In light of the latest major egg recall, many people are considering getting their own flock of chickens. Farmers have been raising backyard fowl for over 3,000 years but in the last five years, it’s become accessible for even the beginner farmer like you.
You’ll be able to raise them organically, free of hormones and antibiotics, and let them run around your yard versus being cooped up in a cage. You’ll get around 300 eggs per hen per year.
Backyard chickens are healthier. Factory farmed chickens are kept in confined areas and are often feed an unnatural diet with hormones and antibiotics to increase growth quickly and cheaply.
The added stress of unhappy surroundings affects the taste and nutrients of the eggs and how many each hen produces.
Chickens will improve your garden. They are natural foragers so free-range chickens (those not confined to a coop) will scratch the soil looking for yummy bugs like grubs, earwigs, and the same bugs that eat your summer fruits and veggies.
Plus, as they turn the soil, it’ll aerate, breakup vegetations, and accelerate the decomposing process.
Chickens are a great lesson for kids. It’s important that kids have a connection to their food and understand the farm-to-plate chain. Children will love collecting eggs daily and feeding them.
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