Other than the oh-what-the-heck-let’s-try-it factor, there were a handful of reasons and benefits to having chickens. First and foremost for me is the fact that commercial chickens live miserable lives. The bucolic image of chickens roaming the pasture eating bugs and clucking is not the reality of most commercially raised layers. (*Full disclosure: I’m not a vegetarian. I eat meat. I’m don’t consider myself an animal-rights activist. I do believe that animals ought to be raised and slaughtered humanely.) Layers, chickens that are used for their egg production as opposed to meat birds, get to live an average of two years. They are often debeaked (it’s exactly what it sounds like), crammed into cages where they cannot move, walk or even spread their wings, have no access to the outdoors, are pumped full of antibiotics, and have to endure having light on 18+ hours a day year-round to manipulate their bodies into laying more eggs, more often. That, my friends, is the real cost of the dozen eggs you can get at the Kwik Trip for 49 cents. The photo below is not from PETA or any other animal rights group; it’s a stock press photo and it shows a pretty run of the mill commercial chicken farm. It don't think it's meant to be controversial, and yet, it shocks me. That’s their life. 24-7. Until their egg production drops off and they are butchered. I don’t want to be a part of condoning that.
My second motivator was my realization that I’m pretty disconnected from the food I eat. The hens in my yard are a good reminder that the food I eat didn’t just show up on the shelves of the Co-op. Someone or some animal created, grew, tended, harvested, packaged, shipped, and placed it on those shelves. A lot of resources and energy went into it all. Essentially, having chickens reminds me to think about where all of my food comes from, and what it takes for it to land on my plate. And in thinking about that, it becomes a lesson in gratitude. Being grateful for the animal. Grateful for the grower. Grateful that I live in a time and place of plenty. Grateful that I have choices about what to eat. They also teach my family about biology, life, death, food production, and, hopefully, responsibility for caring for other creatures. All those lessons from just three little hens.
Of course, we also keep them for their fresh, delicious eggs. My hens good health, sunshine, and varied diet of grass, bugs, grain, and whatever other kitchen scraps we give them results in delicious eggs. I can’t describe how bland and tasteless I find commercial eggs now. It’s like going to Oktoberfest in Germany then coming home and drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon (apologies to any PBR fans out there). There is no comparison. I also appreciate that the hens eat slugs. My hosta garden has never looked so good. Finally, they are interesting and entertaining to watch: fighting over a scrap of food, perched in a row on their roost for the night, chasing our impertinent dog across the yard.... who needs TV with entertainment like that?
So do I think everyone should keep chickens? No. If you’re willing to do the work to care for them, great! If not, don’t even bother. Just because it may be(come) your “right” to have hens in town doesn’t mean that there is not responsibility involved. Are you willing to provide a dry, warm enclosure for your hens? Will you clean it out on a frequent and regular basis for your birds health and out of consideration for your neighbors? How about providing sufficient food and clean water and collecting eggs daily? That may or may not sound like a lot but those are the realities of responsible chicken keeping, in my opinion. There are also practical and—don’t laugh—emotional aspects to it. How would you feel if a predator killed one of your birds? Do you travel much? If so, who will care for them? Are you willing to spend money on chickens? (Pine shavings for their bedding and odor control, food, supplies for building or buying a coop, etc.) How long do you plan to keep them? Egg production is indefinite but declines with age. Where will they go when you don’t want them anymore? Are you willing to butcher them? Eat them? These, too, are good things to consider before keeping chickens.
If you don’t want to keep chickens, you can get some of the benefits in other ways. First and foremost, support your friends and neighbors if they want to keep chickens and do so responsibly. Let your city council person know that you support allowing chickens in town. Second, like it or not, we vote with our dollars. Buy eggs that are healthier, tastier, and that come from hens that have a high standard of living. I’ve used the word “commercial” in this post, and that feels sloppy on my part but I don’t know what word to use. What I mean by that is eggs that don’t tell you where they are from, what the birds were or weren’t fed (including antibiotics), if they had access or were raised outdoors, etc. These are (the majority) of the eggs sold at Cub, Kwik Trip, Wallyworld, etc. There are better options! There are a number of farmers locally who offer fresh, healthy, delicious eggs from hens who are raised humanely. Just Food Coop sells a variety of them and many larger grocery stores are starting to carry them because of customer demand. Finally, when you buy them, make sure you know what you’re getting. We’ve probably all had the experience of reading a product’s food label (“Sugar-free!”) and then, while munching away on said product and reading the box a little more closely, see that it didn’t mean quite what you thought it did (No sugar, but loaded evaporated cane juice…oh bugger). Labels on eggs aren’t any different so educate yourself about what cage-free versus pasture-raised or free-range means. I can’t find the USDA’s definitions on their website or a neutralish, objective source but here’s a resource from the Humane Society http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/guide_egg_labels.html
If you think chicken-keeping might be for you, I’m putting together a list of resources for chicken-keeping folk and will post it to this blog soon.
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