Monday, November 10, 2008

me, raising chickens


I never in my life thought I'd raise chickens until my son ask if we could get some chickens after attending a homesteading class at our local homeschool co-op. My husband and I thought if he had a good argument as to why we should get some chickens then we'd hear him out. He talked about how much he loved eating eggs and how we could save money. But his winning argument was that he would be responsible for the chickens. Guess what? We gave in.


Now you may be asking yourself, why would I want to raise chickens. Well, one good reason is that they lay eggs. Not only can you eat the eggs but, you can sell them. We sell ours for less than the grocery store, and still have enough to pay for their up keep.
They are also great to have around because their poop, once composted, is a great fertilizer. We use it on our garden. Of course we compost most of our left overs, but our girls are great for eating up items we don't compost like meats and pastas. They consider our leftovers a real treat. Another good reason to raise chickens is that they are great little pest controllers. We just let our girls out to forage and they eat all the flees, ticks and other unwanted intruders. And a final reason for raising chickens is that they are very low maintenance. Once we enclosed a shed for their coop we really haven't had to do much at all.






6 comments:

Leah said...

I've never considered it, but you make a great argument. Hubby would NEVER go for it. He won't even let me get a goat to put in the backyard....*sigh*

jayedee said...

and the number one reason for raising chickens? they are better/cheaper than therapy or prozac for maintaining mental health! lol

Anonymous said...

Yes, we did have chickens in Ark. But we also had grass there (not sand) and a fenced in area (with a barn stall) that could be made into a coop very easily.

I was wondering what to do w/ the chickens when we moved to Miss., but the neighborhood boys and dogs took care of that. (They opened up the gate--chkns got out--dogs).

I wanted to have chickens here, but never got around to it. See ya Tina

RazorFamilyFarms.com said...

I'm with Jayedee on this one! Numero uno -- they are so entertaining!!!!


Blessings!
Lacy

Bloggers said...

Yes i have. In my quest to become more self-sufficient I have many times wanted to do this. I think now would be the perfect time for it. I have no more dogs and perfect place for it.

I have been sharing some of my ideas on my new blog Prepared for Survival.

Maureen said...

Luckeee....we are in the process of building the coop so we can have chickens in the Spring. My teenage daughter has threatened to move out if we go thru with it....we SO embarrass her with our lifestyle choices.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” mahatma gandhi