Cute little Easter chicks eventually turn into full grown chickens. Many people think about having a few chickens, but what is it really like to care for a flock of your own? Lisa Chelenza takes a look in this edition of Pet Pointers.
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Raising backyard chickens is becoming a popular hobby among animal lovers and foodies alike. While chickens might make lousy house pets, they are fun to watch and come with the bonus of providing a food source for their keepers: their unfertilized eggs.
Lisa Skardinski and her husband, Joe, have been raising a variety of chickens for several year now.
“I’m a vegetarian. I became a vegetarian mostly because of the physical mistreatment of the animals at factory farms, not to mention the hormones and other chemicals they put into them. So by raising my own, I know that they are humanely treated and well fed, I know they are eating all natural foods,” said Lisa Skardinski.
Raising chickens might seem like a lot of work, but Lisa says caring for her 30 hens and roosters only takes a few minutes every day.
“It's amazingly easy, once you have the proper shelter set up on a daily basis you come and check their food and water and collect the eggs,” said Skardinski.
While gathering the eggs might take a few minutes out of your day, it’s well worth it because fresh eggs just taste better.
“They do, they just have a different taste....hard to explain until you have one,” said Skardinski.
Before you run out and purchase a bunch of chicks, it’s best to do your own research and figure out if you have the time and space chickens would need to be happy and healthy.