I love having backyard chickens. I currently have two laying hens because in the city you need a permit to have more than two. I don’t want to go through the process to get a permit. Plus, two chickens make enough poop for me to clean up.
My favorite chick
A few fun fast facts about chickens to help you decide if you too want to join the awesome group of keeping chickens.
- Hens do not crow. Only Rooster’s crow and that is why people are not allowed to keep Roosters within city limits.
- Chickens do not smell. If there is a smell it is most likely from lack of cleaning their coop.
- Chickens can half fly. They kind of take a running leap into the air and they can get over my 6 foot fence without having the wings clipped. They never have left the fence, but they could if they tried.
- Chickens like people and they do not bite. At times I have been pecked on the foot, but it isn’t a big deal.
- After a hen has laid an egg she will make it known by clucking in a high pitch tone around the coop for 10 minutes or so.
- Chickens love to eat veggies and fruit. My little ladies would eat strawberries all day long if they could.
- My hens cuddle with each other at night.
- Keeping chickens is good for teaching your children about animals, science and health.
- You can be “Greener” by giving your chickens leftovers from your meals; as long as there is no meat in the leftovers.
- The chicken poop is great for gardens.
- This fact about chickens is sort of funny, but they like to sleep in your lap!
- Chickens are wonderful at bug control in your backyard.
- I was surprised to see that bunnies like to hang out near the hens. Not a great visitor for my garden, but the kids liked the bunnies.
- A BIG bag of feed for the chickens costs us $14.00 at Fleet Farm. It will last a couple of months.
- Fresh chicken eggs are amazing!
- A hen will lay one egg every 24 hours. Sometimes.
- You don’t need a lot of space to keep chickens.
- It’s a really fun hobby for a whole family.
- It doesn’t have to cost much to make a coop for the hens.
- Backyard chicken keepers are super cool people.