The Advantages of Raising Poultry
The obvious advantage of raising a small flock of chickens, ducks, geese, quail or other poultry at home is, of course, a plentiful supply of fresh eggs. Other advantages include pest control, security and companionship as these birds often make good pets. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Food
-
Even a small flock of chickens produces all the eggs a household needs, with a few extra. In the first year of laying, the average hen lays an egg almost every day, after which she slows down a bit. The average is two eggs a day for each three hens you own. Some commercial breeds might lay one each every day, but their productive life tends to be short. Other types of poultry produce equally tasty eggs. If your birds are free range, or semi-free range, the eggs are likely to be especially nutritious and tasty. According to Mother Earth News, free-range eggs are higher in vitamins and lower in fat than those from caged birds, which is mainly because the birds get a more varied diet during their foraging expeditions.
Pest Control
-
These birds like eating bugs, including persistent garden pests such as slugs, beetle larvae and caterpillars. Pests form a nutritious snack for the birds. You might want to keep poultry primarily to assist in organic gardening. If you use pesticides in your garden, however, even organic ones, you should keep your birds confined to their run until the toxin has disintegrated. How long this takes varies so check the details.
-
Companionship
-
Hens, ducks and other poultry become very tame if cared for properly. If handled from a young age, such birds enjoy affection and are often very friendly to people. Your flock of birds can become real pets. Raising poultry is also an educational experience for children to see where some of their food comes from.
Guard Animals
-
Chickens, especially roosters, might raise the alarm when they see a fox. Other birds, however, are good at driving off human intruders. Geese in particular are aggressive to strangers, extremely noisy and are often as good as a dog in shooing off or drawing attention to burglars. Ostriches might fulfil a similar purpose and can certainly intimidate intruders, but you need a lot of space for such large birds. Like the others, geese and ostriches also supply eggs and eat garden bugs.
-
References
- Photo Credit Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
