Backyard Chickens- Why Every Family Should Have Some!

Backyard chickens are the ‘gateway drug’ to farm life. Once you start getting those farm fresh eggs, there’s just no going back to a regular ol’ supermarket experience.

colorful eggs that are fresh from the coop

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So, let me tell y’all a little about our experiences with backyard chickens, and why I believe every family should have some!

When we lived in our suburban town in a subdivision home, we opted to go a little renegade (shhh! don’t tell the HOA!) and get us a handful of hens. Obviously a rooster was out of the question… those little buggers would have given us away in a heartbeat. But after discussing with our neighbors on all sides of us about the possibility of bringing home some little ladies, and gratefully finding that they were all completely unopposed to the idea, we created a little penned area in our backyard, built a small coop, and bought a few chickens. It was a happy day.

raising backyard chickens for farm fresh eggs

For me, this was a completely new experience. I’d never owned a chicken. I’m not sure I’d ever really been within 100 yards of a live chicken. But hubby had a visible change come over him the day we brought home backyard chickens. It was like a piece of his identity had been restored. He was back in the farm life… if only in the tiniest sense.

And now, here we are–many years later–living in the country on our own little farm. It’s like I said. Backyard chickens are the gateway drug to farm life.

Pros to Backyard Chickens

Backyard chickens are not only for the farmer type of folk. As a non-farmer type myself, I actually have really loved having backyard chickens!

EGGS. The biggest pro for me is having those farm fresh eggs! Granted, we weren’t technically a ‘farm’ when we first started with backyard chickens, but that’s neither here nor there. Those eggs were still–by all accounts in my book–farm fresh eggs. 😉 They were more than just an ingredient for my next batch of cookies. They were wholesome nutrition that I knew our family had on hand at any given time. That is self-reliance at it’s best. But we’ll talk more about that in a second.

FERTILIZER. Backyard chickens also provide a really valuable resource to anyone who gardens. Their poop. Yep. Gross. But SO good for the garden! Just toss that ‘comodity’ on the compost pile whenever you clean out their coop/pen and in no time you will have some fantastic fertilizer for your garden!

PEST CONTROL. One of my favorite pluses is that these ladies do a great job at keeping the insect population in check. Yes, please! Not to mention they make for a fantastic ‘garbage disposal’ to toss all the dinner scraps to. It’s like having a dog, but with eggs. 😁 These backyard chickens will eat just about ANYTHING. (Although, there are definitely some things you should NOT feed them, so be knowledgable.)

RESPONSIBILITY. And an added blessing of backyard chickens is that they are a wonderful opportunity to teach the kiddos responsibility. Chickens are small, docile, and non-threatening– making them a perfect ‘beginner’ chore. Even the littlest kids can be in charge of collecting eggs, feeding scraps to the chickens, and making sure they are getting enough feed and water. Having a responsibility gives children (and adults!) a greater sense of purpose, encourages their independence, and strengthens their sense of worth.

learning responsibility through farm chores

CONS TO BACKYARD CHICKENS

There aren’t any! Haha!

SMELL. Okay, okay… backyard chickens CAN be a little smelly. But only if you haven’t taken care of their pen in a while, and if it rains. So put those kids to use and get them out there to clean out the chicken house! 🙂 But really, just make sure they have a decent amount of space, keep it clean, and you won’t have smells to deal with. Here on the farm, the smells are basically a non-issue… and we’ve got about 40 of the little ladies running around. But they have plenty of space to run and their lovely ‘commodities’ we talked about just become one with the land… which is actually a blessing for our land.

NOISE. Another potential con could be noise. But despite what many may think, backyard chickens are really NOT very noisy (roosters excepting). But because we didn’t have a rooster in the city, our backyard chickens only ever got vocal right before or after they laid an egg. It’s called their ‘egg song’. Other than that, you get very minimal chicken noises. Now that we’ve got plenty of land and a few roosters on hand, we actually hear a lot more from the chickens. (Mostly when the roosters are trying to share their love. 😉) But the everyday gentle and rhythmic clucking of these backyard birds is actually one of my favorite sounds on the farm. It can be very therapeutic.

Farm Fresh Eggs

Let’s talk about those eggs for a second! For all the awesomeness of backyard chickens, their farm fresh eggs are definitely their crowning glory, in my humble opinion. The creme de la creme! They are superior to commercially raised chicken eggs in just about every respect– taste, nutrition, …ummm… is there more? …looks???

5 Reasons Farm Fresh Eggs are The Best

TASTE. Farm fresh eggs taste ah-maz-ing! Obviously this is simply an opinion, but I don’t know a soul alive who has compared a farm fresh egg to a commercially raised egg and has preferred the taste of the latter. There is such a richness and depth of flavor that comes in a farm fresh egg. So delicious!
NUTRITION. Now, I’m no scientist, and I’ve never put an egg under the microscope to examine the vitamins and minerals it contains. But there is clear data to show that eggs produced from free-ranging, bug-eating, land-loving ladies is so much better for a body than its commercially produced counterparts. Farm fresh eggs have lower levels of the ‘bad’ cholesterol and saturated fat, higher levels of vitamins A and E, more omega-3 fatty acids, and more beta carotene. Significantly so. This is all due to the diet they eat (aka bugs, leafy greens, flowers, etc) that is not present in the diet of caged birds. I think the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ fits well here.
LONGEVITY. See?! I knew there were more perks. Did you know that you can leave farm fresh eggs on your counter? No refrigeration necessary! As long as they have not been washed (which removes their protective outer coating– the ‘bloom’), they can remain on your counter for at least a week. And check this out… if you don’t wash your eggs and you keep them in the fridge, they will actually stay safe to eat for up to 6 months! There are some other ways you can preserve a farm fresh egg long term, but that’s another post for another day. But just know that these little gems are a food source that can last a long time.
PEACE OF MIND. In today’s crazy world, I think one of the greatest benefits of having farm fresh eggs delivered to you by your own backyard chickens is the peace of mind that you do not have to go hungry. Store shelves can be cleared in a matter of minutes when the public faces a scare. But knowing you have an independent source of fresh, nutritious food is worth more than any dollar amount and more than any sacrifice needed in order to take care of your family.
LOOKS. And let’s be real. Farm fresh eggs just look beautiful. Can we all just agree? Agreed.

colorful farm fresh eggs from backyard chickens

So the moral of the story here, folks, is to get you some backyard chickens! Whether you live in the country or not, if it’s at all possible, it’s worth it! And if you absolutely canNOT, then at least try to find you some healthy farm fresh eggs. (PS… Don’t mistake the words ‘Cage Free’ on the supermarket eggs for Farm Fresh/Pasture Raised. They are not the same.) Your body will thank you for making a switch to more wholesome and natural foods. 😉

Check out my post on how to start raising backyard chickens and see just how easy and non-threatening it is!

And who knows… if you start with some backyard chickens, I may just end up calling you ‘neighbor’ in a few years. Wouldn’t that be nice! 😁