Animal Radio

The Joy of Keeping Chickens

Jennifer Megyesi decided that if she was going to eat eggs, she was going to raise and care for the chickens herself. In fact, she started a farm. In The Joy of Keeping Chickens, Megyesi shares her adoration of these animals and teaches the proper ways to care for them.

Jennifer says that surprisingly chickens are actually great pets. They are very personable, they're very easy keepers and they actually need less attention that cats or dogs do. They also have their own hierarchy and even sleep according to their pecking order.

While all chickens have the ability to lay eggs, some breeds are better at it. Some chickens that are more desirable as pets are usually not the best egg layers, and are better snugglers, making great mothers to baby chicks. A hen typically lays an average of less than an egg a day. But by the time they are around three years of age, they lay an egg about every other day.

Jennifer Megyesi and her husband own and run Fat Rooster Farm in Vermont. She holds a master's degree in wildlife biology and has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Her farm is currently breeding Cuckoo Marans chickens, famed for laying chocolate-colored eggs. She lives on the farm with her husband and son in Royalton, Vermont.