10 Misconceptions about Chickens

Oh, the things that are said about chickens! The very word chicken brings up the image of a coward, but chickens aren’t really cowards. Here’s a compilation of the most common myths and misconceptions about chickens and eggs that you may encounter as a chicken owner .

Myth 1: You can’t raise chickens in the city

Chickens aren’t just for country folk anymore. Anyone who has a small yard can find a place for a few chickens, even while living in a bustling urban neighborhood.

You can raise chickens in cities safely without disturbing the neighbors unduly. Pigeons have been allowed as pets in most cities for a long time, and they require similar care. If your city isn’t one of the enlightened ones that allows keeping chickens, we encourage you to fight for new regulations to allow it.

Myth 2: Roosters crow only in the morning

Roosters do greet the sun exuberantly, but they also crow all day long. And sometimes if they’re awakened at night, they crow then, too. Roosters crow like songbirds sing: to mark their territory and make the hens aware of their presence. Healthy roosters crow every chance they get, although crowing frequency and sound vary by individual.

Hens can be noisy too, especially in the morning after they lay an egg. It’s their victory song. Some breeds of chickens tend to be quieter than others. Check breed descriptions.

Myth 3: You need a rooster to get eggs

A hen is born with all the eggs she’ll ever have, and nature tricks her into laying them regardless of whether a rooster is around. The eggs are equally tasty, nutritious, and abundant even if a rooster isn’t present.

Hens don’t seem to miss a rooster as long as they have hen friends to chum around with. Of course, none of their eggs can ever become chicks, but many chicken breeds don’t care to be mothers anyway. If you can have roosters, though, it’s fun to watch them escort and care for their hens.

Myth 4: Confining chickens is inhumane

Chickens like to be able to roam freely, but it isn’t always safe for them to do so, even in the country. Most livestock is kept confined in some way for its own safety, and chickens are no exception. Your kids aren’t the only ones who like chicken for dinner.

Chickens can be just as happy in a good-sized pen with nutritious food and a warm, dry place to sleep as your dog is confined to the backyard or your horse is confined to the pasture. They can be allowed supervised roaming from time to time, just like your pets. And confined chickens don’t annoy the neighbors or damage the flower beds. Confined chickens pose less of a health risk, too, because they aren’t as likely to encounter wild birds that carry diseases, such as bird flu.

Myth 5: Chickens are vegetarians

Chickens love meat, including fried chicken. (Believe it or not, this is true!) Chickens are designed to eat just about anything, and they really need some of the amino acids they get from consuming animal-based proteins. Makers of commercial poultry feed usually add amino acids that are missing from grain-based diets, or they include safe animal sources of protein.

Homemade diets that are based on only grain may not keep your chickens at optimum health, especially in the winter, when they can’t dig some maggots out of the litter or catch moths. And pasture-only diets just aren’t a good way to grow chickens. Most pasture-based chicken-raising also involves commercial feed.

Myth 6: Big, brown, organic eggs have the best taste and nutrition

If you eat your own eggs or buy them locally, they’re generally much fresher than store-bought eggs, and they taste better. Farm-fresh eggs are generally brown because breeds that lay brown eggs are easier for most owners of small flocks to care for. But if all eggs are equally fresh, there isn’t usually a difference in taste or nutrition. Green and blue eggs also taste the same as brown or white ones. Likewise, small eggs taste like jumbo eggs. Beyond shell color, chickens that have access to greens or that eat marigold flowers, for example, have eggs with deeper yellow yolks, which appeals to some people.

While some people think organic eggs taste better, it’s usually because, once again, they’re fresher. In general, however, in a blindfold taste test, organic and nonorganic eggs are indistinguishable.

Nutritional claims about certain eggs vary widely in credibility. Chickens can be fed in a way that results in eggs with less cholesterol and higher amounts of certain nutrients, but this strategy is an exacting science that most small flock owners can’t practice.

Myth 7: Fertilized and unfertilized eggs are easily distinguishable

Only a trained eye can tell fertilized and unfertilized eggs apart, unless they’re stored improperly and an embryo begins growing. And blood spots in an egg don’t mean it’s fertilized; it’s simply the result of a vein rupturing as an egg is released from the ovary.

Store-bought eggs are almost always infertile eggs because commercial breeders don’t keep roosters with hens. Only a store selling locally produced eggs from a small flock with a rooster has a chance of getting a fertilized egg in there. But if you keep a rooster with your hens, chances are very good that the eggs you eat are fertilized. If that bothers you, don’t keep a rooster with your hens. It’s that simple.

Fertilized eggs don’t taste any different than unfertilized ones. And that tiny bit of chicken sperm doesn’t give the egg any nutritional boost, either.

Myth 8: Commercial egg-carton advertising is truthful

Buying your eggs locally from hens kept in small flocks — even if they’re not free-ranging or fed organically — gives you the best-tasting eggs, short of collecting them each morning from your own hens. And it probably means that the hens were kept in more humane conditions than commercial, caged layers.

Many states now require eggs to be from hens that aren’t caged. But when buying eggs, beware: “Cage-free” doesn’t mean organically raised, and it doesn’t mean the hens roam the farm freely. It usually means the birds were housed in large pens with a little room to move around. Growers refer to this environment as cage-free, but really, it’s just a giant cage with a lot of chickens crowded into it. It’s slightly better than being crowded into cages so small a chicken can’t stand up or flap its wings, the way most commercial layers are housed.

“Organic” also doesn’t mean the hens weren’t kept in small cages — at least, not yet in the United States. It refers to the feed they were given, not the conditions they were kept in. In Europe, however, eggs labeled “organic” must come from hens that have access to the outdoors.

Myth 9: Chickens are good for your garden

Many people claim that chickens can till and fertilize your soil, pull your weeds, and eat the bugs, but the truth is that chickens ruin your garden. They till the soil, all right — right after you plant that crop of beans. They eat the weeds — along with all the lettuce. And while they eat the tomato worms, they take a bite out of each tomato.

Chickens belong in the garden only in the fall, just before you clean it all out but after you’ve harvested all you want to eat. They can harvest leftovers and eat bugs then. If you want them to till the soil, fall is the time, long before you plant again.

Chicken manure is good for the garden only after it has been composted. Fresh chicken manure deposited in the garden burns plants and brings the risk of salmonella and E. coli bacteria contaminating your fresh veggies.

Myth 10: Chickens are dumb and cowardly

As birds — or animals, for that matter — go, chickens are pretty intelligent. They can learn to count, and they understand the concept of zero. They can be trained to do tricks and to recognize colors. They can figure out how to get out of almost any pen you put them in, sooner or later. Chickens and other birds have been observed planning future actions or anticipating reactions to an action they’re going to take. And they learn by observing and copying other chickens.

Chickens have a well-organized social system that limits strife among a flock. Anyone who has ever watched a rooster coaxing his hens over to some choice food knows that they communicate among themselves.

Although the word chicken has come to mean “cowardly,” chickens can be brave when defending their babies or their flock. Hens sometimes sacrifice themselves for their chicks. Roosters often fight to the death, even though most of us would consider that rather stupid behavior. And roosters can be formidable when protecting their girls. Just ask anyone who has been chased by an angry rooster!