The Low-Maintenance Pal
We all have one. Someone we’re so comfortable being around that we can really be ourselves—no pretenses, no judgments. The chicken is that kind of friend.
Sure, she may be flighty and unpredictable at times, but mostly she’s funny, chatty, quirky, and endlessly entertaining. One of my favorite ways to spend a lazy summer evening is in the backyard, cool drink in hand, watching my flock peck around the yard, perch on my lawn chair arms, investigate my flip-flopped toes, or coo when they find something tasty in the grass. Each bird has a distinct character, and it shows. Each has a distinct personality, status in the group’s pecking order, food preferences, roosting space, favorite dust-bathing spot or nesting box, and so much more.
If you don’t care for long walks, litter boxes, or dog parks, you’ve found the perfect pet. An entire flock of hens is easier to care for than a single housecat, and they’re far less temperamental. With certain methods and styles of housing, coop maintenance can be a breeze. Daily watering and feeding are quick and easy, and when left to forage most of the day, a flock can easily find much of its food on its own. Once you make the initial investment, a flock’s upkeep is inexpensive and doesn’t take much time at all. By taking preventive measures and paying attention to cleanliness, chickens will rarely fall ill and can remain spunky, healthy, animal friends for up to ten years or more.
This Black Australorp forages in a compost pile. When properly composted, chicken droppings make a great addition to your garden.
The Educator
The chicken reminds us that our food is a living thing. The animal that produced that egg, meat, or dairy product was a living creature. The plant that grew the produce on your plate lived in soil and swelled under the sun (unless it was grown hydroponically or in a greenhouse). These food products came from living things that were grown, raised, harvested, and cared for by other living things—people, farmers.
This may seem obvious, but too many of us have lost touch with the origins of our food. In our busy day-to-day lives, it is easy to disconnect from these basics. The chicken can remind those of us who have forgotten and teach those of us who are just learning.
The chicken is the mascot for the back-to-the-land movement for good reason. She teaches us that food is precious and should not be mass-produced. Mass-produced food and food products lack nutrients, integrity, and heart and soul. Recent recalls of factory-farmed eggs have shed light on an industry stealthily growing ominously right under our collective noses. The evidence is contained in the white foam cartons stacked beneath fluorescent lights on the grocery store shelves. The hens that laid those eggs were crammed six or seven to a cage the size of a standard sheet of paper, their beaks trimmed to keep them from cannibalizing their compatriots in the cramped quarters where they pass their lives. Once “spent,” they are trucked off to become broth or soup for another industry that considers this living being a “product.”
Chicken Chatter
Sayings from folklore have been passed from one generation to the next for thousands of years. Many have a certain rhythm and are most often rooted in explanations of things happening in the natural world. Despite centuries of change, many of these, like the familiar chicken sayings below, remain in the modern lexicon.
As scarce as hen’s teeth: to be difficult or impossible to find; a rarity.
Mother hen: a matronly mother figure.
Nest egg: to save a bit of money over time.
Chicken scratch: a small amount of money.
Henpecked: to be picked on or nagged.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: a warning against investing all prospects or resources into one venture at the risk of losing everything.
To be chicken: to be afraid or cowardly.
Walking on eggshells: the need to be careful or tread lightly around the feelings of another.
Something to crow about: to have exciting news to share.
Have egg on your face: to be caught in a lie; to be guilty of a shameful act.
Fly the coop: to have left home; to be gone.
Like a chicken with its head cut off: to have no direction; to flail, literally or figuratively.
Made from scratch: handmade; to create something using raw materials.
Empty nest syndrome: a feeling of sadness, loneliness, or melancholy after grown children leave home.
To brood over: to worry or fret over a problem or situation.
No spring chicken: an old, tired person.
Shake a tail feather: to get a move on; hurry up.
To ruffle a few feathers: to annoy some people when making changes or improvements.
Birds of a feather flock together: those with similar personalities or attributes befriend and spend time with one another.
Not all it’s cracked up to be: when a person, thing, or event does not live up to expectations, reputation, or popular hype; a disappointment.
As if that weren’t reason enough to bring your dollar closer to home, those eggs are not what they could be. Without variation in their diet, eggs from factory-farmed hens plummet in heart-healthy omega fatty acids and soar in “bad” cholesterol. And because these eggs have to travel far and wide to get to thousands of supermarkets across the country, they are often several weeks to a month old by the time they reach your shopping cart.
Keeping backyard chickens offers a valuable opportunity for education—not just your own but also for your children, partner, friends, family, neighbors, and greater community—about the realities of factory farming and the industry we’ve been inadvertently supporting with our dollars. Keeping backyard chickens ensures that your birds are cared for in a humane and respectful way and that they live dignified lives, free from unnecessary suffering. In turn, you’ll be rewarded with the healthiest eggs available. Erect a beautiful coop that you’re proud of and invite the neighborhood over for a coop-warming party. Or, take your kid’s pet chicken to his class’s show-and-tell day and empower him to educate his peers. Surprisingly, there are many who just don’t know that a chicken lays an egg and that an egg is not just a manufactured food product that turns up on grocery store shelves. Or, that it’s not a dairy product. See? As a culture, we have collectively forgotten some of these very basic tenets of living.
Through your chicken keeping, you can educate a community about where their food comes from. You and your family can show friends and neighbors that chickens can be respectfully cared for, live happy lives, and still provide you with more eggs than you can eat.
Who Is the Chicken Keeper?
So, that’s the chicken. But who is the chicken keeper?
The answer is simple: anyone.
The chicken keeper is someone who values sustainable living, likes good food, wants to take control of his or her food sources and personal health, and enjoys the company and entertainment of chickens. The chicken keeper is someone who has a bit of outdoor space to spare for a flock (they’re social animals, so they need companions—a bare minimum of three chickens is best). The chicken keeper is someone who has time for quick daily feeding and watering, basic monthly maintenance, and a yearly coop clean. The chicken keeper doesn’t mind occasionally getting his or her hands dirty and doesn’t mind sharing garden space with a few quirky birds.