Backyard Chickens FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What’s wrong with store-bought eggs?

Where to start? Eggs sold in stores are laid by chickens raised in factory farms. Factory farms are horrible, horrible places for any sentient being to spend their precious lives. Crammed into cages with only enough room to stay in one place, their feet are deformed, their beaks are burnt off, their necks are featherless from chafing.

To learn a little bit more about factory farming — enough to get a greater understanding, but not enough to lose your lunch — see The Meatrix.

2. How are backyard chicken eggs any different from store-bought eggs?

First of all, there’s the fact that you know what the chickens are being fed — presumably, you’re feeding them natural, organic grains — so the eggs are going to be chemical-free. Then there’s the freshness: instead of being a week old or even older than that, your eggs will be only hours or even minutes old!

In terms of size, they’re about the same size as regular store-bought eggs, on average. In terms of taste — it varies, but some people have reported that their hens lay eggs that taste sort of… well, chicken-y! And the consistency the eggs is great for making poached eggs and pie merangues.

3. Is it financially worthwhile to raise chickens?

The initial expense of building or buying a coop and the continued expense of daily grain feed is minimal compared to the cash savings from harvesting farm-fresh eggs for free every day. Chickens eat many of our household waste products, including table-top meat scraps. And each chicken will produce one egg a day in the spring and summer, half of that in the winter.

4. Isn’t it a lot of work to keep chickens?

It takes surprisingly little effort to keep a brood of chickens happy. Simply supply them with sufficient food and water once a day — most of their diet consists of what lives in your yard — and while you’re at it, collect any eggs they may have laid, in the same spot every day. Compared to the time and energy you would invest into raising a dog or a cat, chickens are low-maintenance animals.

5. Won’t chickens make a lot of noise and wake the neighbours?

No, those are roosters, male chickens, that wake up at the crack of dawn and cock-a-doodle-do you out of REM sleep. Hens, the female chickens, hardly make any noise at all. Once they’ve laid an egg, they may make a brief clucking sound, but that’s the sum of it.

6. Don’t you need a rooster for the hens to lay eggs?

No, chickens will lay eggs regardless of whether there is a rooster in the vicinity or not. The presence of a rooster means that the eggs will be fertilized and hatch into little baby chicks, and in the absence of a rooster, unfertilized eggs will remain just that, eggs.

7. Aren’t chickens too smelly to keep close to the house?

No, chickens themselves don’t smell bad, and neither does their poop. Speaking of chicken poop, they don’t make all that much of it; what a chicken makes in a whole week, a dog produces in only a day! Yet chicken poop can be used as fertilizer, while dog poop clearly can’t.

8. Will having backyard chickens put me at greater risk for bird flu?

Just the opposite! It is factory-farming operations that are breeding grounds for the viruses that cause bird flu. Bird flu is a water-borne disease, and conventional mega-coops don’t allow enough sunlight or the proper ventilation that would dry out the excrement that harbours the virus. And the crowding conditions in mega-coops makes it easier for viruses to be passed from one sickly hen to another.

Outside, the sun and the wind will dry up the viruses in poop that hitchhiked into the yard out the backside of any bird passing overhead.Backyard chickens have more room to fiddle about, so they are less likely to be stepping over each other’s poop, and they have healthy immune systems, so they are unlikely to get sick in the first place, in the unlikely event that they are exposed.

9. Won’t having backyard chickens irritate my neighbours?

You’d be surprised at how some people might react to the presence of chickens in the neighbourhood. Having chickens might actually bring friendly neighbours out of the woodwork, now that there will be another talking point, especially if your neighbours have young children who will want to pet them from up close. Besides, the easiest way to grease the wheels with the neighbours is to bring them the occasional basket of fresh eggs!

10. Isn’t it illegal to raise chickens in the city?

By the time that you read this, and depending where in the world you live, that may or not be the case. About 80 major American cities have already legalized backyard chickens, and a handful of Canadian cities — including nearby Brampton, Guelph, & Niagara Falls — have followed suit. In Toronto, the Department of Public Health is currently preparing a report that will launch a pilot program in several wards. If all goes as expected, they could be legalized soon afterwards all over the city.