I birthed, raised, and homeschooled six kids: three boys and three girls. I’m nearing my 60th birthday (April of 2018, and yes, it’s surreal, thanks for asking), and I’m blessed with 10 grandchildren who visit us often. All of my grandchildren love doing farm chores, but our most avid young farmer is probably my two-year-old sweetie, named Torri.
If Grandpa gets his boots on in the morning, Torri scrambles to find her “farm boots” — which her mom says she had better remember to pack when she comes, or else Torri will go out barefoot!
Grandpa and Torri feed the calves their grain, and make quick work of mucking the horses’ stall before beginning the real joy of the morning: feeding the chickens!
Because we use smallĀ Family Coops in a clan mating program, we have lots of small feed and water bowls at just Torri’s height. She truly can help with the chores! With just a little help from Grandpa, two-year-old Torri can open the nesting box and look for eggs, she can pull the cord to open the pop door, and she can feed and water the chickens. Because our Family Coops are designed as they are, she does much of this work herself, and comes out clean after doing so! (Read more about this here.)
Torri (and our other grandchildren) have also enjoyed helping with incubating eggs. They love to watch me candle eggs. They are fascinated to see chicks hatch (aren’t we all?). I have shared hatches with my grandchildren via FaceTime: you can see grandson Hector watching the chick hatch all the way from Maryland in this picture to the right!
And of course they all love to hold the fluffy darling chicks as soon as they are dry enough to do so. One task we set them is to watch the smallest chicks –usually the last to hatch — as we put them into the brooder. They make sure that the older chicks don’t peck or heckle younger ones.
Some of my older grandchildren have become quite adept at catching adolescent chickens when it’s time to move them to bigger pens as they grow out. They are not afraid to hold the flapping birds and help us to clip their primary wing feathers so that they’ll be safe in uncovered garden pens.
All this to say: generally speaking, children and chickens are natural together.
I know that my grandchildren come by a love of the farm honestly. It’s in their blood, and nurture! I always loved animals, and our family enjoyed a huge variety of pets growing up. To list a few, we had: salt water fish/corals, chinchillas, a ferret, white rats, a guinea pig, horses, an octopus, parakeets, and dogs.
Being a homeschooler, I was always on the lookout for projects that my young children could do. I wanted ones that would bring a sense of independence, hands-on learning, and delight in nature (and nature’s God). Book learning is necessary, but I always felt that my kids should also have as close a connection with what I called “the elements” as possible. For this reason, for instance, we chose to heat our home with wood when we could, took our kids to zoos and nature centers, and (of course) had all those pets.
Kids Should Consider Keeping Chickens
Raising, breeding, and even showing chickens are all well within the realm of a young child’s abilities. Most of the work can be done by them independent of hands-on adult supervision. Thirty years ago, when my kids were born, the backyard chicken movement hadn’t gotten underway. Our suburbs didn’t allow us to keep chickens, much less our HOAs. So, I never even considered chicken farming as a project for my homeschooled kids.
But, today I sure would! Things have changed. The movement towards buying food that’s fresh and local, and as organic as possible, has led to chicken advocates across America lobbying successfully for the ability to keep small flocks in backyards. Chickens are easy to keep, hardy, and inexpensive to buy. Like all pets, they need housing, food, and attention.
So, here are 10 reasons to consider encouraging (and financing) your child’s chicken project:
- Chickens are the right size. Whether your child chooses bantams (miniature chickens) or large fowl breeds, chicks are certainly not intimidating when you purchase them as babies, and they tend to grow up to be very tame. Kids can handle adult chickens all on their own, usually without intimidation.
- Chicks are adorable, and then they grow up to be beautiful birds. Aesthetically, chicks are as cute as puppies, and you don’t have to housebreak them. Kids have a huge variety of breeds to choose from when starting out, which is part of the fun. They can choose heritage breeds, and help save them from extinction. This is meaningful, but perhaps they’ll choose more exotic breeds for their amazing plumage. It’s up to them. š¤
- Forget the parakeets! Chickens are far more hardy and handleable! Chickens will eat treats from a child’s hand, sit on her lap (with training) and follow her around the yard. Chicken antics and expressions are funny and endearing. Chickens are great pets by any standards!
- For those with allergies to furry pets (like some of my grandchildren) birds can offer an great alternative. And chickens are great birds to choose (see #3). Chicks are cheap, and their housing can be as reasonable as any other pet. (Older children can assist in building a chicken coop as well, which is a great hands-on project itself!
- The life cycle of a chicken — especially egg formation/laying and then hatching eggs — is fascinating and brings great glory to the Creator God. You can study chickens and be amazed at how they propagate and grow.
- If your ordinances permit a rooster, your child can breed chickens. He can learn about genetics, and become an astute observer of breed traits, good and bad, in the birds he breeds. He can raise better and better birds each year. Ordinances may limit the number of birds you can keep, but if you are in a rural setting, you don’t need a lot of space to dedicate to breeding chickens, and it’s easier than breeding puppies!
- Possibly, there is no cheaper or easier animal to show. If your child likes to compete, she can enter her chickens in shows large and small, near and far. This is a great experience for many young people, offering honest feedback on your child’s efforts. Most counties have a 4-H office, or YFA where you can learn more about showing.
-
Torri feeding chickens Don’t forget the eggs! The same satisfaction that a gardener experiences is felt when your child, day after day, goes out to the coop to harvest eggs for his family’s consumption. Different breeds lay different colored eggs. Your child might want to choose breeds that yield a rainbow egg basket.
- As with all pets, keeping chickens will teach your child to be consistent and responsible. Chicken pens do not need to be stinky or difficult to clean. There are methods of bedding and there are coop designs that minimize the work and unpleasantness of tending chickens. Most birds can be tended only morning and evening, so those in traditional schools can keep chickens just as well as can homeschoolers.
- Going all out, your child could dabble in a home business. She can sell table eggs (in your neighborhood, or at a local farmers market). If a rooster is allowed, she can sell hatching eggs and/or day-old baby chicks! This last one will need adult help and supervision, because there are permits and car trips involved, but the child can do much of this home business on his or her own!
Do you have questions or comments related to this topic? Feel encouraged to comment below if so!