Free Labor…Chickens on the homestead.

Free Labor… Chickens on the homestead.

Heather White

Chickens are hard-working animals on the homestead. They provide eggs, meat and broth. But on of their most important asset they provide is nitrogen from their manure. When they scratch up the fields and supply manure as they go; the soil is being fertilizer. It’s free fertilizer, it’s spread out and only the chicken is working. The labor put in is minimal, but the reward is huge. They love their job.

However, chickens need protection from predators such as coyotes in our area.  This is easy to obtain with a chicken coop on wheels or livestock dogs.  We find our livestock dogs work much better than confinement to a coop. The coop that they lay in and roost never has to be closed as the dogs will keep everyone safe day or night. The biggest plus with the dogs is you don’t have to be outside at the crack of dawn letting the chickens out or locking them inside every night. Allowing the chickens to come and go as they please. The other advantage to having livestock dogs is no one will dare come close to stealing your livestock or eggs when you’re not looking. Our dogs have a mistrust against predators and humans alike.  

Our chickens seem to like this set up much better; the freedom to come/go and chase bugs down on their own whim.