Ten Reasons to Get Some Hens for Your Yard.

If we could only have one animal type on our homestead, I would choose the hens.  Hands down.  They are the lowest maintenance of any animal here, lay delicious eggs, taste good in the pot, are cheap and easy to replace, and any kids that visit (and our own boys) absolutely love them.

But for those of you who might need some more convincing, here are ten great reasons to keep hens in your yard, whatever size it may be:

1)  Hens pay for themselves.  Depending on the breed, a single hen can lay 100 to 300 eggs per year.  Assuming you pay $10 for a prime hen, you've made up the initial investment in six to seven weeks.  And if you are really crafty with the classifieds, you may find chickens for much less or free.  Either way, it's money in your pocket and eggs in the fridge.

2)  A chicken eats less than a chihuahua.  A fifty pound bag of scratch grains will run you about $10.  You pay more than that for the cat's food.  And fluffy isn't leaving you delicious eggs in that litter box.  Not to mention, 50 lbs of feed will last a half dozen hens a very.  long.  time.    

3)  Hens are great with kids.  Cats, dogs, hamsters, snakes, parakeets, and ferrets leave a nasty mark - if not blood or worse - when they bite.  Chickens flap and peck.  And not very hard, at that.  And the more they are handled by kids, the more docile they get.  What a great pet!

4)  Fresh, cage-free, hormone-free, and whatever-else-you-want free eggs.  Why pay $5 for specialty eggs when you can pick them up for free out of your back yard?

5)  No rooster required.  Really for real.  Hens do not need to get laid to lay.

6)  Free fertilizer.  Chicken poo is great fertilizer for lawns, flower beds, and gardens.

7)  Auto-compost.  Feed those table scraps to the hens.  They'll love you for it.  And in gratitude, they'll compost it and spread it on the lawn for you.

8) Pest control.  Mosquitoes, spiders, ants....  You name it, they'll eat it.

9) No coop, no problem.  In the summer, hens are happy with a tree branch.  In the winter, all they need is a perch with shelter from the wind and rain/ice.  You can slap something together for less than a dog house.  Or heck, let them sleep in the dog house.  One of our chickens chooses the dog house (with the dogs) over the fancy coop.  We can't figure out if she is genius or suicidal.

10)  Great lawn ornament.  Chickens come in reds, browns, black, white, checkered, blue, and any combination thereof.  Whatever breed and color, they are attractive eye catchers on the lawn.  So make a statement, and switch it up!