The Good and the Bad of Raising Backyard Chickens

Reader Contribution by Amy Fewell
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I can still remember the day my husband said, “let’s get chickens”. It wasn’t a pleasant moment. You see, I had been tossing the idea around for awhile, but he was never very fond of it. It happens that way though — until it becomes “his” idea, it’s not fun for him. But the sad reality is that someone else had started talking about chickens, and now, all of a sudden, it was a wonderful idea!

Let’s skip that part….

Now we have chickens….and they aren’t always as easy and fun as some might think. But they are the best things ever. Chickens truly were the “gateway animal” for the beginning of our homestead. And over all, they are generally quite easy to tend to. As with everything, however, there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Our chicken journey began with two sweet little hens who needed a new home. Their previous owner had to move and could not take them with her. Therefore, enter me…with my brilliant idea. Yes, yes, we will take them and this will force Mountain Man to build that coop he bought materials for a month ago. Our two little hens lived in a make shift run with bird netting (JUST, bird netting) for almost 2 weeks. They were happy, though. And that’s all that mattered. I can still remember watching one of them lay their first egg. Farm kid and I hopped around like two kids on Christmas, and Mountain Man rolled his eyes and wondered what on earth he got himself into…as he continued building our large 8 feet x 8 feet walk-in coop. Finally, our coop was finished and two hens quickly turned into 5 hens…then 10 hens….then 25 hens….then 50 chickens….then some roosters….then some chicks…and…and….

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