Whilst managing chickens may be a wonderful pastime for the family, and whilst I personally consider that hens make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to attempting to keep hens as well as positives.

Whilst attempting to keep chooks can easily be a fantastic activity for the family, and whilst I personally consider that chooks make wonderful pets, there are some negatives to trying to keep chickens as well as positives.

Lets look at the possible benefits first. Needless to say the best positive to always keeping chooks must be all those delectable free range eggs simply lying there waiting that you just discover each and every afternoon or night. You’ll find nothing like consuming your own healthful, and appetizing free range eggs that were laid that day just for you. No hens had to put up with coping with a tiny cage to lay all of them for you, so you may feel great about having a fridge packed brimming with nourishing food.

Secondly chooks can make great pets despite the fact that they’re just fowls. Children just adore them. Ours will contentedly pick them up and carry them around for hours. It is quite a pleasure always keeping chickens, and when you permit them to roam free all around your backyard it is gratifying observing them out your kitchen’s windows while you prepare supper.

Thirdly, if you permit them to roam around at home they will clean up a whole bunch of insects which, if still left on their own, may possibly eat your garden. It was our chickens that assisted save our backyard from two summers of grasshopper plague. You really should see how many hopper one chook can consume daily.

Moreover it’s perfectly possible, not like for most domestic pets, to provide for your hens so that you don’t need to make arrangements for them each time you go on trips. As I have big automatic storage containers for feeding and supplying water we are able to go on trips leaving the chooks to their own devices and have never lost a single yet, even though on holidays.

Now to the negatives. Like all pets hens could certainly get ill and pass away. We have had instances when the children have found a deceased chicken in the chicken house, and this is distressing for them. While this obviously applies to all pets it is more prevalent when you keep your own chooks. This obviously is because you have a tendency to have quite a few hens, whereas a lot of people may have one or at most 2 dogs or pet cats. In our case with 15 chooks it is more frequent. And of course chickens have a shorter life-span than some pets such as dogs or pet cats.

Second of all despite the fact that hens will clean up quite a few of the unpleasant insects round your yard they do so by scratching, and this can certainly dig up the dirt of your yard beds. They will also peck at your veggies if you grow your very own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatos. You might need to protect your fruit and vegetables or some area of your garden.

And, like for a lot of other pets, there is some work required, such as regular cleaning of the chicken coop. Chickens poop all over the place and the house, as well as feeding and watering storage containers, needs to be washed. You must also study more about pest avoidance as chickens can easily be prone to such problems as mites.

Furthermore whilst getting fresh new free range eggs is wonderful it doesn’t occur on a regular basis. Chooks can go off the lay throughout the chilly winter months, and older chooks lay less eggs than younger ones. For this reason there can be times when you’re having to pay for chook food but still buying eggs.

I consider nevertheless that the advantages of attempting to keep chickens far exceeds the negatives. They’re among the very few domestic pets that are productive in addition to just being a pet, and for anybody considering attempting to keep hens as pets my answer is always to go for it. Very few folks have regretted keeping hens.

Don’t forget to visit my website Aussie Chicken Coops about hen houses to learn more about how to locate the best chicken coop  for keeping your chickens happy.

There’s no doubt that everyone loves pets, and most of us love eggs too. And there is a wonderful way to combine your love of pets and eating eggs together. Why not keep chickens?

As all kids love pets they will also love chickens. I have chickens and I have kids and the kids are delighted with their chickens. They feed them and pat them and give them names. Chickens are cheap to feed, and if you let them out in the garden during the day they’ll eat those pesky bugs that are feasting on your flowers. They are also relatively easy to keep and don’t make lots of noise as long as you don’t get a rooster.

But before you buy some chickens you do need to think about housing them. You will need a good chicken coop to house your chickens. Let’s consider the ins and outs of chicken coops.

Of course the first thing you’ll need to consider is how many chickens you wish to house. If you’d like a box of eggs a day you’ll need plenty of chickens, however for most families 3 or 4 hens is sufficient. If this is the case a simple movable chicken house that can be trundled around the garden is quite adequate.

There is also another thing that you need to consider before keeping chickens, and that is whether there are any regulations governing the keeping of chickens at your home, or about the chicken house that you are allowed to have.

The fastest and possibly the cheapest way to get a chicken coop is to build it, provided you’re familiar with the right end of a hammer and you’ve got a few nails. It’s not that difficult, you need some treated timber, some chicken wire and a few bits and pieces and you can have a chicken coop built in an afternoon.

Although not essential it helps to provide an enclosed area for the hens to nest. This is where the eggs will be laid.

At night chickens like to perch to sleep and therefore you need some perching bars off the floor of the coop.

There is a simple A-frame design that is easy to build and quite adequate for 3 or 4 chickens. Run rods from one side of the chicken coop to the other for the chickens to roost on at night and put some cover over this area so they are not roosting in the rain.

If you put handles on one end of the coop and wheels on the other it’s quite possible to roll it around the garden every few days. Just put it where you would like some fertiliser applied, leave it for a couple of days and you have automatic fertiliser for the lawn.

During the day you can open the door of the henhouse to allow your chickens to free range around the garden eating the bugs that eat your flowers. But make sure all chickens are returned to the coop at night, with the door closed, or foxes will get your chickens.

If you’ve got kids they will absolutely love having chickens of their own, and will also appreciate the eggs to eat. But make sure, before you buy your chickens, that you do some research to establish what size your chicken coop needs to be to house the number of chickens that you are considering.

All you have to do is get stuck into a simple handyman job building your chicken coop or buy a good one and then you can be comfortable knowing that you always have a fridge full of eggs.

There’s no doubt that everyone loves pets, and most of us love eggs too. And there is a wonderful way to combine your love of pets and eating eggs together. Why not keep chickens?

As all kids love pets they will also love chickens. I have chickens and I have kids and the kids are delighted with their chickens. They feed them and pat them and give them names. Chickens are cheap to feed, and if you let them out in the garden during the day they’ll eat those pesky bugs that are feasting on your flowers. They are also relatively easy to keep and don’t make lots of noise as long as you don’t get a rooster.

But before you buy some chickens you do need to think about housing them. You will need a good chicken coop to house your chickens. Let’s consider the ins and outs of chicken coops.

Of course the first thing you’ll need to consider is how many chickens you wish to house. If you’d like a box of eggs a day you’ll need plenty of chickens, however for most families 3 or 4 hens is sufficient. If this is the case a simple movable chicken house that can be trundled around the garden is quite adequate.

There is also another thing that you need to consider before keeping chickens, and that is whether there are any regulations governing the keeping of chickens at your home, or about the chicken house that you are allowed to have.

The fastest and possibly the cheapest way to get a chicken coop is to build it, provided you’re familiar with the right end of a hammer and you’ve got a few nails. It’s not that difficult, you need some treated timber, some chicken wire and a few bits and pieces and you can have a chicken coop built in an afternoon.

Although not essential it helps to provide an enclosed area for the hens to nest. This is where the eggs will be laid.

At night chickens like to perch to sleep and therefore you need some perching bars off the floor of the coop.

There is a simple A-frame design that is easy to build and quite adequate for 3 or 4 chickens. Run rods from one side of the chicken coop to the other for the chickens to roost on at night and put some cover over this area so they are not roosting in the rain.

If you put handles on one end of the coop and wheels on the other it’s quite possible to roll it around the garden every few days. Just put it where you would like some fertiliser applied, leave it for a couple of days and you have automatic fertiliser for the lawn.

During the day you can open the door of the henhouse to allow your chickens to free range around the garden eating the bugs that eat your flowers. But make sure all chickens are returned to the coop at night, with the door closed, or foxes will get your chickens.

If you’ve got kids they will absolutely love having chickens of their own, and will also appreciate the eggs to eat. But make sure, before you buy your chickens, that you do some research to establish what size your chicken coop needs to be to house the number of chickens that you are considering.

All you have to do is get stuck into a simple handyman job building your chicken coop or buy a good one and then you can be comfortable knowing that you always have a fridge full of eggs.