Benefits Of Raising Chicken - While many people raise pets such as cats and dogs at home, not many are aware that chickens are actually one of the easiest animals you can raise right in your backyard. The benefits of doing so are numerous and far outnumber those of raising other pets.
Of course the first that comes to mind is that you get to collect eggs right from your chicken coop instead of having to get them from the shop. Besides saving you money, eggs from free-range chicken raised in your backyard are far tastier and healthier than mass produced eggs purchased from the shop. The food that they eat ranging from grains, grass, left-over food scraps, insects and beetles means their eggs have firmer whites and bright orange yolks which are not only sweet but are also a rich source of carotene.
Raising chicken in your backyard also does a lot of good to your yard. Chicken droppings contain a high amount of nitrogen which is very good for enriching compost and provides good manure for your flowers and plants. Chicken also eat insects, beetles and even small mice. Thus they provide an excellent pest-control method that ensures you do not use harmful chemicals in your yard. Similarly, when the chicken are scratching the soil in search of food such as insects and roots, they help aerate the soil and make it good for grass and plants to grow in.
With a good chicken coop design, you can ensure that your chicken occupy only a small part of your yard, and then allow them to roam for a few hours each day. Another alternative is to have a chicken coop that has wheels or can be lifted and moved. This will allow you to keep the chicken within the coop but move them around the yard.
Raising chicken in your yard also helps you teach responsibility to your children. One of the fond memories I have growing up is the daily chore of collecting eggs from the coop, cleaning the coop, feeding the chicken and emptying the used trays to fill them with new feed. This taught me at a young age how to take care of something besides myself. And the reward was of course in having a constant supply of eggs at the dinner table.
My parents also taught me how to keep a basic record of which chicken were laying eggs, how many eggs we needed to save for the litter, and even how many we could afford to sell. Indeed, I learnt that with just a little additional effort and investment, raising chicken in your backyard can bring you a steady income from the sale of eggs and meat.
And unlike cats and dogs, chicken are simple, pleasant and uncomplicated creatures. They are very simple to rear and do not even need to be taken for a walk or to be bathed and pampered. All you need is to give them food and water and protect them from the rain and predators by keeping them in a good and secure chicken coop.
Finally, raising chicken in your yard can form a good conversation starter with your neighbours. If you are in the city especially, a lot of neighbours may stop by just to admire and ask questions about your chicken. They may want to pet them, feed or even just watch them over a nice afternoon conversation. Even better is when these neighbours are raising chicken too. In that case you can discuss the latest chicken coop designs, prices of eggs and chicken in the market, as well as what to feed the chicken.
As you can see, there are abundant benefits in raising chicken in your backyard. Why not give it a shot?
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