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Let’s face it, raising a family at home is an everyday challenge. It may seem like adding new responsibilities, like raising backyard chickens, would be impossible to slot in, but that’s not the case.
It’s actually very rewarding and sustainable for everyday families to keep chickens at home, especially if the yard is built for it. From having access to a supply of fresh eggs to teaching your kids about nature, there are a lot of benefits in raising homegrown chickens.
It may require a bit of work to set up a coop to house chickens, and to choose the right chicken breed, but once you’ve picked the right setup at home, you can easily run an autonomous and self-sustaining chicken coop with your family.
If you’re still not convinced to make the jump, then read on. This article will go into detail on why families should consider raising backyard chickens in the household.
Let’s jump right into it.
1. Access to Fresh Eggs at Home
One of the most notable benefits of keeping chickens at home is the fact that your family can enjoy a steady supply of eggs straight from your doorstep.
Healthy hens lay 20 to 25 eggs per month during the peak laying period. This number can go up or down depending on factors such as comfort, age, climate, diet and the chicken’s breed.
Even raising just a half dozen chickens at home can guarantee you a batch of a hundred eggs a month, more than enough to feed the family and leave some over. The excess eggs can be given to neighbours, sold in a farmer’s market, or stored for future use.
That said, getting that many eggs isn’t a guarantee if the conditions aren’t ripe for it. That is why it’s crucial to build or buy high-quality chicken coops to ensure that your chickens’ environment is perfect for laying. This way, you can increase the chances of a successful laying outcome while simultaneously keeping your chickens healthy.
Once you’ve got a chicken coop set up, you don’t have to buy fresh eggs at the supermarket for yourself and your family. This can save you a couple of dollars every grocery run, which is always a neat perk on top of all the other benefits of keeping chickens.
2. Teaches Kids About Responsibility and Nature
Another benefit of having chickens at home is the fact that their existence can provide terrific learning value for your children.
Chickens are living creatures and they require constant check-ups and care to ensure their health and happiness. They need to be fed, hydrated and cleaned every day for their survival, and this reality provides a good opportunity for your child to learn about responsibility as well as the delicate nature of life.
As a parent, giving your children the necessary life skills to take care of themselves and others is something fundamental for their growth and development. And with backyard chickens, they can follow a structured routine and experience the fruits of their labour first-hand.
You don’t have to delegate high-stakes tasks to your child from the start. This can put them off chicken-keeping completely. Start with something age-appropriate and easy to do, like collecting eggs and topping up feed. Incite their curiosity and praise them when they accomplish tasks until it becomes second nature.
Besides that, you should also answer any questions they may have regarding the process of caring for chickens. These small interactions not only sharpen their skills in the backyard, but it also makes them more aware of the impact of their actions. This will make them more disciplined and caring for the chickens, in turn.
Over time, your children will have a deeper understanding of caring for chickens and potentially handle a lot of chicken-keeping tasks around the house. This sense of ownership can translate to a better work ethic both inside the backyard and beyond.
3. Develops Empathy in Children
Besides building a child’s sense of responsibility, raising chickens at home can also make your child more empathetic towards chickens – and animals to a greater extent.
Daily interaction with chickens naturally makes the child more observant of their behaviour first-hand. They are active participants in shaping the chicken’s quality of life. Over time, your child may even be able to pick apart the different personalities of each chicken in the flock.
With this being the case, your child may more formally understand how to handle the chicken and recognise its needs and moods properly. They’ll develop the wisdom to engage with the chickens appropriately.
They’ll have a more nurturing mind as they go through the motions of feeding, cleaning, and looking after the chickens, which can be a good way to develop emotional growth towards animals.
This is a good thing both inside and outside the context of chicken keeping. Inside this context, children can become more perceptive of a chicken’s health or energy levels, prompting appropriate action to address potential issues. And in the outside world, they’ll carry that same attentiveness into their relationships with other people and animals.
By being close to and caring for the chickens regularly, children develop stronger emotional intelligence and compassion, which can be character-building, unlike any other.
4. Supports Self-Sufficiency
Another reason raising chickens at home can be great for families is that it helps promote a sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle.
Getting a supermarket batch of fresh eggs can be a resource-depleting process. From packaging the eggs to transporting the goods to their final destination, there’s a lot of waste and labour involved in getting a tray of eggs to a family’s doorstep. This waste can contribute to landfills and exhaust emissions, slowly eroding the planet in the process.
With a chicken coop setup, however, this problem is essentially mitigated. You’ll be able to retrieve farm-fresh eggs every day at your chicken coop without a middleman. Moreover, you can even get your chickens to feed on some kitchen scraps like vegetable peels—reinforcing self-sufficiency even more.
Due to the self-sufficient nature of raising chickens, it can be easier for families to transition into a more self-sufficient way of living beyond chicken coop ownership. For instance, they may feel encouraged to start small backyard gardens, compost organic waste, or explore other homegrown food sources that complement their chicken-keeping routine.
As families embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, they can become more responsible households with a lower carbon footprint. In turn, this can reduce environmental harm and foster a generation of environmentally-conscious children.
5. Strengthens Family Bonding
Another reason why chicken keeping can be good in most households is that it’s a shared family activity.
Caring for chickens often involves small daily routines that different family members can participate in together, from feeding and cleaning to collecting eggs in the morning. These responsibilities offer moments for family members to interact and spend quality time with one another.
This is a good thing. When a sense of teamwork is fostered in the household, this can strengthen the familial bond and bring families closer together. This, in turn, can make the act of keeping chickens a fun activity that everyone looks forward to.
We hope that we’ve helped you realise the benefits of raising chickens. All the best in keeping your flock healthy!
