The Positives And Negatives Of Keeping Chickens
Whilst keeping chickens can be a wonderful activity for the household, and whilst I personally consider that hens make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to trying to keep chooks as well as positives.
Whilst managing chickens can certainly be a wonderful activity for the family, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to maintaining chooks as well as positives.
Lets think about the possible benefits first. Needless to say the most significant plus to attempting to keep chooks must be all those scrumptious roam around eggs simply lying there ready that you just find each afternoon or evening. You’ll find nothing like eating your own naturally healthy, and delightful free range eggs that have been laid on that day just for you. No chickens had to go through coping with a tiny crate to lay all of them for you, so you can easily feel great about having a fridge loaded packed with healthy foods.
Second chickens make fantastic domestic pets despite the fact that they are fowls. Little ones really love them. Mine will happily pick them up and carry them all over for hours. It is quite a delight managing hens, and when you permit them to roam free all around your back garden it is gratifying watching all of them out your kitchen windows while you make an evening meal.
In addition, if you permit them to free range at home they will really clean up a whole bunch of bugs which, if left on their own, may possibly eat your plants. It was our chooks that assisted save our back garden from two summers of hopper plague. You really should see how many hopper one chook can certainly feed on each day.
Moreover it’s pretty simple, unlike for most pets, to provide for your chickens so that you do not need to make arrangements for them every time you go on trips. As I have substantial automatic storage containers for feeding and watering we are able to go on holidays leaving behind the chooks on their own and have never ever lost just one yet, even though on trips.
Now to the negatives. Like all creatures chooks can get ill and die. We have had instances when the kids have discovered a dead chicken in the chicken coop, and this is distressing for them. Whilst this of course is applicable to all domestic pets it is more prevalent when you keep your own chickens. This of course is because you tend to have quite a few chooks, whereas most people may have one or at most two dogs or cats. In our situation with fifteen hens it is more regular. Of course chickens have a shorter life-span than some pets such as puppies or cats.
Second of all despite the fact that hens will clean up quite a few of the nasty pests around your garden they do so by scratching, and this may dig up the earth of your yard beds. They will also peck at your veggies if you grow your very own and they especially love pecking tomatoes. You might need to safeguard your veggies or some section of your back garden.
And, like for a lot of other domestic pets, there’s some work involved, such as frequent cleaning up of the chicken coop. Chooks poo all over the place and the house, as well as feeding and water storage containers, ought to be cleaned. You will also need to study a little more about pest prevention as hens can easily be susceptible to such challenges as mites.
Furthermore while getting fresh free range eggs is great it doesn’t occur all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the chilly winter months, and more aged chooks lay less eggs than young ones. Because of this there may be times when you are having to pay for chook food but still buying eggs.
I think nevertheless that the advantages of managing chickens far exceeds the negatives. They’re among the few domestic pets that are productive in addition to just being a family pet, and for anybody considering always keeping chickens as domestic pets my answer is always to go for it. Very few folks have regretted keeping hen chickenschooks.
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