secret ingredient in my creme brulee, eggs benedict and other egg dishes. 

Also because I love to be in my backyard to relax.  It's just one more thing to 'do' while I'm out there.

I raise them for pets, eggs, bug control, etc but also for 4-H for my kids. So that was my "other" vote. I guess it would fall under the "showing/exhibition" category also.

My other was 4H showing also

I also got the chickens for my dog as well. She's a Border Collie trained to herd sheep but she's gotten too old (eyes, ears, and back all degenerating) for safely herding sheep, so... . Also, I can blame some of it on my Dad and stepmother, who have had backyard chickens for a while.
The dog and I are both quite happy to watch the chickens for quite a while. However, I always have to go work on something; my dog thinks watching the chickens is her work and she loves every minute of it! She LOVES her chickens!!

They're beautiful and interesting birds.

Therapy. For the short time I went without chickens my anxiety was worse than it ever was. They give me something to care for, something to hold with nice soft feathers to hide my face in when I can't look at the world, and something to watch which is so much more relaxing than anything else I can think of. I suppose most people have dogs and cats for that purpose, and I do have dogs, but in my case it's the birds that help me the most. That's in addition to the other things I marked on the poll, but for me the therapy is the biggest thing.

I love to cook...I love to garden...I love colorful birds...
Chickens are the perfect pet- they are beautiful to look at, relaxing and funny to watch, fun to feed and observe their antics. They add bountiful fertilizer to the garden, they add delicious eggs to the table, they are living garden art, they eat our kitchen scraps. What's not to love? OH- and they don't go on barking or meowing escapades at 2 in the morning.