Green Eggs & Chickens: Live Green with Chickens

Chickens make great pets, they also are great egg layers, depending on the breed. Of course, you can also raise them for meat. Don't worry, when we talk about raising chickens we are talking about for egg production. Our chickens are pets and though others may choose to eat their's, we do not.

Raising chickens allows you a food source not brought to you on a truck. Having food right out your front door saves fuel!

Chemical fertilizers run into streams and rivers causing algae to grow too quickly leeching oxygen from the water and killing fish. Organic fertilizers also provide better plant nutrition. Chickens "provide" earth friendly compost to fertilize your plants on a daily basis.

When you own chickens, garden pests are exterminated by a little feathered bug eating army. That means that NOT using dangerous pesticides becomes a lot easier, and I know I don't need to tell you why pesticides are bad (more on organic gardening coming soon).

Chickens love to recycle! You won't find them sorting your glass and plastic, but give them those ends you cut off of your broccoli spears and they will be thrilled (or that lettuce that has gone a little brown). Vegetable scraps are good for the chickens, the chickens love them, and it keeps stuff out of the landfill.

Owning chickens means saving a few from a dreadful life on a factory farm. If you don't know what happens to chickens on factory farms click a link at the bottom of the page (don't do it shortly after or before you eat lunch). Besides being harmful to the animals factory farms are harmful to the environment.

Raising food, whether it be growing vegetables or farming, brings one closer to the earth. Respect for the earth and learning not to waste what we get from it is integral for becoming greener.

Chickens eat the things you'd put in a compost pile and put them on the fast track to becoming fertilizer.

Those pesky garden bugs will meet their match when they are spotted by one of our beaked friends. Then the nasty bugs will soon be feeding the garden they tried to feed on.

Egg shells are good for plants. Crush them a bit and put them in your watering can (really, plants like it). Take your used shells and throw them in the compost.

For more on organic gardening vist our gardening lens

1. FRESH EGGS! Better for you, better tasting, better all around.

2. CHICKENS ARE CUTE! Yeah, they are. Not just when they are baby chicks but even when they are full grown.

3. CHICKENS PAY FOR THEMSELVES. Whether you eat the eggs or sell them, you get something out of the deal. You won't get rich raising them, but then again I don't see Fido making your breakfast either.

4. YOU'LL HAVE A UNIQUE PET. True, chickens are sort of commonplace, but tell someone you have PET chickens and you'll have a conversation starter.

5. AREN'T THE OTHER REASONS GOOD ENOUGH!

[Dumpling, Nugget, Noodle & Popcorn]
Dumpling passed away in the Spring of 2008. She was my favorite too.

And Our Babies...


Who Aren't Babies Anymore...

The new chickens are "Terri"yaki, Parmesan, Dianne, "Cacci"atore, Patty, Quesadilla (Casey), Marsala (Marcy), and Florentine (Flo). Oh, and the puppy is Vincent Van Dogh. He has his own squidoo too.

This is a great program! Heifer International donates livestock to developing parts of the world. They teach the care of these animals and the gift keeps growing when the young are donated to another family. You can choose from all sorts of animals to donate, but the link below will take you to the page to donate chickens. A family will get a flock of 10-50 chicks! That is enough to change a family's life, and possibly their community forever. To find out more, just click the picture below.

For more content (puzzles, pictures, more information, chicken coop ideas and more websites to visit) visit our website Green Eggs & Chickens.
However, it is still a work in progress.