I love my backyard chickens for lots of different reasons. Here are a few:

1. They produce tasty eggs. Besides giving our chickens table scraps (lettuce, broccoli, fading fruit, etc.) we let them graze in our backyard. They eat a lot of grass and ivy (and just about anything that isn’t nailed down), which gives them added beta carotene. This in turn gives their yolks a rich, deep almost orange color. There is some debate as to whether pastured hens (those that eat a lot of grass instead of corn-based feed) lay eggs that are lower in cholesterol. All I know is that their eggs have a meaty taste that you don’t get with grocery store eggs.

2. They are funny and friendly. We raised our hens from chicks, so they are quite fond of us. Of course they are walking stomachs and I feed them, so I’m sure they love me for that too. When we sit out in our garden and they are roaming around, they often jump up into my lap for a little cuddle. Our silver-laced Polish Andie (with the big pom-pom hairdoo) has some trouble seeing because of the feathers in her face. She has to tilt her head to see things and sometimes she still bonks into furniture. It’s pretty funny to watch her.

3. They eat bugs. They dig and scratch in the dirt looking for bugs, but they are also hunters of mosquitoes and ticks. My girls don’t seem to be too interested in slugs, but I’ve heard that chickens like to eat slugs. That makes up for the garden nibbling they are prone to. My girls will grab a mosquito right off my leg for a snack. Love that!

4. They are educational. Lindsay has learned all about chickens. We also have lots of curious friends and neighbors come through with lots of questions. Probably the top two questions are: How can you get eggs without a rooster? (You can get eggs, but you can’t get fertilized eggs w/out a rooster) Do they smell? (They only smell if you don’t clean up after them. Much in the same way cats can smell if you don’t clean their litter box) We just had kids from Lindsay’s school come to meet the hens. Many had never touched a chicken before or seen a green or blue egg before.

5. They are a great ice breaker at parties. We live in Brooklyn and it is pretty unusual for people to keep chickens. People either think we’re cool or really weird. I can live with either of those.

6. They are great composters. As I mentioned above they eat all manner of kitchen scraps. We keep two tubs by our kitchen sink. One is the premier kitchen waste, which goes to the hens. The other goes into our compost bin. The chickens eat the scraps and poop out nitrogen-rich droppings. Their droppings go into the compost bin, which kick-starts the bin to really speed up the decomposition process. My garden is thriving with the added nitrogen.

Food scraps turn into compost and eggs. What a great system.

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