Although we at Renovate Your World are probably more likely to encourage homeowners to build and maintain their own chicken coop, I felt a sense of obligation to share with the world the potential pitfalls of such an endeavor.

This persuasive piece by a New York Times writer may give some folk second thoughts about raising chickens in their own backyard. It turns out there’s a little more to it besides tossing some feed around every now and then and finding new ways to incorporate the dozens of daily fresh eggs into the family’s meals.

No, there are diseases, predators, hens that won’t lay, and the occasional case of gender identity — just imagine when that grown hen you expected to start churning out eggs begins crowing at the break of dawn. Small wonder many municipalities have ordinances against roosters.

So read up and get the pros/cons list ready.

Who has some chicken-raising horror stories to share?

Credit: New York Times article