Whilst maintaining hens can potentially be a fantastic activity for the family, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to always keeping chickens as well as positives.

Whilst always keeping chickens could certainly be a fantastic activity for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to keeping hens as well as positives.

Lets consider the benefits first. Of course the greatest plus to keeping chickens would have to be all those delectable free range eggs just lying there waiting for you to collect each morning or evening. You’ll find nothing like feeding on your individual nutritious, and delightful free range eggs that have been laid on that day simply for you. No chickens had to endure living in a tiny cage to lay them for you, and you should feel good about having a refrigerator loaded brimming with nourishing food.

Secondly chooks can make excellent domestic pets despite the fact that they’re just birds. Little ones really love them. Ours will contentedly pick them up and carry them around for hours. It can be quite a delight always keeping chooks, and if you permit them to free range around your back garden it is fulfilling observing all of them out your kitchen’s window as you cook dinner.

Third, if you make it possible for them to free range around the house they will really clean up a whole bunch of pests which, if still left on their own, could possibly eat your plants. It is our chooks that assisted save our garden from two summers of grasshopper plague. You should see how many grasshoppers one chook can potentially eat each day.

Moreover it’s quite possible, not like for most domestic pets, to provide for your chooks so that you do not need to make plans for them every time you go on vacations. As I have large automatic storage containers for feeding and supplying water we are able to go on trips leaving the chickens to their own devices and have never ever lost just one yet, even though on holidays.

Now to the negatives. Like all animals hens can get sick and die. We have had instances when the kids have discovered a dead hen in the chook house, and this is distressing for the kids. Whilst this of course is applicable to all pets it is more common when you keep hens. This obviously is simply because you tend to have quite a few hens, whereas a lot of people will have one or at most 2 dogs or cats. In our case with fifteen chickens it is more frequent. And of course chickens have a shorter lifespan than some pets such as puppies or pet cats.

Second of all despite the fact that chickens will cleanup quite a few of the nasty bugs around your garden they do so by scratching, and this can certainly scratch up the dirt of your garden beds. They will also peck at your veggies if you grow your very own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatoes. You will need to protect your vegetables or some area of your yard.

Thirdly, like for many other pets, there’s some work required, including regular cleansing of the chicken house. Hens poo everywhere and the house, as well as feeding and watering storage containers, must be cleaned. You must also study more about pest prevention as chooks may be susceptible to such challenges as mites.

Furthermore whilst having fresh new roam around eggs is great it doesn’t occur all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the chilly winter season, and more aged chooks lay less eggs than young ones. Because of this there may be times when you find yourself paying for chook feed but still purchasing eggs.

I think nevertheless that the advantages of managing hens far outweighs the disadvantages. They’re one of the few domestic pets that are productive in addition to just being a pet, and for anybody considering keeping hens as domestic pets my answer is always to do it. Not many folks have regretted keeping hen chickenschooks.

Don’t forget to visit my web site Aussie Chicken Coops about chicken coops to find out more about how to find the best chicken coop  for keeping your chickens happy.