Four Great Reasons Why to Keep Hens

Hens, Chickens, Fowls or Chooks, what ever you like to call them has got to be the number one addition to your nature garden.

1. Eggs

   One great feature about chooks, over any other pet, is that they lay eggs. You can expect at least 1-2 eggs per day per hen, when they are in their prime, and this makes a tasty addition to any family. Eggs are a nutritional powerhouse providing 18 different vitamins and minerals, high quality protein and important antioxidants. Along with their nutritional value, eggs are tasty, convenient and good value for money making them an excellent inclusion in a well balanced, healthy eating pattern.

2. Great Composters

   The most annoying thing about compost bins, is the time it takes for food scraps to decompose. To aid the decomposition process, some bins now come with turn handles, to keep the waste products moving - and decomposing. Why waste time with these awkward contraptions, when you can have up to a dozen legs turning it over full time! Chooks make food scapes and garden waste disappear into top compost in days, not weeks. While they compost, they also eat your old waste, saving on grain costs. This great compost is nutrient rich, ready to make any garden thrive.


3. Fabulous Fertilizer

   Fire up your garden in no time with a rich blend of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as found in chicken manure. Roses absolutely love the stuff. A word of warning though, chicken manure can be so packed full of nutrients, it can actually burn your plants. It is a good idea to avoid direct contact and mix it in with other compost before applying to the garden.

4. Awesome Pets

   As Pets, Chooks are second to none. They are cheap to feed, costing only a little grain, cute to look at, funny to watch, good with children, lay eggs, and teach kids great life skills. I love to tell stories around the work lunch table about funny things that my pet chickens did when I was growing up.... and today!. Like the time I saw a Rhode Island red chase after a mouse and eat it in one gulp! or, how the white leghorn avoided the fox, by flying three meters up on top of my cubby house. If you keep chooks, you'll start having some great stories to tell two.