The Benefits And Disadvantages Of Trying To Keep Hens

Whilst maintaining hens can easily be a fantastic hobby for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chickens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to managing chickens as well as positives.

Whilst keeping hens could certainly be a wonderful hobby for the family, and whilst I personally consider that hens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to maintaining chooks as well as positives.

Lets look at the possible benefits first. Certainly the most significant positive to maintaining chooks has to be all those delectable roam around eggs just lying there waiting around that you just collect every breakfast or night. There is nothing like eating your personal healthy, and delightful free range eggs that were laid on that day just for you. No hens needed to suffer living in a small crate to lay them for you personally, so you should feel great about getting a refrigerator crammed filled with healthy food.

Next chickens make great pets despite the fact that they are fowls. Youngsters just love them. Mine will happily pick them up and may carry them around for hours. It can be quite a pleasure trying to keep hens, and if you permit them to roam free all over your yard it is rewarding observing all of them out your kitchen windows while you make an evening meal.

In addition, if you make it possible for all of them to free range at home they will clean up a whole host of bugs which, if left on their own, may possibly eat your back garden. It was our chickens that assisted save our backyard from two summers of hopper plague. You should see how many grasshoppers one chook should eat in one day.

Moreover it’s quite possible, not like for most animals, to provide for your chooks so that you do not need to make arrangements for them every time you go on vacations. 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 ever lost a single yet, even though on trips.

Now to the disadvantages. Like all pets chickens can get sick and die. We have had occasions when the kids have discovered a deceased hen in the hen coop, and this is upsetting for the kids. While this obviously is applicable to all pets it is more common when you keep chickens. This of course is simply because you tend to have quite a number of chickens, whereas most people may have one or at most two dogs or pet cats. In our case with 15 chickens it is more regular. Of course chickens have a shorter life-span than some pets such as dogs or pet cats.

Second of all despite the fact that chooks will pick up many of the nasty bugs around your yard they do so by scratching, and this could certainly dig up the dirt of your yard beds. And they will also peck at your veggies if you grow your own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatoes. You will need to protect your vegetables or some section of your garden.

Thirdly, like for many other pets, there’s some work required, including frequent cleaning of the chook coop. Chooks poop all over the place and the coop, as well as feeding and watering storage containers, ought to be washed. You must also study more about pest avoidance as hens can be prone to such problems as mites.

Furthermore whilst getting fresh new roam around eggs is great it doesn’t happen all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the cold winter months, and more aged chickens lay fewer eggs than young ones. Because of this there might be times when you are having to pay for chook feed but still purchasing eggs.

I think however that the advantages of maintaining chooks far exceeds the negatives. They’re one of the few family pets that are productive as well as just being a pet, and for anyone thinking about trying to keep hens as domestic pets my answer is always to go for it. Very few people have regretted getting hens.

Remember to visit my site Australian Chicken Coops about chicken coops to learn more about how to discover the best chicken coop  for keeping your chooks happy.

The Benefits And Disadvantages Of Trying To Keep Hens

Whilst maintaining hens can easily be a fantastic hobby for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chickens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to managing chickens as well as positives.

Whilst keeping hens could certainly be a wonderful hobby for the family, and whilst I personally consider that hens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to maintaining chooks as well as positives.

Lets look at the possible benefits first. Certainly the most significant positive to maintaining chooks has to be all those delectable roam around eggs just lying there waiting around that you just collect every breakfast or night. There is nothing like eating your personal healthy, and delightful free range eggs that were laid on that day just for you. No hens needed to suffer living in a small crate to lay them for you personally, so you should feel great about getting a refrigerator crammed filled with healthy food.

Next chickens make great pets despite the fact that they are fowls. Youngsters just love them. Mine will happily pick them up and may carry them around for hours. It can be quite a pleasure trying to keep hens, and if you permit them to roam free all over your yard it is rewarding observing all of them out your kitchen windows while you make an evening meal.

In addition, if you make it possible for all of them to free range at home they will clean up a whole host of bugs which, if left on their own, may possibly eat your back garden. It was our chickens that assisted save our backyard from two summers of hopper plague. You should see how many grasshoppers one chook should eat in one day.

Moreover it’s quite possible, not like for most animals, to provide for your chooks so that you do not need to make arrangements for them every time you go on vacations. 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 ever lost a single yet, even though on trips.

Now to the disadvantages. Like all pets chickens can get sick and die. We have had occasions when the kids have discovered a deceased hen in the hen coop, and this is upsetting for the kids. While this obviously is applicable to all pets it is more common when you keep chickens. This of course is simply because you tend to have quite a number of chickens, whereas most people may have one or at most two dogs or pet cats. In our case with 15 chickens it is more regular. Of course chickens have a shorter life-span than some pets such as dogs or pet cats.

Second of all despite the fact that chooks will pick up many of the nasty bugs around your yard they do so by scratching, and this could certainly dig up the dirt of your yard beds. And they will also peck at your veggies if you grow your own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatoes. You will need to protect your vegetables or some section of your garden.

Thirdly, like for many other pets, there’s some work required, including frequent cleaning of the chook coop. Chooks poop all over the place and the coop, as well as feeding and watering storage containers, ought to be washed. You must also study more about pest avoidance as hens can be prone to such problems as mites.

Furthermore whilst getting fresh new roam around eggs is great it doesn’t happen all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the cold winter months, and more aged chickens lay fewer eggs than young ones. Because of this there might be times when you are having to pay for chook feed but still purchasing eggs.

I think however that the advantages of maintaining chooks far exceeds the negatives. They’re one of the few family pets that are productive as well as just being a pet, and for anyone thinking about trying to keep hens as domestic pets my answer is always to go for it. Very few people have regretted getting hens.

Remember to visit my site Australian Chicken Coops about chicken coops to learn more about how to discover the best chicken coop  for keeping your chooks happy.

The Benefits And Disadvantages Of Trying To Keep Hens

Whilst maintaining hens can easily be a fantastic hobby for the household, and whilst I personally consider that chickens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to managing chickens as well as positives.

Whilst keeping hens could certainly be a wonderful hobby for the family, and whilst I personally consider that hens make wonderful pets, there are some disadvantages to maintaining chooks as well as positives.

Lets look at the possible benefits first. Certainly the most significant positive to maintaining chooks has to be all those delectable roam around eggs just lying there waiting around that you just collect every breakfast or night. There is nothing like eating your personal healthy, and delightful free range eggs that were laid on that day just for you. No hens needed to suffer living in a small crate to lay them for you personally, so you should feel great about getting a refrigerator crammed filled with healthy food.

Next chickens make great pets despite the fact that they are fowls. Youngsters just love them. Mine will happily pick them up and may carry them around for hours. It can be quite a pleasure trying to keep hens, and if you permit them to roam free all over your yard it is rewarding observing all of them out your kitchen windows while you make an evening meal.

In addition, if you make it possible for all of them to free range at home they will clean up a whole host of bugs which, if left on their own, may possibly eat your back garden. It was our chickens that assisted save our backyard from two summers of hopper plague. You should see how many grasshoppers one chook should eat in one day.

Moreover it’s quite possible, not like for most animals, to provide for your chooks so that you do not need to make arrangements for them every time you go on vacations. 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 ever lost a single yet, even though on trips.

Now to the disadvantages. Like all pets chickens can get sick and die. We have had occasions when the kids have discovered a deceased hen in the hen coop, and this is upsetting for the kids. While this obviously is applicable to all pets it is more common when you keep chickens. This of course is simply because you tend to have quite a number of chickens, whereas most people may have one or at most two dogs or pet cats. In our case with 15 chickens it is more regular. Of course chickens have a shorter life-span than some pets such as dogs or pet cats.

Second of all despite the fact that chooks will pick up many of the nasty bugs around your yard they do so by scratching, and this could certainly dig up the dirt of your yard beds. And they will also peck at your veggies if you grow your own and they particularly adore pecking at tomatoes. You will need to protect your vegetables or some section of your garden.

Thirdly, like for many other pets, there’s some work required, including frequent cleaning of the chook coop. Chooks poop all over the place and the coop, as well as feeding and watering storage containers, ought to be washed. You must also study more about pest avoidance as hens can be prone to such problems as mites.

Furthermore whilst getting fresh new roam around eggs is great it doesn’t happen all the time. Hens tend to go off the lay throughout the cold winter months, and more aged chickens lay fewer eggs than young ones. Because of this there might be times when you are having to pay for chook feed but still purchasing eggs.

I think however that the advantages of maintaining chooks far exceeds the negatives. They’re one of the few family pets that are productive as well as just being a pet, and for anyone thinking about trying to keep hens as domestic pets my answer is always to go for it. Very few people have regretted getting hens.

Remember to visit my site Australian Chicken Coops about chicken coops to learn more about how to discover the best chicken coop  for keeping your chooks happy.

What’s The Perfect Pet For A Family? Chickens

There’s no doubt that having a pet is a fine hobby for a family. But pets are not without their problems. It can get very expensive buying some pets and paying for the veterinary bills, extremely difficult to know what to do with some of them when you go away on holidays. Cats can devastate the local wildlife and dogs will bark at the neighbours and terrorise visitors.

But the perfect pet may well be chickens. They aren’t expensive to buy and they aren’t expensive to feed, they won’t bark at the neighbours, they don’t get sick often and if you organise it right you can go on holidays for a week or 2 quite easily.

And as well as that chickens are very productive providing you with a fridge full of wonderful free range eggs, and the result can be some delightful omelettes for dinner. There’s many reasons why chickens may be the ideal family pet.

And whilst it is true that you can’t sit a chicken on your lap to pat at night we still find that adults and particularly children adore chickens.

But like other pets you do need to understand a bit more about keeping chickens before you buy some. You will need to provide them with somewhere to live, called a chicken coop, or sometimes a hen house, or chicken house. You can buy one or perhaps the cheapest way is to build one.

Your chickens will sleep in the chicken house at night however they much prefer to roam around outside of the coop during the day time. It’s perfectly possible to let your chickens free range around the garden during the day cleaning up the bugs, though you may get a little scratching and pecking of your flowers.

One of their great loves is to peck at ripe tomatoes.

Or else you can provide a dedicated chicken run around the hen house where they can roam during the day.

It’s important, if you plan on keeping chickens, to understand some of the feeding requirements. To ensure an adequate supply of eggs they need plenty of calcium and protein. You can supply the protein from any source, though it’s possible to get dedicated high protein feed, and calcium can often come from shell grit added to their food. You will need a good feeding and watering device.

And going on holidays isn’t a problem. We can comfortably go away for one to 2 weeks after we have left our chickens with sufficient food and water.

Without doubt keeping chickens is a great way for the family and in particular the children to enjoy having pets. Although there is plenty to learn it’s fun and rewarding and the children will love having their chickens. So learn a bit more about housing and feeding them and then start looking for your first hen.

And then you’re on your way to a lifetime of healthy free range eggs delivered to you by some happy healthy hens.

What’s The Perfect Pet For A Family? Chickens

There’s no doubt that having a pet is a fine hobby for a family. But pets are not without their problems. It can get very expensive buying some pets and paying for the veterinary bills, extremely difficult to know what to do with some of them when you go away on holidays. Cats can devastate the local wildlife and dogs will bark at the neighbours and terrorise visitors.

But the perfect pet may well be chickens. They aren’t expensive to buy and they aren’t expensive to feed, they won’t bark at the neighbours, they don’t get sick often and if you organise it right you can go on holidays for a week or 2 quite easily.

And as well as that chickens are very productive providing you with a fridge full of wonderful free range eggs, and the result can be some delightful omelettes for dinner. There’s many reasons why chickens may be the ideal family pet.

And whilst it is true that you can’t sit a chicken on your lap to pat at night we still find that adults and particularly children adore chickens.

But like other pets you do need to understand a bit more about keeping chickens before you buy some. You will need to provide them with somewhere to live, called a chicken coop, or sometimes a hen house, or chicken house. You can buy one or perhaps the cheapest way is to build one.

Your chickens will sleep in the chicken house at night however they much prefer to roam around outside of the coop during the day time. It’s perfectly possible to let your chickens free range around the garden during the day cleaning up the bugs, though you may get a little scratching and pecking of your flowers.

One of their great loves is to peck at ripe tomatoes.

Or else you can provide a dedicated chicken run around the hen house where they can roam during the day.

It’s important, if you plan on keeping chickens, to understand some of the feeding requirements. To ensure an adequate supply of eggs they need plenty of calcium and protein. You can supply the protein from any source, though it’s possible to get dedicated high protein feed, and calcium can often come from shell grit added to their food. You will need a good feeding and watering device.

And going on holidays isn’t a problem. We can comfortably go away for one to 2 weeks after we have left our chickens with sufficient food and water.

Without doubt keeping chickens is a great way for the family and in particular the children to enjoy having pets. Although there is plenty to learn it’s fun and rewarding and the children will love having their chickens. So learn a bit more about housing and feeding them and then start looking for your first hen.

And then you’re on your way to a lifetime of healthy free range eggs delivered to you by some happy healthy hens.

Get Some Chickens And A Chicken Coop And You’ve Got The Perfect Productive Pets

Keeping chickens at home is a wonderful way to combine having pets the kids will love as well as something productive to add to the kitchen. There’s nothing like having your own organic free range eggs available every day.

But if you’re planning to get some chooks you need to consider how will house them. A chicken coop, or what is sometimes called a henhouse or chicken house, is where you house your chicken.

It doesn’t matter if you buy your chicken coop or build a chicken coop yourself. It’s quite cheap and not difficult to build a henhouse, it’s really not a lot more than a garden shed with some modifications.

The modifications that you will need are firstly that there are nesting boxes available in the chook house for the chickens to lay their eggs. Make your nesting boxes only a little bigger than the size of a chicken. If they’re too big you’ll find two chickens battling for position in the same nesting box. And make them easy to clean.

And it’s also important that they be relatively dark, as chickens like to nest in dark places, and if they aren’t dark they will choose somewhere darker, like the corner of the chicken coop.

As well as nesting boxes you will need perches for the chooks to sleep on, as they sleep standing up above the ground, as if they were on a branch. A simple bar around 75 millimetres by 50 a little way off the ground is sufficient, and allow around 200 millimetres of horizontal space for every bird.

Of course they will need food and water, which you can provide either inside the hen house,  or outside, as long as it is sheltered.

If you provide food and water in the chicken coop you will need to make sure that it is not underneath the perch or the chicken droppings will foul the food.

Of course some responsibilities come with keeping chickens, in particular cleaning the henhouse. You need a nice soft material on the floor of the henhouse, my preference is sawdust which soaks up droppings, though of course needs to be removed from time to time. And it makes a wonderful fertiliser put it on the garden.

The best part of keeping chickens is collecting eggs every day. Organic free range eggs taste better than supermarket eggs and you’re never left with too many as you will always find neighbours happy to buy them from you.

So there’s good reasons for keeping chickens as pets for the children. There’s many animals that make good pets are very few if any that provide you with a useful product to eat as well.

And chickens certainly are a fine companion for children, ours absolutely love their chickens.

But remember, spend some time researching about keeping chickens, put some thought into the type of chicken coop that you will buy or build, where you will place it and how you will clean it and your forethought will be well rewarded.

Get Some Chickens And A Chicken Coop And You’ve Got The Perfect Productive Pets

Keeping chickens at home is a wonderful way to combine having pets the kids will love as well as something productive to add to the kitchen. There’s nothing like having your own organic free range eggs available every day.

But if you’re planning to get some chooks you need to consider how will house them. A chicken coop, or what is sometimes called a henhouse or chicken house, is where you house your chicken.

It doesn’t matter if you buy your chicken coop or build a chicken coop yourself. It’s quite cheap and not difficult to build a henhouse, it’s really not a lot more than a garden shed with some modifications.

The modifications that you will need are firstly that there are nesting boxes available in the chook house for the chickens to lay their eggs. Make your nesting boxes only a little bigger than the size of a chicken. If they’re too big you’ll find two chickens battling for position in the same nesting box. And make them easy to clean.

And it’s also important that they be relatively dark, as chickens like to nest in dark places, and if they aren’t dark they will choose somewhere darker, like the corner of the chicken coop.

As well as nesting boxes you will need perches for the chooks to sleep on, as they sleep standing up above the ground, as if they were on a branch. A simple bar around 75 millimetres by 50 a little way off the ground is sufficient, and allow around 200 millimetres of horizontal space for every bird.

Of course they will need food and water, which you can provide either inside the hen house,  or outside, as long as it is sheltered.

If you provide food and water in the chicken coop you will need to make sure that it is not underneath the perch or the chicken droppings will foul the food.

Of course some responsibilities come with keeping chickens, in particular cleaning the henhouse. You need a nice soft material on the floor of the henhouse, my preference is sawdust which soaks up droppings, though of course needs to be removed from time to time. And it makes a wonderful fertiliser put it on the garden.

The best part of keeping chickens is collecting eggs every day. Organic free range eggs taste better than supermarket eggs and you’re never left with too many as you will always find neighbours happy to buy them from you.

So there’s good reasons for keeping chickens as pets for the children. There’s many animals that make good pets are very few if any that provide you with a useful product to eat as well.

And chickens certainly are a fine companion for children, ours absolutely love their chickens.

But remember, spend some time researching about keeping chickens, put some thought into the type of chicken coop that you will buy or build, where you will place it and how you will clean it and your forethought will be well rewarded.

Why Are Chickens The Perfect Pet For Children (and Adults) ?

The perfect pet for children, and for adults, is to keep chickens. Keeping chickens has a number of benefits including the provision of wonderful free range eggs for the fridge and the capacity of chickens to eat all those rotten bugs that are eating your flowers.

Some people assume that you can only keep chickens if you live in the countryside, but there are many people living in suburbia who delight in keeping chickens too.

The keeping of chickens is often subject to rules and regulations, for example it is often prohibited to keep roosters and there are also sometimes regulations about the number of chooks you may have and where your chicken house may be located.

But after you’ve found out what you can and cannot do there are no other reasons why dwellers of suburbia are unable to keep backyard chickens in suburbia.

Often I am asked what breed of chickens you should buy and how many chickens you should have.

This depends of course on your own choice, but a general rule is that a good laying hen will lay around 300 eggs each year, or around 5 or 6 a week, more in summer than winter.

You can then look at how many eggs you require to determine how many chooks to keep.

But it’s extremely rare that you should have eggs going to waste. If you do simply ask the neighbours, they will fall all over themselves to buy your free range eggs.

On that basis, for the average family, 3 or 4 hens is usually sufficient, though more is more fun.

And what type of chicken to buy? There are many breeds, and there are different ways to select your hens. Do you want wonderful looking chickens or are you just looking for hens that will produce as many eggs as possible? In our case our choice of breed is determined by both considerations.

Because there is no doubt there are some wonderful fancy looking chickens available. Our kids love fancy chickens and so we have some wonderful pure white silky bantams. They don’t lay large eggs so are really there for their looks.

But they do look great.

For egg laying we tend to select Isa Browns. These are a good chook for laying plenty of eggs, though one drawback of Isa Browns is that they rarely sit on eggs, so if you want chicks each year Isa Browns may not deliver. Their lack of enthusiasm for sitting on eggs is the reason they are good layers, because once they start to sit on eggs they stop laying.

Having chicks is a wonderful experience. Every time we do so our kids love it, and delight in watching the chicks grow up. There are some negatives to allowing your chickens to hatch chicks though, the main one being what to do with the chicks when they get older. Of course around 50 percent will be roosters and so you will need to find something to do with them. They make good soup, however you will need to consider the council regulations.

However these are small problems when compared to the delights of keeping chickens as pets, and also of having those wonderful, tasty and fresh free range eggs to eat every day.

Peter has a website about chickens and chicken houses at http://www.chickenhouses.net.au

Why Does A Chicken House And Some Chickens Keep The Family Happy?

The kids have been pestering you for weeks about getting a pet. You consider getting a dog but you know that the barking will annoy the neighbours. And you also know that you don’t want a dog pooping all over the garden. Cats are nice but they scratch furniture. Have you considered keeping chickens as the ideal way to provide low maintenance pets for the kids?

There’s a whole host of reasons why chickens make wonderful pets. They don’t bark, and provided you don’t buy a rooster the neighbours won’t complain about the noise. They don’t smell and they don’t dig holes under the fence. They’re cheap to feed, need very little work and are fun day at around. Kids just love chickens, mine spend hours playing with them.

And there’s an added bonus to having chickens. You get eggs.

Lots of people never think about getting chickens as a pet when it comes to choosing a pet for the kids. As long as your council allows you to keep chickens it’s well worth considering. But there are some things to think about before you rush out and buy your hens. You need a good chicken house to house your chickens.

The henhouse needn’t be enormous. If you only have 3 or 4 hens then a modest size henhouse will house them admirably provided it has a nesting area and rungs for them to roost on at night.

It’s not hard to build yourself a henhouse. It’s basically just treated timber (for outdoor use) and some wire mesh, and some materials to cover in part of the henhouse so they have some shelter at night. Usually don’t need a floor as it sits on the ground.

And a small henhouse for 3 or 4 hens, if you add wheels one end and handles the other, can be moved around the garden so that the chicken droppings can fertilise the lawn in different spots from time to time. And there’s no reason chickens can’t free range around the garden during the day.

It’s the perfect handyman project for you to do together with the kids. Buy some materials, grab a hammer and nails, round up the kids and spend the afternoon building a fine chook house for your soon-to-be chicken collection. The kids will love it.

So if you’ve been looking for a solution to being pestered by the kids for pets consider chickens. It’s a good way to you to show the kids how well you can build a chicken house, and you’ll have happy kids, happy chickens and lots of eggs for dinner if you do.

Find a good recipe book, get started learning how to make omelettes for dinner and not only have you found a solution to getting pets for the kids and show them your handyman skills but you’ve also made your wife happy making dinner with your own free range eggs.

Why Are Chickens The Perfect Pet For Children (and Adults)?

The perfect pet for children, and for adults, is to keep chickens. Keeping chickens has a number of benefits including the provision of wonderful free range eggs for the fridge and the capacity of chickens to eat all those rotten bugs that are eating your flowers.

Some people assume that you can only keep chickens if you live in the countryside, but there are many people living in suburbia who delight in keeping chickens too.

The keeping of chickens is often subject to rules and regulations, for example it is often prohibited to keep roosters and there are also sometimes regulations about the number of chooks you may have and where your chicken house may be located.

But after you’ve found out what you can and cannot do there are no other reasons why dwellers of suburbia are unable to keep backyard chickens in suburbia.

Often I am asked what breed of chickens you should buy and how many chickens you should have.

This depends of course on your own choice, but a general rule is that a good laying hen will lay around 300 eggs each year, or around 5 or 6 a week, more in summer than winter.

You can then look at how many eggs you require to determine how many chooks to keep.

But it’s extremely rare that you should have eggs going to waste. If you do simply ask the neighbours, they will fall all over themselves to buy your free range eggs.

On that basis, for the average family, 3 or 4 hens is usually sufficient, though more is more fun.

And what type of chicken to buy? There are many breeds, and there are different ways to select your hens. Do you want wonderful looking chickens or are you just looking for hens that will produce as many eggs as possible? In our case our choice of breed is determined by both considerations.

Because there is no doubt there are some wonderful fancy looking chickens available. Our kids love fancy chickens and so we have some wonderful pure white silky bantams. They don’t lay large eggs so are really there for their looks.

But they do look great.

For egg laying we tend to select Isa Browns. These are a good chook for laying plenty of eggs, though one drawback of Isa Browns is that they rarely sit on eggs, so if you want chicks each year Isa Browns may not deliver. Their lack of enthusiasm for sitting on eggs is the reason they are good layers, because once they start to sit on eggs they stop laying.

Having chicks is a wonderful experience. Every time we do so our kids love it, and delight in watching the chicks grow up. There are some negatives to allowing your chickens to hatch chicks though, the main one being what to do with the chicks when they get older. Of course around 50 percent will be roosters and so you will need to find something to do with them. They make good soup, however you will need to consider the council regulations.

However these are small problems when compared to the delights of keeping chickens as pets, and also of having those wonderful, tasty and fresh free range eggs to eat every day.

Peter has a website about chickens and chicken houses at http://www.chickenhouses.net.au