Whilst maintaining chooks can potentially be a fantastic hobby for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to maintaining chooks as well as positives.

Whilst always keeping chooks can certainly be a fantastic pastime for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to maintaining chickens as well as positives.

Lets consider the benefits first. Needless to say the most significant plus to keeping chooks would have to be all of the yummy free range eggs just laying there waiting around that you just discover every morning or evening. Absolutely nothing is like eating your personal nutritious, and delightful free range eggs that have been laid that day just for you. No chooks had to put up with coping with a small crate to lay them for you, and you can easily feel good about getting a fridge crammed filled with nutritious food.

Secondly chickens can make fantastic domestic pets despite the fact that they are birds. Youngsters really love them. Mine will happily pick them up and carry them around for hours. It is rather a delight always keeping chickens, and if you allow them to free range around your backyard it is satisfying observing all of them out your kitchen’s window when you make dinner.

In addition, if you allow all of them to roam around at home they will thoroughly clean up a whole bunch of bugs which, if still left on their own, would probably eat your back garden. It is our chooks that assisted save our backyard from 2 summers of grasshopper plague. You really should see how many hopper one chicken should consume per day.

Moreover it’s quite possible, unlike for most animals, to provide for your chooks so that you do not need to make arrangements for them each time you go on holidays. As I have substantial automatic keepers for feeding and supplying water we are able to go on vacations leaving the chooks on their own and have never lost a single yet, even though on holidays.

Now to the disadvantages. Like all animals hens can easily get ill and pass away. We have had instances when the children have found a dead chook in the chicken coop, and this is distressing for them. While this of course applies to all domestic pets it is more common when you keep chickens. This of course is because you have a tendency to have quite a number of chooks, whereas most people will have one or at most two pet dogs or cats. In our situation with 15 hens it is more regular. Of course chooks have a shorter lifespan than some domestic pets such as puppies or pet cats.

Secondly despite the fact that hens will clean up many of the unpleasant bugs around your yard they do so by scratching, and this may scratch up the dirt of your yard beds. And they will also peck at your fruit and vegetables if you grow your own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatoes. You will need to protect your fruit and vegetables or some section of your back garden.

And, like for many other pets, there can be some work involved, such as regular cleaning of the hen coop. Chooks poop all over the place and the house, as well as feeding and watering containers, needs to be cleaned. You will also need to study a little more about pest prevention as chickens may be susceptible to such challenges as mites.

Furthermore whilst getting fresh new free range eggs is wonderful it doesn’t occur all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the cold winter season, and more aged chooks lay fewer eggs than young ones. Because of this there might be times when you find yourself having to pay for chicken food but still buying eggs.

I consider however that the advantages of keeping chickens far outweighs the negatives. They are one of the few domestic pets that are productive in addition to just being a pet, and for anyone thinking about always keeping hens as pets my reply is always to go for it. Not many folks have regretted keeping chickens.

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