It all started in 2017. My dad came home one day with a mysterious cardboard box. I figured it was just paperwork or something from his job. That was until the box started chirping. I, along with my younger brother, followed him downstairs, where he placed the box down and opened the top. I was flabbergasted as I saw seven chicks hopping around. They were fun to have until we started being tasked with cleaning up after them.

As they grew up and my dad transferred them to a coop outside, we discovered one of the chicks turned out to be a rooster. We named him Dave. He was actually really mean. Not only to us but to the other chickens. We ended up giving Dave away, not ready to deal with more baby chicks should he get familiar with the hens. 

Chickens are fairly easy to take care of. All they need is plenty of space to run around and water. They also need food, but they can find their own food scratching in the ground before we give them some. Similar to chinchillas, they require dirt baths. These “baths” help rid them of all the bugs that might be on them.

There are many benefits to having chickens. Other than obvious street cred, chickens also give you eggs. They’ll eat most of the food scraps you give them, besides citrus. They are fairly cheap to take care of. They also help keep bugs away because they eat them. Sometimes, they get out of their run and go into our neighbors yards. It’s easy to get them back. Some of them will just follow you as you walk around, but you have to chase the other ones down.

Three years later and we still have them. We don’t have all of the original ones, but we have six  full grown hens. Moral of the story: if you want a pet that’s easy to take care of and pretty fun, look into chickens.