If you’ve ever thought about getting chickens, consider this your sign.
Hi Women of Today community, it’s Kalei from the WOT team. I’m usually behind the scenes tackling all things social, but today I’m sharing a little about my journey raising chickens.
Getting chickens had always been one of those “one day” ideas for us. Fresh eggs, a little backyard farm life, and a more natural way to source food sounded pretty appealing. What I didn’t expect was how much we would learn along the way.
Keep scrolling to check out WOT surprised me most!
Chickens Help with Pest Control and Compost
One of the biggest natural benefits of having chickens is how helpful they are around the yard. Chickens love to scratch and peck through soil, food scraps, and garden trimmings looking for insects, larvae, and bugs. In the process, they often help reduce pests like beetles, grasshoppers, ticks… and I’ve even seen them eat a whole frog!
They’re also surprisingly helpful when it comes to compost. When we toss vegetable scraps, fruit peels, or garden waste into their area, the chickens scratch through everything, breaking it down faster while searching for snacks. Over time, this helps turn food scraps into nutrient-rich compost that can go right back into the garden.
It’s a simple, natural cycle that helps reduce waste while keeping the yard healthier.
Fresh Eggs Are Incredible (But They Come with Questions)
There’s something really special about collecting eggs straight from your own backyard. Like many foods, eggs gradually lose some of their nutritional value the longer they sit. Vitamins such as A and E slowly decline over time, and the egg white becomes thinner as the egg ages. That’s why eggs gathered and eaten soon after they’re laid tend to have firmer whites and rich, vibrant yolks. When you collect them straight from the coop, you’re getting them at their absolute freshest.
One thing I didn’t realize at first is that freshly laid eggs don’t need to be refrigerated right away. Eggs have a natural protective coating called the “bloom” that helps keep bacteria out. As long as the bloom stays intact and the eggs remain clean, they can sit at room temperature for a period of time. Once washed, that protective layer is removed, and the eggs should then be stored in the refrigerator.
Egg Colors and Breeds
One of the fun surprises about raising chickens is the variety of egg colors. Depending on the breed, hens can lay blue, green, light brown, dark chocolate brown, or even speckled eggs.
A neat trick many chicken keepers use is looking at the color of a chicken’s ear lobes, which can often hint at the color of eggs they’ll lay. Chickens with white ear lobes tend to lay white eggs, while red or darker ear lobes usually mean brown eggs. It’s not a perfect rule for every breed, but it’s a fun clue.
Raising chickens definitely comes with a learning curve, but it’s also been one of an interesting adventure. Fresh eggs and natural pest control are a pretty amazing benefit.
Enjoy!
