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

[tntchix]

We started this for eggs, but my favorite is just watching and learning how they do things in their own community. Chicken TV is fascinating.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

My first vote is companionship. Love my little polish can sit with them for ages we even have conversations, all have their own personalities. They are a quirky breed but so much fun when they are getting up to their antics.
Second vote is hatching eggs. It's an addiction that's get better and better with every hatch. It's such an amazing thing when you really think hard about it. Egg to chick in three weeks!! There is nothing like watching that chick emerge from the egg and start blundering about. All my polish I have hatched myself which makes them even more special in my book, have really watched their personalities develop.

 

[mightymax]

When I was a kid, my folks moved me from the big city to this little hick town (where I still live today, although it's no longer 'little' and a lot of the 'hick' is gone) and because we were 'city slickers' and wanted to fit in, we did what every family who moves to the country does...we built a barn and filled it with farm animals. Long story short, most of the others livestock and such are no longer around, but the chickens remain. When I bought my own house some years later, I was walking around the small yard in back wondering how I could bring some fun and comfort to my new home. Realizing that I couldn't very well keep a horse in a one car garage and not thinking my not to distant neighbors would appreciate the constant baying of the goats I so loved to raise as a child, I decided on chickens. That was several years ago and to this day, I'm still enamored by them. Their individual personalities and comical little quirks have help melt away many a difficult day. I just couldn't call it 'home' without them.

 

[IzzyMom]

We started out raising them for the eggs - but when the town I live in threatened to remove them because we were not "zoned for agriculture" I almost had a mental breakdown. My husband, by the grace of God, found a loophole, and my Dr. had my chickens declared "therapy animals". I am happy to say that it has been 2 years since I have been on anti-depressants. I love my clucks.

 

[2boys1homestead]

They would be great for helping you keep pests out of an organic garden! And they cost a lot less than organic pesticides!!

 

[sbhkma]

I originally got them for pest control as when we bought our ranch it was overrun with grasshoppers, june bugs & scorpions. (it was an abandoned foreclosure). They have far exceeded my expectations. I never thought about how effective they'd be at reducing the fly population for my horses! I also didn't realize how great they'd be at helping my partially blind skittish horse learn to deal with unexpected noises & movements-it's done wonders for him! As an added bonus, they are so entertaining to watch, it's great to hang out on the back porch at dusk and watch them grab every bug they can find to fill their crops before bed. Watching the Chicken Run is hilarious! Best pest control company ever. And my speckled sussex are so very friendly and sweet. I love how they call come running when I call them-even if they're up in the horse paddock, they come running down the hill to the backyard as fast as they can because it might be "grape-thirty".

 

[jujub41482]

I voted for companionship, but a close 2nd for me would be for their beauty, and living in a subdivision, having them certainly makes my yard stand out!

 

[11mini]

Started out wanting the eggs but VERY quickly changed to companionship. I spend hours just watching them do what chickens do.

 

[2boys1homestead]

I originally got them for pest control as when we bought our ranch it was overrun with grasshoppers, june bugs & scorpions. (it was an abandoned foreclosure). They have far exceeded my expectations. I never thought about how effective they'd be at reducing the fly population for my horses! I also didn't realize how great they'd be at helping my partially blind skittish horse learn to deal with unexpected noises & movements-it's done wonders for him! As an added bonus, they are so entertaining to watch, it's great to hang out on the back porch at dusk and watch them grab every bug they can find to fill their crops before bed. Watching the Chicken Run is hilarious! Best pest control company ever. And my speckled sussex are so very friendly and sweet. I love how they call come running when I call them-even if they're up in the horse paddock, they come running down the hill to the backyard as fast as they can because it might be "grape-thirty".

See! They are amazing.

 

[2boys1homestead]

I originally got them for pest control as when we bought our ranch it was overrun with grasshoppers, june bugs & scorpions. (it was an abandoned foreclosure). They have far exceeded my expectations. I never thought about how effective they'd be at reducing the fly population for my horses! I also didn't realize how great they'd be at helping my partially blind skittish horse learn to deal with unexpected noises & movements-it's done wonders for him! As an added bonus, they are so entertaining to watch, it's great to hang out on the back porch at dusk and watch them grab every bug they can find to fill their crops before bed. Watching the Chicken Run is hilarious! Best pest control company ever. And my speckled sussex are so very friendly and sweet. I love how they call come running when I call them-even if they're up in the horse paddock, they come running down the hill to the backyard as fast as they can because it might be "grape-thirty".

Chickens = Horse Therapy.