Those fluffy little chicks at the feed store are adorable – but are backyard chickens really a good idea? Well, I definitely think so! Backyard chickens provide so many benefits and are a great way to start your self-sufficiency journey. But they are also a ton of work – keep reading to find out why you should take the leap into backyard chicken keeping!
- Pros of Keeping Backyard Chickens
- Eating Eggs
- Hatching Eggs
- Homegrown Meat
- Pets for the Kids
- Fun to Have Around
- They Can Be Low Maintenance
- They Can Help With the Garden
- Great Entry Point to Homesteading
- Cons of Keeping Backyard Chickens
- They’re Messy (with a solution)
- They Can Smell (with a solution)
- They Scratch Up Everything (with a solution)
Disclosure: This post is a collaboration with Hoover’s Hatchery to share chicken-keeping knowledge with the world! As always, all my opinions are my own – and if you can’t already tell, I absolutely love my chickens and think everyone should have at least a few! This post may also contain affiliate links.
Overall Benefits of Backyard Chickens
Of course the obvious benefit of keeping chickens in your backyard is getting fresh eggs every day. But it’s so much more than that! Chickens are so versatile and I absolutely love spending time with my fluffy-bummed pets. From watching them dig for worms, to feeding them our kitchen scraps – I would never replace our flock!
That’s why when Hoover’s Hatchery wanted to partner with us, I was thrilled!
I got my first chicks from Hoover’s a few years ago and have never turned back. They’re a great addition to our suburban homestead and have taught us so much about running a hobby farm!
Pros of Keeping Backyard Chickens
Ok, so in my book I definitely think there are way more pros to chicken keeping than there are cons. And I’m pretty sure there’s tons of people who agree with me – if not, no one would have chickens. So here are the pros – some obvious and some not so much!
Eating Eggs
Pro number one – fresh eggs!
There is nothing like going into the coop to collect fresh eggs every day. Especially if you get multi-colored eggs like I do!
And not only are farm-fresh eggs better for you, they also taste way better! Need I say more?
Hatching Eggs
Alright, so if you only have hens (or you’re only allowed to keep hens due to city or county regulations) then unfortunately you won’t have any fertilized eggs – because you know – the birds and the bees and all that.
But if you do have a rooster in your flock, it’s likely that you have a few fertilized eggs that you can pop into an incubator (this is my favorite one.) And about 21 days later you’ll have a whole bunch of cute little baby chicks!
At first, I thought incubating my own eggs would be complicated (and I’m not gonna lie, it was at first.) But nowadays I collect my hatching eggs, get the incubator going, and in only 3 weeks I’m transferring those little fluffs to the brooder box!
One of the best reasons to have chickens, if you ask me!
Homegrown Meat
I’m a big fan of raising chickens for meat. It tastes better, it’s better for you, and it’s way more sustainable than relying on the grocery store (in my humble opinion.)
And on our suburban homestead we raise chickens for meat year-round.
In fact, we take the fertilized eggs from our flock, incubate them, and raise those chicks as meat birds. Which is possible because we raise some of the best dual-purpose breeds!
And I know that raising your own meat isn’t for everyone. But if you think it’s something you’re open to just know that it’s totally doable in the suburbs!
We’re going on round 5 of “farm-to-table” chicken and my only regret is that I didn’t get started sooner!
Pets for the Kids
Another great pro of raising backyard chickens is that they are also great pets for the kids!
Now, if you are raising meat chickens also, I would encourage you not to name them – we learned that one the hard way. It’s hard to cook something named Penelope!
But if you keep chickens for eggs, having names for them and playing with them is a great way for the kids to get outdoors and spend some time in nature!
If you are planning on raising them as breakfast-laying pets, try to handle them from an early age. That way they’re friendlier and far more accustomed to being played with – or in other words, being chased around by a toddler!
And if that’s the route you’re going – check out these adorable chicks that lay colored eggs…yes, green and blue eggs! How fun is that for the kids?!
Fun to Have Around
And of course, chickens are just fun to have!
I will never get tired of watching them dig for worms or chase each other when one of them finds a bigger worm than the others. They each have their own personalities and they’re even funny to watch.
Plus, when they start to recognize you they’ll run towards you like little dogs! Who can resist that?
I love laying in the hammock and letting the chickens run around – only to come running towards me when they notice I’m gone!
They Can Be Low Maintenance
Now, having chickens can be a lot of work. Having any pet can be a lot of work.
You have to feed them every day, refill their water, collect eggs, make sure they’re not sick, let them out of their coop, and of course make sure they’re back in the coop at night.
However, there are some great systems you can put in place to make backyard chickens way more low maintenance. With a few simple weekend projects your flock will be nearly self-sufficient!
- Set up a chicken rain barrel watering system (you can check mine out here)
- DIY 185lb chicken feeder (watch the tutorial here)
- Get an automatic coop door (like this one)
Nowadays the biggest chicken chore I have is collecting eggs! The giant feeder we built allows me to feed them only once a month. And the 55 gallon rain barrel system provides water non-stop without me having to refill it!
They Can Help With the Garden
Now it’s true that chickens and gardens usually don’t mix. Except in one scenario – garden clean up.
And if you’ve ever seen a chicken loose in the garden you’ll understand why!
Chickens are great at eating crops, digging them up, and then…ahem…fertilizing the ground. Which makes them ideal garden clean up companions!
So at the end of the season, harvest everything you want – and then let your backyard flock take care of the rest. I promise they’ll do a great job!
Just be sure to keep them away from any plants you’d like to keep!
Reduce Kitchen Waste
And along the same lines, chickens will eat almost anything – they’re like mini garbage disposals.
Which is great if you’re trying to reduce waste in your home!
I feed them veggie scraps, egg shells, leftover food, and anything that was sitting in the refrigerator for just a tad bit too long. They love it!
Not only does this reduce the amount of trash we are contributing to landfills, but it reduces the overall cost of their feed too! Combine that with free-ranging and digging up worms and you can save yourself a lot of money on feed!
Just be sure to avoid certain things – like garlic, onions, and citrus. But the rest of it they’ll happily turn into farm fresh eggs!
Great Entry Point to Homesteading
Okay so for our last pro – chickens are commonly referred to as the gateway to homesteading.
And that’s because chickens are pretty easy to maintain, and you feel like you never have enough!
Take it from me – we started with 3 cute little chicks. Now we have 40. Chicken math is real you guys!
Next thing you know you’ll have a herd of goats, some turkeys running around, and a few beehives in the corner! But hey, that’s the dream, right?
Cons of Keeping Backyard Chickens
Now for the cons – there aren’t a ton, but of course everything has both a good side and a bad side.
However, because I love having backyard chickens so much I did cheat a little and provided you with a super simple solution to each one of the cons on this list!
So really, they’re not cons at all!
They’re Messy
Yes, chickens are messy. Probably messier than your cat or dog to be honest – there’s no getting around it.
But, it can be contained – much like you would give a toddler a playpen and some if those markers that only color on paper!
They spill food everywhere, make mud out of their bedding, and don’t even get me started on where they decide to poop (hint – it’s literally everywhere!)
And while some of the mess isn’t really a big deal (like spilling their feed everywhere) – the rest of it is downright dirty (like when they habitually poop in their drinking water, ickkk!)
Solution: Build them a slightly larger chicken run to make sure they stay in one place. And use good bedding like pine bark mulch that will absorb everything else!
They Can Smell
Chickens shouldn’t have a horrible smell. If they do then there’s probably something off with your coop – like one of these things right here.
But every so often (usually in the rainy season) my chicken run starts smelling like, well, barnyard.
And that’s probably fine if you live on 10 acres out in the middle of nowhere. But in the suburbs, your neighbors probably won’t appreciate that pigsty al fresco scent coming from your backyard.
In reality, that smell is fueled by too much ammonia – which has a simple fix!
Solution: Add or replace bedding in the run. Ensure proper ventilation in the coop. Use poultry nipples to prevent water spills.
They Scratch Up Everything
This one is probably not going to change to be honest. Chickens scratch – end of story.
But there are things you can do to prevent them from scratching at the things you want to keep! And at the end of the day isn’t is actually adorable to watch them scratching and pecking at the ground? I think so!
Solution: Fence in your garden. Don’t plant anything you want to keep around where the chickens roam.
Can Chickens Free Range In The Backyard?
Well, the answer to this is both yes and no.
It’s completely fine to let your chickens roam free in your yard – as long as you consider the following:
- Does you lawn have pesticides and fertilizers that would make the chickens sick?
- Are there loose dogs or other predators around?
- Did you plant your prize-winning tomatoes within reach of their free-ranging space?
- Is your backyard fence short enough that your neighbor might acquire some new chickens?
If the answer to any of these is yes, then you might want to expand their run and call it a day. But if you’re like me and can give your flock some extra space, then go for it!
Where to Get Chickens
There are a few places you can get chicks – you know, since you’re totally convinced after reading this article!
- The local feed store – during certain times of the year they have different types of chicks for sale
- Online – hatcheries like Hoover’s offer tons of different breeds and will ship them to your local post office
- Animal auction – probably my lease favorite since you can’t be sure that they’re not sick
- Incubate them yourself – this one is definitely the most fun since you get to watch them being born!
How Many Eggs a Day Do Chickens Lay?
This is a question that I had when I first started my flock. How many eggs can I reliably get every day to make keeping backyard chickens worth it?
And the answer is simple – a chicken can lay no more than one egg per day. Usually they lay between 3-5 eggs per week, depending on the breed.
For reference, I have 11 laying hens and we get about 7-8 eggs per day.
And as far as how many chickens you need – you can check out this post right here for a full breakdown by number of eggs!
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