Why Are Chickens The Ideal Family Pet?
Whilst pets are wonderful to have they do have their problems. Dogs will bark of the neighbours, some pets can be very expensive and veterinary bills can be very expensive and what do you do with your cat when you want to go away for a week’s holiday?
But the perfect pet may well be chickens. They aren’t expensive to buy and they aren’t expensive to feed, they won’t bark at the neighbours, they don’t get sick often and if you organise it right you can go on holidays for a week or 2 quite easily.
And as well as that chickens are very productive providing you with a fridge full of wonderful free range eggs, and the result can be some delightful omelettes for dinner. There’s many reasons why chickens may be the ideal family pet.
Whilst you can’t really put your chickens on your lap at night in front of the television there is still no doubt that children love chickens as much as adults, ours absolutely adore theirs.
But as is the case with other pets you need to research a little about keeping chickens before you buy your first one. The primary consideration is where you will keep them. They live in a chicken coop, which is occasionally called a henhouse or a chicken house. There are many chicken coops available for sale although the cheapest way to get your coop is to build it yourself.
The chickens will sleep in the coop at night but generally are allowed out of the coop during the day, in many cases to run free around your garden. If they do this they will clean up many of the nasty bugs in your garden, though they may scratch the soil and peck at your flowers as they do.
One of their great loves is to peck at ripe tomatoes.
Or else you can provide a dedicated chicken run around the hen house where they can roam during the day.
It’s important to learn a little more about feeding chickens as they require certain minimum levels of calcium and protein to lay eggs regularly, so you will need to source high protein foods and shell grit to add the protein and calcium to their feed. You will also need to find good appliances for water and food.
And when holidays come it’s quite possible to provide your chickens with a large reliable supply of food and water and to go away to enjoy yourself.
So start learning about keeping chickens, and in particular about housing and feeding them and head out there and buy your first chicken. I absolutely guarantee that your children will love you for providing you with their chickens and you’ll probably love it yourself.
And when you have it all sorted and have bought your chickens sit back and enjoy your omelettes.
