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Why Should I Keep Chickens As Pets?
Author : Sally Harwood
Submitted : 2011-07-20 Word Count : 972 Popularity: Not Rated
Tags: chickens as pets, chicken coops, pet chickens, keeping pet chickens, battery chickens, battery farming
There are so many reasons why chickens make fantastic pets for adults and children alike. No other pet can compare really. How often does your cat lay you an egg and express such excitement at the event that all its friends begin to join in as a mass party begins to tell the world? Does your dog act like a mother hen, clucking its way around the garden, pecking at the worms with a skittish and hilarious attitude? Not many people realize, but chickens are actually extremely funny to observe and have lovely little personalities. Not only this, they are often happy to shake off the common myth that they are not a 'cuddly pet' by enjoying being picked up and gently stroked by any human who will give them the attention.
Sadly, the majority of hens on this planet do not get the opportunity to express this natural playful behaviour, as they are mostly forced to live in large industrial battery farms where they are simply a money making machine and just a number in the billions of chickens which are born, stuffed into a cage and die on the slaughter line every year at the end of their egg laying peak. These innocent creatures do not deserve to be treated in this way, forced to live in an area the size of an A4 sheet of paper along with other hens so tightly packed that they cannot lay down, walk or even move around.
The floor these poor battery hens are forced to stand on are simply barbaric. A wire mesh, no dust to bathe in as chickens love to do, no soft straw to lay on. Often their feet are severely damaged by the mesh they have to stand on for their entire lives.
Imagine for a moment spending your entire life like that? It doesn’t bear thinking about. You may think, well these are just chickens, they don’t have feelings, but you'd be wrong. Why should any living feeling creature be forced to endure this pain every day of their lives? Why would anyone want them to? This is where keeping pet chickens comes into it. The more people keep chickens as pets, the less they will have to be kept in these awful conditions. You may think one family keeping chickens will not make any difference, but you'd be surprised. Just one family with 4 chickens showing their friends their little flock can inspire all their friends and their friends in turn. People who never before would have considered keeping chickens as pets suddenly open up to a whole new world of pet chicken mania!
There is a revolution currently going on in the chicken world, all over the globe hundreds of people are acquiring pet chickens on a daily basis. This is fantastic news. Not only does this ease the demand for factory farms to produce eggs in such a grotesque way, it also provides families with good, fresh eggs for the cost of a bag of corn once a month (a lot less than you spend on eggs!) The eggs are not only 30-40 days fresher than their factory farmed counterparts, they are also organic and antibiotic free. You would be amazed at just what goes into a factory farmed egg and how different a home grown egg tastes which was laid this morning! The yolk is a much deeper orange and the taste is so much better. Find a friend with chickens and ask to try a freshly laid egg for yourself!
If you find yourself considering keeping chickens as pets, you could go a step further and rescue some ex battery hens. At the end of their first year, battery chickens are deemed 'uneconomical' to keep any longer as their egg production rate drops below a 'guaranteed' 1 a day. They are then torn out of their prison cells (often by their legs, it's not very nice), and throw into crates to go into a huge truck before being delivered to the slaughter house. These poor dilapidated birds are usually very bruised and featherless and as a result are more often than not used in reformed and processed chicken products such as chicken nuggets, baby food, soups and meat pies. In this way the bruised flesh is easily disguised. What a sad state for any creature to live and die in, 100% exploited from beginning to end.
In the UK there are a few kind individuals who are trying their best to save as many ex battery chickens as possible, although there are only a very limited amount they can save. There is a serious need for charities like these to be established in the US. Although there is one charity which does work such as this in the USA, many more are needed. Ex battery chickens are actually still usually capable of laying a decent supply of eggs and make fantastic pets. It's an extremely rewarding experience seeing them go from bald and weak 'oven readies' to beautiful healthy and friendly birds.
Keeping chickens is so important in this day and age, where factory farming must be reduced as much as possible. The pain and suffering which goes on due to these processes is immeasurable, not to mention the impact on the environment. Why not consider keeping your own pet chickens? It's great fun and the eggs taste great too!
Author's Resource Box
Sally Harwood runs http://www.pet-chicken-coops.com/ which lists the various places you are able to purchase both chicken coops and blueprints for building your own coops throughout the UK and USA. She is striving to encourage the keeping of pet chickens by ordinary families in a bid to reduce the number of battery chickens exploited every year by the egg industry. She also actively promotes battery hen rescue charities through her site.