Chickens Make Great Pets Really!
For years I have owned and raised pet chickens. Both my mother and grandmother raised chickens as well as other fowl, so it must be in the genes or something. I have had all types of chickens, from the biggest of the species, the Brahma, to the smallest called Bantams. Right now I have a small flock of 15, mostly hatched last spring from my 2 most mothering hens. In fact, both hens raised 2 clutches, (groups) of eggs this summer which is a tribute to their motherly dedication.
Because of my interset in chickens, I buy magazines about them and scour the internet for the latest in small flock innovations. One of those innovations was a chicken “tractor” which I built last fall. A chicken tractor is a mobile pen/coop that I pull around with a riding lawn mower. By having a wire top and bottom, it protects the animals from predators, But I can move it to different spots in the yard to allow the chickens to have fresh grass,(which they love to eat), and a new, clean environment. The waste is good for the grass as well, and the eggs they lay are packed with much more nutrients that those pale yolked store bought ones, (due to the fresh air, food and sunshine they get)
The chickens also act as a garbage disposal at our house. Because table scraps are forbidden for the dogs, (they cause too much GI upset), the chickens get all the leftovers. You would not believe the things chickens go crazy over. Spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and even beef and chicken are gobbled up by the happy hens. After they eat what they want, I put the rinds and other un-peckable foods into the composter for a garden boost in the spring.
Chickens take around 21 days to hatch out of their shells. Every spring I have allowed at least one hen to hatch out a few eggs to replace the ones that die of old age. I do not eat my chickens because they are pets–although I do not begrudge those people who do. I watch the hens hide their eggs in hopes that no one will find the nest. Day after day, I observe the dedicated hens sitting on their nest tending to the eggs. And then one day I start to hear the tiny peeping sounds typical of the new chicks. Sometimes the loudest peeping comes from intact eggs! The chicks are so cute too. It is well worth the wait to see them with their mother learning how to find food and keep safe.
I highly recommend chickens as pet for most households where zoning is not a problem. And believe me– zoning in a problem in Detroit Beach. Just ask the blight inspector who came to my house when I used to live there with my chickens……..
January 17th, 2007 at 6:34 am
This morning at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6269941.stm the BBC is reporting on a “Backyard poultry ban in Jakarta”. From the article, “All backyard poultry in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are to be banned in a bid to stem the deadly bird flu virus”. Personally, there are plenty of animals I’d love to be able to raise, chickens being one of them, along with rabbits. However, chickens aren’t allowed in Luna Pier, and that’s really the only reason we don’t raise them. And we don’t have the room for rabbits.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I cant believe that chickens are such a big deal around here. In southern California if you had a quarter of an acre you could have a couple of horses or cows. It is an eye opener thats for sure!
February 1st, 2007 at 5:45 am
You mentioned Bantams, and those require I relate a story. One year when my children were small I was teaching them about rearing livestock and farming. We bought a pony, and raised an orphaned calf. We built a barn, then we built a chest sized egg incubator.
We hatched off a number of varieties of chickens, ducks, Guinea Hens, Pheasant, Quail, Geese, and others. I decided to train some light bodied bantams for them to take to school for show and tell.
We started the training the day the chicks hatched, picking up each of them with a handful of feed and a few marbles, so they’d peck. Within a few days they’d run to our hands as we gave them both verbal and hand signals.
By the time they were grown we’d raised their feeding level until they could fly onto my shoulder, and easily onto the boy’s. They made a hit at show and tell.
March 7th, 2007 at 4:33 am
[…] Also included on page B3 of the print edition were Dr. Lisa Whiting, DVM, with part of her post on how chickens make great pets (I think she should have continued with, “especially if your kids are a flock of turkeys”), and the beginning paragraphs of my own post on ten things men shouldn’t say at dinner. […]