Taking care of all my pets is part of my morning chores. Feeding the dogs, cats, and chickens comes right along with making coffee, doing dishes, taking out the trash. Shoveling and managing the poop of these animals is not fun nor something I look forward to. It's a work vs. reward situation. You have to decide if the work you put in is worth the rewards you received, whether emotional support, entertainment, eggs, an exercise companion, a clean/sanitary house/yard, etc. all our chores are for some sort of reward or benefit to our lives, all our pets have some sort of benefit to offer us, as do all our human relationships. You have to decide, as with anything in your life that requires a bit of elbow grease if the rewards are worth the work you put in. Is it worth working an extra hour a month to pay for the premium Netflix membership? Is it worth the hour a month cleaning the coop to get free breakfast from your chickens? Some rewards in life cannot be measured, how do you put a price on your emotional or physical wellbeing? Not every hobby is for everyone. The rewards aren't there. I would have more frustration quilting than the reward I get from the finished product of a quilt so I choose not to partake in that hobby. You must figure out what is right for you. Do your chickens provide you what you expected? Can you change your expectations? Can you change something about your chicken keeping to bring things more in line with your expectations? Is the reward worth the work? Can you make them less work? Can you make the reward greater? Ok, I'm done rambling.
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