By Leah Zerbe

Rodale Institute

Backyard hens not only provide high-quality eggs, but also serve as master gardeners, organic pest exterminators, and unpaid city workers. Figure out if you have what it takes to raise chickens—they’re harder than cats but easier than dogs. If you do, choose location-appropriate breeds.

With the massive egg recall still in progress, you’re probably pondering egg carton claims in search of the healthiest eggs. One surefire solution: raising a handful of your own backyard chickens, giving you complete control over egg quality. Home-raised chickens may not be an option for everybody, but they are more of an option than you may think. Even if you live in the city, once you realize the myriad benefits a small flock of three or more hens can provide, you’ll start thinking of your non-chicken-keeping neighbors as the strange ones.

“Most people are going to get chickens because they love eggs, but then they’re going to find out how useful they are in other ways,” says Patricia Foreman, author of City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Makers, Bio-reyclers, and Local Food Producers (Good Earth Publications, 2010).

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