Cons Of Getting Chickens

I will be the first to tell you that I am not a big fan of chickens. So if you are a die hard chicken lover, this may not be the post for you. BUT if you are in the research phase of chickens, or maybe you are new to chickens and looking to get some insight, I just want to tell you to use caution. There are a few cons of getting chickens.

Cons Of Getting Chickens

I want to start this whole blog post by being completely transparent. I don’t like chickens. Like at all. I prefer ducks. Those creatures don’t get into my gardens because they are too big to fit through the fence holes and they can’t fly.

But chickens are here for Jared and Jaxson’s enjoyment. So I am absolutely biased. Now that that is out of the way, I want you to take off the rose colored glasses or blinders and really look at chickens. We already know the pros of getting chickens, right? Eggs!

But what are the cons of getting chickens? Well, I’m here to tell you that the list is pretty extensive. Chicken poop being the top of that list. Then there’s wing clipping, they die easily, predators, eggs, sickness, they get into EVERYTHING…. just to name a few things.

So why get chickens?

Good question…. Don’t get me wrong, chickens are pretty cool creatures. They are the hardest working, most productive animal on the farm, hands down. But they come at a cost which I will go into further down.

Chickens are the gateway animal for a lot of homesteaders. They are relatively easy to care for, cheap to purchase and raise, don’t require a ton of time or attention, and you get eggs! Chickens are great to get rid of kitchen scraps, too.

But that poop!

If you have a dedicated coop, and they will ALL go into that coop, you may only have to deal with massive amounts of poop in one spot. And it should be relatively easy to clean up, especially if you are using pine shavings for bedding. However, if you don’t have a dedicated coop because they free range, or they don’t ALL go into it, you will find their favorite roosting spots. The next morning…. after you’ve stepped in a HUGE pile of chicken poop.

My back deck is COVERED in chicken poop. No matter what we try to do, they will figure out that we have gone to bed, jump the fences and bed down on the deck…. It’s like they know. They will occasionally roost on the front deck but we are usually able to get them scattered before they bed down. They also like to roost on our bikes…. Our $700+ mountain bikes. They like to roost on the outside AC unit. If we don’t shut the door to the greenhouse? They like to roost in there too.

As you can imagine, this has created a huge hassle. Despite our best efforts, we just don’t get all of them into the coops at night. Which is a downside of letting them free range and being a victim of chicken math. And leads us into the next big con.

Clipping wings to keep them contained

This is not something that I feel good about. It’s just not. But I do it, and I’m diligent about it, because I don’t want them to escape their run or electric nets. But these creatures have figured out how to jump up and/or climb over the fencing with only one set of feathers. Even electrified fencing…. They just go through it.

I’ve tried various ways of clipping wings, and none have worked to actually keep them contained. Which is disheartening.

Then chickens are both extremely hardy and fragile

I’m not even sure how in the world you can be both hardy and fragile but chickens manage to do it with ease. An ole timer once told me “the chicken will die of anything else before dying of old age“. And that is something I have found to be absolutely true.

Chicks are extremely fragile, if they can make out of the brooder? Then they have to run the gauntlet of not getting picked off by another chicken or predator. Then they have to make it to egg laying age before a predator gets ahold of them, or they get lost in the woods. Let’s not mention that while they can eat pretty much anything but a freaking avocado can take them out… go figure.

And finally the biggest con of them all?

They get into EVERYTHING!

Now, maybe I have mutant chickens. Or maybe we have let them free range for too long. Or even still, they enjoy taunting me. But when I say that these chickens get into everything, I mean literally everything.

I have found chickens trapped in the wheel well of my truck, under the front deck, and in the goat barn… that they walked into.

They will willing jump into my garden to peck away at freshly planted seeds or plants, but if I even THINK about putting them in a tractor over a bed? Forget it. They just poop and refuse to eat.

They will find the most inconvenient place to go broody and then scream at you when you get within 5 feet of them. Like, sorry dear but I have to go past you to get through the FRONT DOOR!

Or, and this is my biggest frustration, I create this beautiful temporary pen. It’s got all the grass, bugs, weeds, you could want. Plenty of sun AND shade, water and pan of fermented feed. But, NO, you don’t want THAT pen. You want to go into my garden and eat every single tomato transplant that I have lovingly tended for the last 6 weeks……

So there are a lot of cons of getting chickens in my book

I do not like chickens. I do not like eggs. I do not like the taste of chicken. These creatures are the bane of my existence.

BUT!

Before you leave here thinking that I hate these creatures. I will give you a few things that I like about chickens.

They eat spiders! If you hold a chicken up to a spider, they will nom nom that eight legged, terrifying thing like it’s going out of style.

Chickens will turn my compost for me! No extra work on my part? Sold.

They turn kitchen scraps and moldy left overs into eggs…. that’s pretty cool.

Chickens create a TON of compostable animal bedding to put in my gardens.

Chicks are pretty cute.

They eat bugs! Watching a chicken chase a grasshopper is probably the funniest, cutest thing I have ever seen them do.

So while there are cons of getting chickens.

They aren’t all that bad. There are a ton of ways around the irritating things they do. We just haven’t exhausted all the options. And yes, it’s frustrating but at the same time, they are the hardest working animal on this farm. So fine…. they can stay.

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