Why have chickens?

[Carpenter Coop]

I had a bale of straw in their run. Everyday they would tear through it. I would rake it up and it was like a brand new pile that they have never seen before.

 

[Lavmoon]

Pros- all of the above
Plus I use PDZ in my coop and feed fermented feed so my coop doesn't smell!
Because they eat everything I take them I'm weeding my garden and flower beds daily so all my flower beds look great!
My husband let me build a greenhouse so that I can keep sprouting through the winter!

Cons-
CHICKEN MATH!!!
I can't stay out and watch them all day!
Chicken sitters!

 

[Marcy54]

They help with your composting! No more having to turn it yourself.

 

[Cluckadoodledo]

I'm in awe of such a simple bird that can find so much joy at being let out of the chicken run to explore the yard. Each morning, I open the chicken run door to let my chickens forage. I bring my dog to protect me from my beautiful, huge and very aggressive rooster. I named the big bully "Red". He's very protective of his eleven ladies. The girls come running after me filled with joy, ignoring "Red" and my dog. The girls want to follow me wherever I go, Red considers me a rival for their affections. Red hangs back, he's not afraid of me but he sure respects my dog. Red is not as dumb as I thought. My dog and I enter the large walk-in coop each day and collect the beautiful blue and chocolate eggs the girls left for us. We stop and watch the girls eat slugs, bugs and wild greenery at the edge of the woods. They're clucking with the pure joy of being alive, free to forage in relative safety with Red watching over them. In spite of Reds' obvious shortcomings, he keeps the girls in check, calls them back to the coop at dusk and keeps them from straying out of his sight. This is my first year with chickens. They were hatched on April 1, 2014. The hens just started laying this past August. It was then that Red first attacked me repeatedly. I was uninjured as I am experienced at handling birds of prey. Red was un-relentless! He came flying at me, feet out in front like an eagle ready to grab its prey! I never allowed Red to contact me with his short talons (which requires skill, speed and co-ordination!). I've considered the stew pot for Red, with a beautiful hat made from his plumage, but I don't have the heart to do it. My dog has proven to be the ultimate Rooster deterrent, so, for now, Red has got a reprieve. My friends' Roosters just ignore people, unlike Red. It was just my dumb luck to get such a mean Rooster, hand raised by me. Red is a Welsummer, a breed not known to be particularly aggressive. The hens are real sweethearts! As long as Red continues to protect his girls while they're free foraging, he can stay.
Pros: Fresh eggs, fun to watch, exuberant foragers, eat slugs, bugs and weeds. Enjoyable to listen too! Droppings provide good fertilizer.
Cons: Mean attack rooster, don't like cleaning the coop, hard to find "chicken sitters", especially with a mean rooster! Expensive coop and chicken run. Expensive to feed 12 large chickens.

 

[KayTee]

Chickens are a wonderful addition to have! I would suggest (If you don't have any) getting a couple of chickens to add to your backyard or farm!

Cowhlb, I agree with almost all the pros and cons so far, but I'm afraid that I have to disagree with your spelling - you missed out a 'C'.

As far as I'm concerned, chickens aren't a wonderful addition - they are a wonderful ADDICTION, and I wouldn't be without them

 

[Redbird 123]

I have 14 red sex links and they love to folow me around when I am picking rocks. They stand beside my leg untill I lift up the next rock and then watch out bugs.

 

[sunflour]

PROS: All of the above, leaping chickens are funny, they love to play.

CONS: Your non-chicken owning friends come to refer to you as "the crazy chicken lady" because you talk about chickens like they're your kids and you even whip out your (digital) photo album to show them off.

PRO: When people are griping about things in general…..I whip out my notebook and show them my flock of 6 doing the chicken thing on their own IP Camera….And the grumpy attitudes turn to laughter!!!

CON: The hens can be grumps in the mornings before they lay!

 

[dee06]

I love my chickens, I have a white star, sussex, speckeldy, skyline, all over a year old, and when my sussex went broody I was given 10 eggs, 6 bantam and 4 Lf, 9 hatched so as well as the above I have 5 bantam crosses of which 1 is a boy and 4 cochin which I think are all girls and recently I added a cream legbar who is about the same age as my chicks to the mix, I suffer from depression and have been going through a bad patch but chickies get me out of bed every day and my happy place is sitting in the run with them watching them, the cochins look so funny when they run and often i end up with them on my neck, shoulders, arms and legs, what a mood lifter they are

 

[RezChamp]

cwrite.... .your avatar is awsome. You must tell me where I can find that image.

Owning chickens
Pros. Mini garden tillers, organic insecticides, food production companies, automatic compost heap agitators, comedians, appreciation expression models, conversationalists, psychiatrists, yard decor and home sales improvement agents, sociologists, therapists, fertilizer production companies, food scrap disposal experts, life skills teachers, alarm clocks, automatic audio-visual activated defence alarm mechanisms, pest control experts, chick magnets...................
Cons, it's hard to find an engineer to assume business management when the CEO, COO & GM team wants to go on vacation together.


yup..... .addicting


I don't where I'd be If I didn't have chickens. Maybe in Yellowstone Park or Jasper or Baffin Island or employed by some large corporation wreaking resource rape for $20.00/ hr, 12 hrs on 12 hrs off, 3 weeks in 1 week out .
Nah!!!!! I'll just stay home

 

[Truckolove]

I can't imagine life without them after having them for a short time. Mine are spoiled rotten and so much fun, I have begun to "clicker train them". This is to easy I might add ( ; My husband is completely infatuated as well. I told him this is my catharsis (being out side when they free roam each evening) I felt awful the other night and he reminded me I didn't ever want to miss joining them so drug myself out and sure enough a
short time later I forgot I was sick!!