The Case for Backyard Chickens

Every so often, there are egg recalls due to a salmonella outbreak. In 2010, Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa, recalled 380 million eggs nationwide.

What if there was a way you would never have to worry about getting sick from factory farmed eggs, and that it was also easy, cheap, educational, fun, beneficial to the environment, and could improve your social life. You would say "How do I get started?"

What you want to do is raise chickens in your backyard.

• How many of you have pets?
• And how many of you have a backyard?

Several years ago I moved to a house with a backyard. I had no prior experience with chickens, but I thought it would be fun to try. A friend in Belen started me out with 9 chickens, including four chicks; I put them in the backyard with an old rabbit hutch I got from another friend… and ever since then I've always had some chickens in the backyard.

Something you may not realize about chickens is they're great pets. They have a lot of personality, especially if you raise them from chicks. They vary quite a bit -- some are aggressive, some are more shy. That thing about the pecking order? You see it graphically demonstrated when they interact with each other. Chickens are interesting, and they are funny.

Another good reason to keep chickens is it's educational. For example, did you know that chickens do not need a rooster in the flock to lay eggs? They lay about one a day, and they knock off when the daylight gets below a certain number of hours per day -- usually around November to March.

Now I know everyone is busy. You're working, you're studying, or teaching, you have families and other hobbies. But keeping chickens doesn't have to be time consuming. I like to go out to see the birds in the morning and pick up eggs, but with automatic feeders and waterers, you'd only have to check them every couple of days. They are about as much work as a cat. They are pretty independent.

So having chickens is easy. Are they cheap? I have 9 chickens and it costs about $30 for a bag of feed that lasts a few months. I supplement their feed with kitchen scraps. I never sat down to calculate how much it costs per egg, but I imagine it's pretty high. You can always get eggs for cheaper from the grocery store.

But with eggs from your back yard, you know these chickens have room to flap and peck and sun and dust themselves. They are much better off in your backyard than they are crammed into cages. Whether you think the eggs taste better or not, these chickens have better lives. That's gotta be worth something.

In fact keeping chickens is part of a new movement among people who care that their food has been grown responsibly, locally, or who want to grow their own food in their own gardens. Chickens will eat bugs, weeds,  table scraps and turn them into eggs and fertilizer. They are a good addition to a garden.

Also, having chickens can improve your social life. Chickens give you something to talk about. Whenever I say I have chickens, people say, "Wow, you have chickens!" or if they have chickens then they love to talk about how great it is to have chickens.

In Albuquerque you can have up to 15 hens and 1 rooster, so I've met a lot of people who have chickens. Anytime we have children come to visit, they love to look over the fence and watch their peckings.

There are several chicken owner groups that organize coop tours and have online discussions about chickens. If you have extra eggs to give away, your neighbors will most likely be thrilled to have fresh eggs.

So to summarize, if you have concerns about your food supply, and you want an easy, fun, educational and interesting hobby, go out and get some chickens for your back yard!