Ten Reasons to NOT Get a Backyard Flock

I recently read an article titled “Just Say “No” to Backyard Flocks.”  It came down firmly to the conclusion: “Don’t get backyard chickens you deluded hipster.” It was a little heavy-handed for my taste.

I get what they were after, though.  It’s true that shelters and animal rescues have seen increasing and  unprecedented levels of dumped chickens due to the cultural trend of raising chickens in your backyard.  To be fair, it's not only yuppie, locavore hipsters who are getting backyard chickens.  It’s families.  It’s small farmers.  Its older folks who enjoy watching them while they sit on the porch.  All kinds of people are attracted to the notion of having their own chickens and eggs.

But, the author was wise to point out that raising backyard birds (in my case quail and ducks) is definitely not as easy as it can look in the Williams-Sonoma catalog or your favorite blog or magazine. 

So here is my take on 10 reasons why you should NOT get a backyard flock.  If you are fine with all these potential pitfalls, then maybe raising backyard birds is for you!

1)   Do not get backyard chickens (ducks, etc) if you think they are going to blend seamlessly into a perfectly manicured lawn and ornamental gardens.  They won't.  The beautiful pictures of coops in glossy magazines promise you that no one will notice, hear, see, or smell your birds, their feathers, or their poop.  But they will.  Even if you keep the birds contained in a run all the time, there will be feathers exploding out of the area.  They will poop right out the sides of the wire.  They will scratch and peck and kick dirt and shavings into your yard.  Not to mention you will have to clean the area frequently if they are in a small, enclosed space and not free ranging.  And boy does wet, dirty bedding smell when you are digging it out! Your coop will weather and fade, the wire will need replacing, the grass in the run will be eaten and pooped down in a matter of days; their poop attracts flies, their feed attracts rats.  A well-managed chicken area can still be a nice addition to a yard, but if you envision a perfectly tidy, smell-less, quiet, picturesque Victorian-style coop next to your patio…you might not want to get chickens... at least until you have a better idea of what it really looks like to keep chickens in your yard and are okay with that reality.

Because I don't have $1,000 to spend on my birds' housing, my quail pen is hardware cloth over reclaimed wood with a piece of plywood on top.  My coop is made from a kitchen cabinet I found at the ReStore for $1! The birds don't care. 

2) Do not get backyard chickens if you don’t have a plan for what will happen when they get sick or injured.  What will you do if a chicken breaks its leg or its wing? Will you be able to cull (kill) it yourself?  Or will you pay money for a veterinarian to treat it?  What will you do if one chicken is constantly harassed by the others?  Will you build a separate pen for it, and get it new friends?  Will you cull it?  Will you sell it?  In two years, I have had one quail break its leg, one quail get a neurological disease, and one quail be scalped by the other birds so badly I could see its skull (related point: if you can’t handle the possibility of blood and gore, you might not want to get backyard birds).  I had little hope it would recover.  I culled each one.  It was not enjoyable.  It was not what I had pictured when I got the beautiful little birds.  But I did it, because sometimes you have to.  If you can’t handle sick or injured birds, don’t get a backyard flock. 

3)  Related to the above, do not get backyard chickens if you don’t have a plan for them after they are done laying.  A chicken will lay well for about two years, then taper off.  They will still lay occasionally and seasonally until they are five or so.  Are you planning to get birds and keep them until they die of old age?  Are you willing to continue paying for feed and bedding, and spend your time caring for birds who don’t lay eggs?  Or do you picture keeping a flock of constantly, highly productive birds? If so, you will need replacement birds every two years and to figure out what to do with the older ones.  My plan: soup.  But if you don’t think you can butcher your own birds, you will need to sell them or give them away (not knowing their eventual fate), or perhaps have someone butcher them for you.  If you can’t emotionally reconcile with eating your own birds and wouldn’t feel comfortable giving them away - and you don’t want to run a chicken retirement home - you might not want to get backyard birds.

Quail & Wild Rice Soup from the male coturnix quail we butchered

4) Don’t get backyard chickens if you don’t like being outside – in all kinds of weather.  This sounds stupid to include, but I think it’s a fair point that is easy to forget when chicks go on sale in April when the weather is fair and you’re looking forward to a dry, sunny summer.  You will have to feed, water, clean, and otherwise look after your birds in the beautiful springtime when it’s a pleasure to be in the great outdoors…and in the snow, sleet, hail, rain, wind, dark, thunder… Honestly, I don’t love getting up early to let the ducks out and I’m going to like it even less when it’s still dark.  I certainly didn’t love thawing the quails’ water twice every day in the snow in Kentucky last year.  But in that special, crazy way that animal people understand, I still like it; overall I get a lot of satisfaction out of caring for my animals.  There is a good feeling that comes from seeing your birds snug, cozy and healthy, even though their coop looks like an igloo at the North Pole.  If you would resent having to get out of your warm comfy bed when it’s still dark and its 12 degrees outside to go let your birds out, defrost their water, and feed them, you might not want to get backyard birds.  If you would sleep in and then stay inside all day with hot cocoa hoping they’ll be fine without you…please do not get backyard birds!


5) Don’t get backyard birds if you can’t handle poop.  Most of the magazines I read (for free from the library – I just discovered this!) occasionally feature backyard chicken-keeping.  They show beautiful, jaw-dropping, to-die-for coops, with fluffy free-ranging chickens romping through the country cottage gardens of their owners.  You know what is missing from these pictures?  CHICKEN POOP.  I promise you that before these photo shoots the coops were completely dug out, sprayed down, freshly painted, and the gardens and walk ways were scrubbed clean.  Because when you have birds, you have bird poop.  My ducks leave poop everywhere in my yard and I rake it, scoop it, and spray it into the ground every few days or it would be a disaster.  If you don’t want to be cleaning up poop, walking in poop, seeing poop, and smelling poop, you might not want to get backyard chickens. 

Yep - this means duck poop around the slide

6) Don’t get backyard chickens if you think they will lay an egg every day all year.  Partly  this just means, “please learn about chickens before you get them,” which I can hope everyone does, but I know everyone does not.  Chickens, ducks, quail etc do not simply lay an egg every day for their entire lives.  They might in the spring and summer, but when the day length gets shorter in the fall, they slow down.  In the winter they may stop completely.   If you want to continue to get eggs in the winter, you will need to light your coop on a timer to expose your birds to the right number of hours of light to stimulate lying.  More projects, more work, more management.  Or you can think of eggs as a seasonal food and let the birds take a break over winter and get back to laying naturally in the spring.  If you don’t want to manage your chickens for winter laying, and do not want to feed chickens who don’t lay eggs all winter, you may not want to get backyard chickens.

In September I'm getting 10 quail eggs a day - enough to make omelets every few days.  Soon, that won't be the case.

7)  Don’t get chickens if you don’t want day to day commitments.  Backyard birds mean you can’t spontaneously go on a weekend trip.  Someone will need to feed and water and collect eggs.  You can’t stay out late with your friends if your birds are free ranging; they will need to be locked up at night to protect them from predators.  While there is certainly some flexibility, you will have non-optional commitments to your animals.  You can’t just forget to check their water for two days.  You can’t just hope predators don’t find them if you decide not to go out in the snow and close them up in the evening. If you want a carefree, flexible, noncommittal lifestyle, backyard birds might not be for you.

My ducks come running (waddling?) when I call them for dinner every evening.  They thrive on consistency. 

8)  Don’t get backyard birds if you assume they will have no health or behavioral issues.  As I hope you’ve gathered from the points above, chickens cannot be placed in a coop and left to their own devices.  They need managing.  In addition to cleaning, feeding, watering and providing for their protection (whether free ranging and locking up at night, or in a permanent pen with a run), sometimes birds have additional issues that will challenge you and require your time and resources.  Birds may peck at or eat their own eggs.   They may get mites.  They may get diseases of their feet. They may get eye infections.  They may peck each other.  They may stop laying unexpectedly.  They may lay eggs with undeveloped shells.  They may become sick and get anorexic, anxious, aggressive.  You will need to observe your flock for any unusual signs, which means being educated enough to notice abnormal behavior and ready and willing to find ways to solve the problems.  If you want problem-free, maintenance-free birds… well, there aren’t any, so you might want to look for a different hobby.    

9) Don’t get backyard chickens because everyone else has backyard chickens. Or because you love all the pretty coops on Pinterest.  Or because Martha Stewart Living featured chickens this month.  I can't stress this enough.  Try, as much as possible, to sift through your motivates and determine if YOU really want to responsibility of caring for livestock, or if you are just in love with the idea of backyard chickens and fresh eggs.  Hundreds of chickens are dumped at shelters (or given away on Craigslist, or set loose and mauled by dogs, or neglected and killed by illness...) because well-meaning people were in love with the idea - but not the daily care - of chickens.  Get backyard chickens because YOU want and are committed to caring for chickens in all the above mentioned circumstances.  If you think backyard chickens might be a phase for you, or you’re caught up in the trend, don’t get them.

I love watching my ducks forage while I read for grad school.  Even if they eat my blueberry bush leaves.    

10) Don’t get backyard chickens if your family (especially your spouse) doesn't support you.  As the previous point states, personal commitment is a must.  You might think they will be your special project and pets, and so as long as no one in your family is actively opposing you, you can get them and do it all yourself.   In part that might be true.  The deal in our household is I can have animals as long as my husband has nothing to do with it.  But if you are sick, hurt, away for a few days, etc, someone is your family will need to take over for you.  Just last night I was feeling horrible after dinner and so my husband went and turned off the ducks light in their coop and closed them in.  If you are working on a big project, such as building a coop or fencing, or running electricity to the coop, you’ll probably also need the help or support of your family.  My husband helped me finish the quail pen when my carpentry skills were failing me (I have none, for the record).  And besides the tangible, physical assistance you may occasionally ask for, general support for your chicken-keeping is important.  Will they resent your early mornings or coming home from events so the birds can be cared for?  Will they get cranky at the smell in the backyard?  Will your sports-centric kids be frustrated that they can no longer kick soccer balls in the yard for fear of hitting the chickens or the coop?  Before you get chickens, make sure your whole family can live with them.  If you’re fortunate, they’ll love them.  If everyone else thinks it’s a bad idea, don’t get backyard chickens.    

Everyone having a drink. 

I love that the ducks are not afraid of my two-year-old and share the water with him...but it could become a problem if they get aggressive toward him.  I have to be vigilant. 

So, still thinking about backyard birds?  They can be fun, rewarding, entertaining, and their eggs are delicious (as are they…if you go down that road)!  If you read the list above and thought, “Yeah I can do that!”  then I think you’ll be off to a great start!  Caring for animals is work, but if you like work, don’t mind getting dirty, and have the time and energy to manage your flock and make hard decisions when needed, you and your birds will do fine.
 

Raising birds is right for me and my family!  How about you?