What if bird flu and the skyrocketing price of eggs not only encouraged us to raise our own chickens but – as we learned about their admirable traits – to become better human beings?
With such a possibility in mind, it may be time to consider turning part of the backyard garden into a chicken coop. This is a common pastime, as chickens are raised in 13% of American households. From a strictly horticultural perspective, nothing nourishes plants better than a compost made from chicken manure and chicken coop bedding. Yes, those who raise chickens have a steady supply of organic fertilizer, so keep this significant gardening enhancement in mind when evaluating whether chickens are for you.
As you probably know, you do not need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs; roosters are only necessary if you want baby chicks. In any case, fertilized and unfertilized eggs taste the same. Nearly everyone in Southern California who has a backyard is legally allowed to raise chickens. Check your local county and city or town for the specific regulations involved.
Another asset of chickens is their appetite for bugs. If you have a vegetable bed full of pill bugs (also known as roly-polies), for example, you will want to consider bringing chickens into the picture. You do this after harvesting the vegetables from the bed and then moving a chicken pen over the pill bug-infested area. Such a pen is typically constructed from chicken wire framed in wood; wheels are attached to ease moving the pen from one bed to another. You don’t want to allow chickens to roam free in the garden because they would consume your growing crops along with the bugs. If your garden consists entirely of fruit trees, however, then chickens could roam free and forage for the larvae of those bothersome fig beetles, which have become an increasingly annoying pest in recent years.
If you still have reservations that chickens may be more trouble than they’re worth – even if raising them means no longer having to pay a fortune for eggs together with having free fertilizer and readily available bug control – along comes Melissa Caughey to show us the valuable life lessons we can learn from chickens. In “How to Read a Chicken’s Mind” (Storey Publishing, 2025), Caughey extols the “affection, kindness, altruism, and trust” found in chickens. “Chickens are, of course, highly social, with a strong sense of community,” she writes. “They form friendships, show affection toward one another, share treats, snuggle in a dust bath together, or preen one another. Flock members look out for the group, keeping an eye on wanderers and calling them back if they go too far.”
Although there is nothing egalitarian about a flock of chickens, as a “pecking order” is strictly enforced, this protocol is to the benefit of all members of the flock. It is the responsibility of the dominant hen or rooster to solve any conflicts that arise among the other chickens and to fend off would-be predators of the weak.
At the same time, there is a cohesiveness to the flock that is reflected in their response to stress through “emotional contagion — the tendency to feel the emotions of those around them.” Caughey cites research showing that flock members experiencing fear or suffering impact the heart rate and hormonal levels of other chickens in the same flock, even those not exposed to the triggering stimuli of the fearful hens. This leads to every chicken in the flock taking steps to ensure greater safety for all.
The fact that chickens are sentient beings that look out for one another reminds me of research showing that trees have a similar capacity. The key to arboreal caring is certain mycorrhizae fungal strands that allow for the flow of metabolites from the roots of one tree to another, whether or not the trees are of the same species. This was demonstrated in a study of paper birch and Douglas fir trees growing together in a forest.
When the Douglas firs were under stress due to drought or shady conditions and could not photosynthesize sufficiently to supply their need for sugar, adjoining paper birch trees supplied sugar to the Douglas firs through interconnected mycorrhizae. When birch trees were about to lose their leaves in the fall, there was a reversal in the flow of sugar as the evergreen Douglas firs sent it back to the birch trees through the same mycorrhizae. Note: Sugar is the self-manufactured source of energy that all plants make through the synthesis of the hydrogen in water and the carbon dioxide in air. Light energy splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen being utilized in carbohydrate (sugar) production and the oxygen — on which we depend to breathe — being given off as a waste product of the photosynthetic process.
It has also been demonstrated that large forest trees transfer carbohydrates to smaller or weaker trees. Furthermore, when one tree is attacked by an insect pest, it signals this attack through its mycorrhizae, enabling surrounding healthy trees to metabolize compounds that impart resistance to the pest. Instead of survival of the fittest, both chickens and forest trees demonstrate that looking out for one another ensures the safety and health of all members of the community. This is a message that human beings could certainly take to heart.
California native of the Week: Baja spurge (Euphorbia xanti) has thin stems that are covered with white or pink flowers from winter to early spring. In its habitat, it is found growing on slopes where it does a fine job of controlling erosion. It also has fragrant flowers, an atypical trait among euphorbias, but its real gift is its multi-faceted means of propagation. Baja spurge spreads by rhizomes, tubers and corms, and it also self-sows abundantly, which means it will rapidly overwhelm your slope. For cloistered gardens, this is not an advisable selection since it will take over every open spot of ground and then some. Yet, if you have a sunny back slope and want something there you won’t have to worry about, this may be the plant for you. It can grow up to 10 feet tall but usually stays lower than that, depending on how much you irrigate. It will tolerate drought quite well but will grow much faster when watered during our long dry season.
Do you have a story to tell about raising chickens? If so, send it to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments, as well as gardening conundrums and successes, are always welcome.