Most people know the joy of having a dog or cat as a house companion (or if you are one of those people who like reptiles…no judgment…maybe a little).
Aside from the usual dog or cat, few consider having a relative of the dinosaur in the home. At first impressions, chickens seem like an odd and frankly pointless investment. They are not particularly cuddly, obedient or easy to manage. Despite these shortcomings and their somewhat poor intellectual skills, chickens can help us deal with the growing food waste problem.
From a statistical standpoint, the world wastes 1.3 billion tons per year, according to the World Food Programme. The US Department of Agriculture concluded that our country alone wastes 40% of its total food supply. Think of how much food could be saved and used to fight against world hunger. According to the National Resources Defense Council, the average person in the US wastes almost 400 lbs of food annually.
As a whole, climate change has escalated considerably on all fronts, for example: According to NOAA’s 2023 Annual Climate report, the rate of rising temperature since 1982 is more than three times as fast, 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.
Among many of these distressing components is food waste, but as chickens have an omnivorous diet, this flexibility gives them the ability to help reduce food waste.
According to the Independent, a 2010 experiment in Belgium found ways to reduce food waste with an interesting course of action. Three chickens were distributed to 2,000 households for at least two years to determine if this could be a viable solution. This was a success; by consuming food scraps that would be going into the landfill, the chickens reduced the participating household’s food waste by half!
I am not telling you that you need to go and buy 20 chickens. However, I think it’s intriguing to understand how these flightless birds play such a crucial role regarding food and the environment. My family has owned chickens for about seven years. The number of chickens we’ve had at a time has fluctuated but we always find joy in getting fresh eggs and knowing that we are putting up an effort in cutting down on our food waste. By being supplied with fresh eggs from your backyard chickens, you avoid supporting mass factory farms that keep millions of chickens in outrageous living conditions. Aside from having a delightful taste, eggs can be cooked in many different ways to match one’s preferences.
On top of being provided with eggs, chickens have strong personalities. They are tremendously entertaining to spectate. They act sort of like your regular domestic pet. They all flap their wings and come running when you open the back door, similar to a dog greeting you when you come home. Chickens are not the prime track stars. The way they run is hysterical. Much like you are not supposed to run with swim flippers on, chickens sort of waddle and run at the same time and it makes you laugh after a long day at school.
Now that you know an excessive amount of knowledge about chickens and how much food we actually waste, would you invest in chickens to reduce your carbon footprint?
