The Suburban Farmer: Raising Chickens 101
One of my biggest interests, and one of the biggest topics I bring to the table at GreenDaily is a way to live a more sustainable life through raising your own food free of hormones and chemicals. This includes vegetables and animals, but mainly chickens. This series is an on-going introduction to the wonderful world of raising chickens in a non-rural environment.To preface this series, I want to make sure that any potential suburban chicken farmers research their current city codes as they relate to what is considered farm animals on their property. Many cities have strict laws against any sort of poultry on land zoned as residential, and others have certain stipulations such as no roosters, yet hens are allowed. Whichever the case where you live, always abide by these laws and be aware of their existence.
When most people discover that I raise chickens in my backyard, there are many misconceptions that are expressed almost immediately: "Do you live on a farm?" and "Do you kill the chickens?". Neither of these questions are true in my case, but they are certainly a reality in most cases where chickens are raised. I will, however, be approaching this subject from the unique perspective of someone who lives on less than a quarter of an acre of land and does not use the chickens for their meat.
So what else is there?
Well, there are many amazing benefits to raising chickens that I will touch on more during later editions of this series, but I'll break down the basics for you here.
- Chickens are very inexpensive to raise. In fact, they cost much less and require much less "maintenance" than a dog.
- They are intelligent and friendly with loads of personality.
- They make wonderful weed and insect control. This aspect can also help reduce the amount of chicken feed you need to purchase!
- They provide wonderful free fertilizer for your garden.
- Free-range, hormone-free eggs are the absolute best kind you'll ever have, in taste and nutrition!
Of course there are many more advantages to raising your own chickens, but this is just a sample of what I plan to cover in this series.
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