The trend of raising chickens is spreading across America.
I believe people are raising chickens to get the fresh eggs and meat but feel that it is mostly to get fresh, organic eggs. I do know that fresh eggs are far superior to what can be purchased in a store. I don’t think you can raise them yourself cheaper than you can buy eggs and definitely not the range or organic eggs but chickens have other benefits.
They aren’t generally friendly like a dog or cat, but are a great deal of fun to watch and some will become more friendly than others. Generally they will eat almost anything and if you have a place where you can let them run free, they eat almost no grain so it is very inexpensive to feed them.
The benefits go further in that they will eat caterpillars, ticks, and many other insets around the yard or the area where they range. They also eat many plants that grown in the yard. They should not be let in a garden as they will generally destroy it, more from scratching than actually eating, although they do eat most vegetables that most people raise.
With the trend toward survivalism I also believe people are raising them just to have this food source around. I did hear on the news tonight, that if there is a pandemic of the “Swine Flu” that it could cause some stores and markets to shut down temporarily and although eggs are no big deal, they just might come in handy with what is around the house until the market or markets reopen.
These are some of the practical reasons for raising chickens.
I won’t go into great detail in this post, but the real reason I raise them and have for over 30 years is that I enjoy having them around.