Are You Ready for Chickens? Chickens 101

Reader Contribution by Victoria Gazeley
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Chickens – they’re one of the main reasons I wanted to move to a rural property – so I could raise chickens and for my son to be able to collect fresh eggs.  Seems odd that so many of us relate to this seemingly simple act, but ask most people about their rural living dream and it usually includes a small flock of chickens.

But how do you know if you’re the ‘chicken type’?  How do you know if you’ve got the right personality for looking after livestock, even relatively simple livestock like chickens?  Let’s face it – in generations past, chickens were part of well rounded family farms, and pretty much a necessity.  They ate table scraps, weeds and bugs, and in return gave protein rich eggs and meat, as well as nitrogen rich fertilizer, to their keepers.  It was a pretty efficient system.

Now, of course, we’ve complicated things with all the equipment and paraphernalia that we ‘have to have’ to raise chickens.  Which, of course, is a bunch of bunk.  But there is a lot to learn in order to do it right, and to do right by your captive charges.  When we take animals into our care, we do have a responsibility to give them the best life possible.  But what does that look like?

If you’re pondering a backyard flock, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.  These are the questions I’m working through right now, as we decide ‘chickens or no chickens’ – I think I have commitment issues…  How about you?

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