10 reasons to raise chickens (for fun)

After the arrival of some new chicks to add to Chickenland (our coop) this past week, I thought I'd share a post I made a while back about some good reasons to raise chickens, both from a practical point of view as well as their entertainment value.

10. They help you build upper-body strength by hauling their feed bags
9. They keep family activities interesting with their curiosity (but it's doubtful our chickens will get near diet coke again)
8. They help dispel myths about their abilities - like the fact that they really can fly

7. They give you eggs to eat, which can be more than you can handle sometimes (now we donate eggs to a local food pantry)

6. They eat any kind of left-overs, including gingerbread houses and ice cream cake
5. They are easy pets to take care of (my daughter takes exception to that in the winter when their water freezes)
4. You can play doctor on them and they don't really mind
3. They are pretty good actors with a little coaching (the girls filming of the "Magical Leaf" starred a chicken and it's pretty darn funny).

2. They pick through the compost pile, which helps aerate and speed up the decomposing process

1. They love to eat ticks!

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Because baby chicks are cute, my girls thought I should share a couple of pictures of our new friends (which will bring our poultry count up to a little over 30 again after losing a few hens to old age and predators over the winter - we don't raise meat chickens, just egg-layers).

Fino ordered Comet and Rhode Island Red chicks (six total) because a lot of our hens are getting old and don't lay eggs like they used to. These two varieties we've found lay some of the biggest eggs we've ever seen and do very well during Maine winters.

They'll grow up to look like this one...

He also ordered three guineas. I'm a little concerned about having that many because they make an unbelievably loud racket when they sense danger (or what they perceive as danger). This is a good thing when you've got one who can serve as your coop's 'watchdog' (when we hear the racket we know to take a quick peak outside to see if the neighborhood dog is in the yard or some other predator is around). But three more, in addition to the one we already have? I'm really not sure that's a good idea.

These little chicks are guineas...

... and will grow up to look like this.

About halfway through this video you can hear the guinea hen making her noises.



And I may have mentioned this before but chickens are much more laid back than pigs. They just like to hang around and chill out, which I appreciate oh so much more these days.