Why do you keep chickens?

[Sara]

Hello everyone,

Here at GYO we love chickens and it sounds as though you all do, too! We'd love to find out why you choose to keep your hens. Are they popular family pets, a source of eggs or something more? We've popped together a poll so you can share your main reason for looking after the birds (you can select more than one if you like!).


Your answers may be edited and published in GYO's December issue.

[bearded bloke]

As pets with fresh eggs being a bonus,also they are real characters & great company when working on the veg' patch

[Glutton4...]

Coz they're fab!

[Mikey]

Primarily for eggs as I like to know where my food is coming from. They are very amusing though.

[Verinda]

My four ex-batt hens arrived just two weeks ago. I am intrigued by them. They each have their own personality, they are sweet and gentle and when I sit with them they cluck, coo and scratch around me and I feel happier and more relaxed. Oh and the eggs are just a bonus!

[mothhawk]

Alas I have no room for hens any more, but kept them for eggs, pest eating and slug destroying, and because it was lovely to sit on one garden bench having elevenses, with a row of hens perched companionably along the back of the other garden seat or dotted about the rockery, feathers fluffed and wings droopy, dozing gently while they waited for the inevitable biscuit/cake crumbs.

[chris]

We keep them for eggs mainly, but also to educate our two young children. Not just where eggs come from or the meat but also the different parts of the chickens and how they should be cared for


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum mobile app

[Feral007]

We keep them for eggs, because we want healthy eggs, and I believe that healthy happy animals are what gives you healthy eggs. Not for meat, as we can't eat anyone we've known

We have a couple of chooks raised from young birds, a rooster that needed a new home, and 3 ex batt's so we can give them some of the life they've missed. This is their first spring outside.
They are much noisier and more social and very independent compared with the ones raised here.

They are fun. And when the budget get tight, it's what else can we make with eggs

[wellywoo]

We keep them for many reasons. Turning veg peelings/scraps in to beautiful eggs and plenty of muck for next years crop. Pest control all our girls love slugs and snails. For fun as they are very comical to watch running round the garden and we will use them to teach our twins currently 12 weeks old where food comes from as well as respect for animals and responsibility


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum mobile app

[Sporty Spice]

We have a guest house, so I'd say eggs are probably the main reason. However, they are also much loved pets and extremely popular with our guests. Their behaviour is highly entertaining and regularly has people in stitches. I sometimes toss a rasher of raw bacon into the back garden and that usually provides at least 10 minutes entertainment for onlookers.

Raw bacon doesn't come apart easily, and what usually happens is that it gets split into 3 or 4 pieces with an attendant scrum of chickens surrounding each of the ones with the bacon in their beak! Each of these scrums then zig-zags around the garden as the lead chicken tries to escape the others.

Hilarious, and we adore all of 36 of them (they all have names and our eldest two are almost 8 now).

We have also taken in several battery rescues with great success.

The only thing we don't like is the aggressive bullying of newcomers, but that normally subsides within a week or two....

....oh, we're not too keen on them jumping onto perches to attack the hanging baskets either.

[petal]

we keep chickens, turkeys and ducks to support rare breeds. The eggs are a bonus - we can rarely fit all of them in an incubator - and some are not suitable for hatching. So we are what I would define as a very important 'other' on the vote!!!!!

[Boza1970]

I started out keeping three girls on the back garden, in the main to provide a few eggs and give my young boy some additional entertainment.

As a family we soon got hooked very quickly and loved spending time with the girls and on the odd occasion we gave a few eggs away to close friends and family we soon became victims of 'we want more' cries!

We therefore decided to enquire at the local allotment club and ended up with a lovely (but wild) overgrown plot, we obtained a good size coop and fenced off a fair slice of the plot and moved the girls in there along with several more for company of similar age/breed.

We now have 41 chucks in two runs and considering expansion. We love them dearly and as some of the girls are now approaching their 'sell by date' we are building them a retirement home in a corner to allow for a younger flock to come in.

Wouldnt be without them now, a big part of our daily routine!

[minskey]

They keep me sane, wind me around their little fingers. There are not many things in life which gives you the good feeling watching a bedraggled ex batt feeling and enjoying the first rays of sunshine she has probably ever felt

[julesapple]

Coz they're fab!

Because they're fab, they give you the very best eggs, and they are so incredibly therapeutic. If you're having a bad time, go and spend time with your chooks - even ten minutes will lift your spirits.

(I don't suppose we're allowed to say they eat all of our scraps.........)

[milkmanles]

why do we keep chickens

Hello everyone,

Here at GYO we love chickens and it sounds as though you all do, too! We'd love to find out why you choose to keep your hens. Are they popular family pets, a source of eggs or something more? We've popped together a poll so you can share your main reason for looking after the birds (you can select more than one if you like!).


Your answers may be edited and published in GYO's December issue.

mainly for the eggs, but they are pets as well.