If you’re willing to do the work, pay out the initial startup costs (and you can’t just grab the cheapest coop and call it done), make sure you have a vet that will work with chickens, and are willing to read up on their care, sure.

Chickens are fucking awesome. They are also messy, can be loud, aren’t always legal to keep in all towns, and can be a lot of work.

As an example, just our two and a half birds (one is a volunteer that’s kinda ours, but kinda not) we’ve gotten about 500 total into shelter and basic food and water dispensers. That’s on the cheap end, and we are essentially one bird shy of being too little space. A fourth bird could barely be kept properly, and a fifth would be unhealthy for them. It’s a smallish run, with a smallish coop. Both built rather than bought as a kit, which is why it was only 500 for everything. If I had been able to do the work, it would have been cheaper though.

Food is about 40 every three months for us, so not bad at all, and we could buy cheaper food.

Sweat wise, it’s maybe an hour a day every day, plus an extra hour or two a week for cleaning. And that’s for 3 birds, the more birds you add, the higher that goes for cleaning.

So far, a year and a half in, zero vet bills, but only because I’m comfortable dealing with minor issues. We’ve had a case of bumblefoot, a cracked beak, and the rooster had a bunch of feathers torn out by a dog.

Which is another factor. You may think you don’t have predators in your area. Having chickens will probably change that. Not only will anything sufficiently hungry go after them, but it you don’t have a big rooster, chances are they’ll succeed eventually. Only reason we still have the one hen is our rooster being one hell of a fighter when his flock is threatened.

Then, you have the scavengers. Rats, mice, squirrels, all kinds of critters will come for the free food you have out. You might get possums and raccoons too, after the eggs.

There’s a lot of poo. Like, the pile we have out in one far corner of the yard of mixed bedding and waste is about knee high and maybe five feet across. It does turn into decent soil eventually though. It just does so slower than it builds up, because bedding is bulky.

But! After all that, the eggs are the smallest benefit. I grew up with family that kept chickens as food and to sell as food, as well as the eggs. They weren’t very well socialized, so I didn’t realize how damn nice they can be to be around.

Outside, they follow me around and keep me company. If I pull up a chair, they’re scratching and piddling around me because they like the company. Inside (ours are pets), the one hen is always with one of us. She’s loving and sweet and bossy and sassy and entertaining and cuddly. The rooster, a little less on the sweet side, and he won’t pad train, so his indoor visits are shorter. But even when he’s ornery, I can pick him up, and he just melts when I’m petting or scratching him.

Hell, we had a disagreement earlier. He said my toes are food, and had insulted his lineage. This did not end the way he thought it would. He did not eat the yummy toes, despite biting them. Instead, he got tucked under my arm and babied until he was ready to behave. Five minutes later, he had forgiven the toes, and me. He melted a little and crooned.

How fucking cool is that? One of nature’s orneriest, scrappiest, outright mean at times critters, that will fight dogs, coyotes, possums, hawks, you name it; but he’ll also beg for scritches under his neck feathers and purr.

It isn’t for everyone. And if you think they’re something you can just throw in your back yard and get eggs from with no real effort, you’ll likely end up with your chickens gone.

Or you could go vegan and stop abusing other animals.