Let’s be honest – Raising a flock isn’t always as simple as collecting eggs and enjoying their company—chickens have a way of creating problems you never expected.
And as much as I love my flock of quirky, clucking companions, there isn’t a day that goes by without at least one moment of exasperation. From escaping their coop to making a mess of the yard, they can quickly turn a peaceful morning into a frustrating one.
If you’re thinking about keeping chickens, it’s important to know that while they can be fun and rewarding, they also come with their fair share of challenges. While few keepers like to talk about the challenges, we’re here to uncover the messy, chaotic, and sometimes downright maddening side of it all. Let’s take a closer look at the struggles of chicken keeping that most people don’t talk about.
1. Noise
It isn’t just roosters that are noisy – hens can be incredibly vocal, too! They chatter all day to each other, ramping up the volume after laying an egg or if they sense danger. If you’ve got neighbors who might find noisy chickens a nuisance, opt for calmer breeds like Orpingtons or Australorps.
12 Chicken Breeds That Will Keep the Noise Down
2. Smell
Chickens produce a lot of smelly poop, far more than you might expect for a relatively small creature. This poop quickly develops an odor which, as well as being unpleasant, will attract flies. To keep smells to a minimum, use absorbent bedding and clean the coop at least once a week.
3. Messy Eaters
It would be nice to think that our chooks would neatly gobble up all the tasty treats we feed them, but unfortunately, their instinct is to scratch and scatter food everywhere.
This waste attracts rodents like rats and mice, making pest control another concern. To keep mess to a minimum, avoid overfeeding your flock and sweep up around feed troughs daily.
13 Superfoods To Feed Your Chickens for More Protein
4. Predators
A long list of predators wants to eat your chickens—foxes, raccoons, hawks, weasels, and even neighborhood dogs. We once lost our entire flock to a fox attack, and the emotional and financial effects of this are not to be underestimated.
To minimize the risk of predators, you’ll need a super-secure coop and run and may need to invest in specialist deterrents such as motion-activated lights.
5. Escape Artists
Escaping chickens are a constant problem on our homestead! If they’re not flying over fences, they’re squeezing through tiny gaps or digging their way out of the run. Wandering chickens can quickly wreak havoc and destruction if unnoticed, particularly if they make their way into your vegetable garden.
6. Egg Laying Problems
While most hens make laying eggs look easy, it is not uncommon to encounter problems. Some lay soft-shelled or misshapen eggs, while others experience egg binding, which can be fatal. You may also be unlucky enough to get a hen who develops a taste for eating eggs, a habit that is hard to break.
Understanding Why Your Chickens Stopped Laying After Their First Egg
7. Unproductive Hens
And on the subject of eggs, your hens will not lay productively for their entire lives. Most breeds lay efficiently for 2-3 years but can live up to 10 years or more. This leaves us no option but to continue feeding unproductive hens through their ‘retirement’, but some homesteaders find it necessary to cull older birds on financial grounds.
8. Climate Challenges
Chickens don’t tolerate extreme temperatures well and need extra care and attention during heat waves and cold spells. My least favorite homestead task in summer is taking fresh cold water up to the hens during the hottest part of the day, but without this, they would be highly susceptible to heat stress.
We also have to provide extra bedding and insulation in the coop in winter to keep them warm at night.
9. Bullying Issues
It would be lovely if our flock were all great friends, but the strict social hierarchy of chickens means that bullying and aggressive behavior is not uncommon. The best way to maintain harmony within the coop is to provide ample space and multiple feeding stations.
10. Broody Hens
When a hen goes broody, it means she desperately wants to rear chicks, and a broody hen with strong mothering instincts can be very stubborn! If hatching chicks is not part of your livestock plan, convincing the wannabe mother to leave the nest can be difficult.
11. Poop
Did we mention that chickens poop a lot? As well as the unpleasant smell, they’re not fussy about where they go to the toilet – on pathways, in nesting boxes, and even on each other. Our chickens spend a few hours each day free-ranging on our land, meaning their poop is spread far and wide!
12. Aggressive Roosters
The main aim of a rooster is to keep his flock of hens safe, which can make them aggressive toward humans, pets, and other chickens. If you plan on spending a lot of time hanging out with your chickens, pick a rooster that is friendly and happy with being handled.
13. Unexpected Costs
Let me tell you, rearing chickens is not a cheap way to get eggs! We once calculated the ‘price’ of our eggs based on how much we fed the hens, and our eggs were more expensive than those from the grocery store, not to mention the unexpected costs that keep popping up, like coop repairs, bedding, fencing, and medical care.
14. Time Commitment
Chickens are relatively low maintenance, but you still need to commit to tending to them at least twice a day, every day, no matter what the weather or how you’re feeling. So, yes, you will need to traipse out there in stormy weather when you’re battling the winter flu bug, as your birds will be hungry!
15. Vet Availability
Not all veterinarians will treat sick chickens, making it hard to get medical help when needed. More than once, we’ve had to deal with injuries and ill health ourselves as reliable vet care was not available.
16. Spare Roosters
If you want to hatch chicks to expand your flock, make sure to have a plan in place for dealing with surplus roosters. Roughly 50% of hatched chicks are male, and finding homes for them can be challenging.
Roosters will start to attack each other once they reach maturity, so you may need to make the difficult decision to cull any unwanted males.
17. Destructive Tendencies
See that lovely green grassy pasture that will be your chicken run? It’ll never look the same again! Chickens love to scratch, dig, and peck, and will quickly clear pasture land until it is just bare earth.
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If you are looking for animals to raise on your homestead beyond chicken, here are 14 that we’ve rounded up.
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19 Things You Should Know Before Getting Chickens
Before you jump into the world of chicken-keeping, there are a few essential things to know. Here’s our comprehensive guide of 19 essential tips to help you become a confident and successful chicken owner!
19 Things You Should Know Before Getting Chickens
