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We've been trying to get the town council to allow chickens where I live. The town planning board has recommended it, but a couple of the counselors are balking, so I'm not sure where that's going to go.
I don't know about it being a fad, although I suppose it could be in some places, or for some people. I grew up on a small farm, and although I live in a small town now, I can appreciate the value of a few chickens. If you know what you're doing or prepare yourself ahead of time, so that you do, just a few chickens can keep you in eggs.
If you are able to build your own chicken coop and avoid paying high prices for some of the other stuff you'll need, you can save on the cost of eggs, even with the cost of chicken food, etc. On the other hand, if you plan on buying everything you'll need at retail costs, it might take you a long time to get your money back. Even so, most people will find it affordable, and if you can enjoy raising chickens, you'll have to consider that as a benefit as well.
The greatest benefit, though, is not the cost of eggs but the quality of the eggs you eat. Your eggs will be fresh, and you'll know where they came from, so when you're comparing the cost of buying eggs in the grocery store over raising your own chickens, consider the higher cost of cage-free organic eggs, not the lower-priced eggs.
Although I grew up on a farm, I was never involved in the nastier stuff, like harvesting a chicken for meat. Unless I were desperate for food, this is not something that I would be interested in, and I don't anticipate being desperate. My chickens will probably have names, but still my experience with chickens is that they don't make the best of pets.
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