Corona Pumpkin Farm

As families look for ways to reduce costs and go green, we humbly recommend the backyard chicken.  The simple addition of a couple backyard chickens would make a beneficial contribution to every home across the country.  They are the ultimate green machines, with low maintenance and a high return.

The immediate benefit of chickens is the eggs.  Two chickens will produce 30-60 eggs a month (depending on breed and age).  This means you will probably never buy eggs again!

Then there is the manure.  Composted chicken waste is great for gardens and lawns.  It will provide nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for your plants.  It is a great soil amendment providing organic matter and increases the water holding capacity of the soil.

Then there is the chicken’s diet.  Our backyards are often home to insects we’d prefer not to have around.  Thankfully, chickens consider these insects tasty treats: centipedes, millipedes, caterpillars, snails, slugs, flies, roaches, potato bugs, earwigs, sal bugs, grass hoppers, and termites.  They don’t stop there; they also enjoy small mice, lizards, and baby snakes.  This is just their moving diet; they also love plants, especially the new green growth.  In most yards this means they will eat weeds, some grass, brush, and flowering plants. 

A home with a couple backyard chickens will see a dramatic decrease in what is sent to the landfill.  Chickens will eat ALL table scraps and leftovers.  Overripe fruit and vegetables should not be thrown away but offered to the chickens.  They will also eat most cuttings, rinds, seeds, peels, and skins to the fruits and vegetables we enjoy.  The only thing we do not give chickens is rotten food and leftover desserts.  (They don’t need the sugar anymore than we do.)  And yes, they even eat leftover chicken, turkey, and beef.  Give the chickens the egg shells too.  They are a beneficial source of calcium for the birds and soil.

If you have any questions on what type of chicken makes a great backyard chicken, just write.  We’d be happy to share from our experiences and provide you a chicken or two.