Official BYC Poll: Which aspect of keeping chickens do you enjoy the most?

[Arbutus Peregrine]

When I come from work I grab my chair and sit in the back and Tiny goes on my lap and tells me all the bad stuff the others do to her. She’s a sweetheart and they all pick on her.

What breed is Tiny? She looks like my Dutch bantams! They are lap-sitters, too!

 

[janiedoe]

Educational Value, Pure Joy, & Other.
Other: I get pure joy (and education)from watching broodies raising chicks and from watching chickens interact with each other.

 

[FortCluck]

I checked off most of them except the exhibition ones.

Very good poll!

 

[featherhead007]

Years ago, I was shopping in a local feed store (for wild bird seed) and there they were, a bin full of baby chicks, begging me to bring them home. Basically they made me take them home.
The rest, is history! That's when I found BYC. (Asking Google how to raise chickens)

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I clicked several, but also "other." For me, "other" is that my chickens are just generally comforting and therapeutic in many ways that I didn't think any of the other choices really indicated. Companionship isn't really it for me because I don't cuddle them or talk to them like I do my dog or cat, and we do eat them, which I never would my other pets. But I enjoy watching them interact with each other, and listening to their conversations, the way they purr and whirr and communicate. I find them soothing. They're not like wild birds or wild animals you can't get close to, or only rarely get a glimpse of; they're kind of on that border between wild and domestic. They're like wild animals we can walk among. They trust us almost enough to let us get close enough to touch, but not quite. I like that symbiosis.

 

[BY Bob]

When I come from work I grab my chair and sit in the back and Tiny goes on my lap and tells me all the bad stuff the others do to her. She’s a sweetheart and they all pick on her.

That is just lovely.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just thought of another "other" for you, Kiki. Community! I love how my chickens have opened up the world of BYC for me. Especially in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, it's my window to the outside world! I love my chickening friends!

 

[BlueHorse17]

Chickens are great companions. Hands down!

 

[3KillerBs]

I just introduced my grandchildren to my chicks.

The chicks were frightened at first because an almost 5yo and an almost 3yo are loud, noisy, and move in an erratic manner -- especially when excited by the prospect of seeing real, live CHICKENS for the first time.

But after a little while the kids observed dust-bathing*, foraging, short flights, and chicks being herded to bed. They even got to pet a chicken because the traffic jam at the pop door is the one time I can actually catch and hold a chicken.

It was delightful despite the fact that I'm dead-tired from work.

*If a mixture of damp sand and compost can be considered "dust". The chickens were having a blast digging in it and wallowing in it regardless. Omelet, one of the Light Brahmas, came out looking absolutely muddy, but she was obviously enjoying it tremendously.

 

[WallyG74]

What you call “entertainment value” I call Chicken TV! My neighbors definitely think I’ve lost it!