So you ’re faced with that ever - close at hand question : To get crybaby or to not get chickens ? Chickens are fun to keep and a keen plus to the backyard of anyone who eff animals and wants to eat up good solid food , but truth be told , chicken holding is n’t for everyone . If the scales are tipping in the guidance of adding a hatful to your urban homestead , here ’s a hint that you ’re get to the right decision .
1. You Come Face to Face With Predators and Keep Your Cool
The beginning of winter is the beginning of the hungry season forpredators . This preceding weekend , I came human face - to - face with the grown possum I ’ve ever seen . He ’d weaseled his style into the hencoop before I could close it up that Nox , and the chickens were scared to death . They scream , they flew , and I ran outdoors and found him inside the coop . While my dog was overly excited about the chickens fly across the yard , she never saw the gargantuan rodent . He and I were alone . We stared each other down — he into my blue oculus and I into his beady yellow one . My first instinct was to stab him with a 10 - fundament magnetic pole , but I had nothing but a cage door in my hands , so I make out it against the chicken coop . The perp flee .
2. You Don’t Have a Dog (or You Do)
Dogs will protect chicken by deterring predators , or by chasing away marauder before you ever see them . Dogs who are n’t so smart might chase your chickens cogitate they ’re being naughty when they ’re react to a predator ( see above ) . Both method work . at long last , it protects the shuttle .
Some dogs ’ prey drive is far too high to be around chicken without hard-and-fast adult oversight , especially those chickens that free - range . While many dogs can be prepare , other hot dog will never overcome their instincts . How your dog reacts to other animals in a public situation , like on a paseo at the park , can give you an theme about how madden your dog is by squirrels or how threatened the pawl is of other dogs . Dogs that do n’t much worry about other brute are better nominee for chicken drover .
3. Your Yard Is Overrun With Pests
When someone asks me , “ Why chickens ? ” my best-loved intellect , secondly to eggs , is that before wimp , we could n’t habituate our yard for 4 months out of the year . The mosquito were tremendous . We ’d found several opprobrious widows around our business firm during the previous summers . And , on a uncommon 50 - degree day in February , I find a check on my then - babe son . The latter was the last straw . Now , we are able to apply our yard all year , chemical - loose , thanks to chicken and their insatiable appetite for crawly things .
4. Your Garden Is Fenced or Fence-able
Chickens love to destroy a garden , which is unsound and good , depending on the season . To discourage a free - ranging flock , a fence of some sort is a secure idea , even if it ’s just temporary until your plants are install into the growing time of year . Sometimes , chickens are in effect benefactor . They can gobble up leftovers , fag up roots , eat pest , and they turn and loosen the soil . They ’re happy to do it . It satisfies their chicken penury , and when you ’re ready to plant a succession harvest , prep employment is minimal .
5. You Throw Food Scraps in the Trash
It ’s inevitable that food eaters make some amount of intellectual nourishment trash . leftover and scraps , when put into the codswallop , decomposition , stink and go to thriftlessness . alternatively , you’re able to use them to affix a sight ’s diet with high - lineament nutrition . disport your food barren , save on provender price and produce less trash . It ’s a triple win . Of course , some food are life-threatening to chickens , like light-green Irish potato and raw onions . Only dangerous foods go in the crank or compost .
6. You Have Other Decaying Stuff Around
Speaking of rotting food , sometimes we have other things breaking down by nature in the yard where would - be chickens would mosey . Yesterday , I moved some Sir Henry Wood outdoors and a log crumbled into three piece . Inside , it looked like tonic earth , and it was stream with the pests that discontinue down the wood — eminent - protein chicken treats for the winnings .
7. You Value High-Quality Nutrition
You might love eggs , just testicle whites , or maybe baking is your favorite hobby . Whatever the reason for your copious eggs intake , if the highest - quality nutrition and humiliated saturated fatness , cholesterol and omega-6 is important to you , having your own chickens ca n’t be beat .
