Backyard Chickens: All the Cool Kids Have Them

When my husband first brought up the idea of getting a few chickens, I thought he was a little crazy. We knew NOTHING about chickens. But I thought the idea of fresh, organic eggs sounded enticing, so we decided that we'd get a few chickens.


While we were trying to find some, Jason read some books and articles and browsed message boards and prepared to be a good chicken farmer. 


When I posted on my blog about our new chicks, I thought people would think we were crazy. I could not have been more wrong. Since I posted about our chickens, at least 3 parenting blogs I regularly read posted about buying chickens to raise for eggs. I've seen several other blogs I follow post on Facebook about either wanting to have chickens or planning to get some chickens. As it turns out, chickens are the new cool thing.


Backyard chickens are popular right now for a good reason. Organically raised chickens produce eggs that are higher in Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin E. They also taste better. While our chickens are not producing quite yet, we were given some organic eggs by a neighbor who also raises chickens. There are more flavorful than standard grocery store eggs. They are a brighter yellow color, almost orange before cooking. Another side benefit: it is sooo much easier to separate the yolk from the white on an organic egg. My kids LOVED the eggs once I cooked them. This was especially notable since one child cried the last time she was served eggs. I think kids like knowing where their food comes from, and something about having met the chickens that laid these eggs made her willing to try them. Now she can't wait for our chickens to start laying so we can have more eggs.  

Chickens make great pets. The kids love them. Look how cute they are! They are very tolerant of being touched and held. If the kids get tired of the chickens, they are still useful (unlike most other pets). They don't need to be walked or cleaned up after. On the contrary, their poop is like fertilizer for your yard.




They eat lots and lots of bugs. Did you hear that? They eat unwanted things and poop it back out in the form of wanted fertilizer. It's a win/win!

Our Guineas keets -not technically chickens, but they do lay eggs. Plus they are
freakin' cute and they're my favorites, so they get their picture in this post. 

They also eat grass, grass clippings, and weeds. We've got a patch of yard where the grass had grown tall and we're letting the chickens run around out there. They're mowing it down nicely for us and also fertilizing it. We will probably make that our area into a garden plot next year since I expect the soil in that area will be nice and fertile by that point. 


Colorful eggs. Some chickens lay eggs that are blue or green in color. It's like getting Easter eggs each morning without having to dye them. What kid wouldn't love that? 


Do you have backyard chickens? Would you ever considered getting chickens for your backyard or do you think we're just crazy?