Life is full of disease. More chance from factory farms than home grown, cared for and enjoyed just for being chickens.

I had chickens before, hubby did not, but he agreed to get them. We built a large box in an enclosed (wire under the ground and on top) small yard. Was good for years. Last year a bear got into the pen and killed the whole group except for two. DH voluntarily gave up his workshop and goes out every night to tuck them in. H​e talks to them and gives them treats. I think having them has all kinds of good benefits.

Yes, we have chickens in North Central Missouri because we were both raised on a farm in Southern Iowa. We lived most of our working years in cities in the USA and could not have them then. Since retirement, we have chickens, guineas, and ducks. They are my dh pets. I love Rhode Island Reds and New Hampshire laying hens the best...dh wanted Dark Cornish, so we got a few. They will be the first in the pot as we eat the oldest first. If dh agrees, he loves every hen, rooster, guinea, and duck as his personal pet. Its all my fault because I ordered them, that the feed bill is sooo high.

Sitting hens are great to hatch out eggs; hatched out 12 guineas this summer. Every bird has its own personality and are fun to watch...right now we have gone from no rooster to too many roosters. Cost affective?????? No way. Have 19 older hens, 7 juveniles and 9 younger chicks. Six older ducks, nine younger brown Campbell ducks. Dh built a couple of A-frame chicken tractors from the million choices on internet. Straw got up against the heat lamp in the shed and it started a fire that entertained our small village for an afternoon., burning up one A frame but did not kill any of the chickens. Orscheln's now has 'hen pens' for a few hens that you can purchase commercially. I bought the small one this spring, and its a transitional lodging for young fowl, until they get big enough to join the main group.

If you have questions, please BM me. We still have a farmer's heart even in our early 70s, raising garden, orchard and fowl critters.

I had chickens some years back and they were fun to have. We let them free range because the eggs are better. One thing for sure the eggs you get will be healthier to eat if you feed them good stuff and let them roam the yard.

I forgot to say that my bantams kill snakes! (I wish they wouldn't). We had problems with predators like raccoons, mink, fisher etc. I don't think that coyotes would bother with them, there is so much wild game for them around here. They live in my garage, DH put up some roosts for them and of course we don't use the garage for cars! I leave a night light on and the door open just enough for them to go in and out, when I know I am going to get home after dark. They are also good little compostersln, I give them leftover vegetables, rice etc. and they love to pick at corn cobs and they also like to peck at rinds or slices of watermelon and cantaloupe. They clean them right down to the dry cob or skin!

And of course, there are not many things cuter than baby chicks and (especially) baby guineas! I love to watch the mothers and babies together. Sometimes you get two mothers taking care of one baby and they work really well together. This year, one of my mother hens had two chicks, but then she took someone else's baby and all three of them did really well. She likes to sit in the sun and the little ones climb up and sit on her back.

I loved my few chickens. I kept a few as pets and eggs. For the meat I bought a hybrid (some kind of cross) that grew so fast, in 7/8 weeks they were good for butchering. They got so big so fast that they ate lying down and I was told their legs would break if not butchered in time. They tasted wonderful. A raccoon got in the pen and killed all but five of my pets. He didn't eat them just killed them. My favorite, Penny had holes in her neck. When she breathed her feathers would ruffle. Decided to try and save her and put some peroxide on the holes. We had just gotten a new fridge and I put her in the box. Her beak was crooked too but I fed her wet cornmeal with a spoon. I could not believe that her beak went back to normal and the neck holes closed up. Good ole Pen Pen lived seven years after the attack. They were good in my garden too. I let them in a llittle before dusk and they would go back to the pen as it got dark. I miss my chickens. :-(
ditto on composting and having a setting hen..