In the Age of Climate Crisis, What Makes an Ideal Pet?

Might backyard chickens be better than dogs?

A child and her chickens. Photo by author.

Dogs are great. They make good companions. They’re entertaining. They’ve got those expressive puppy eyes. And they are instigators for their human companions to get regular exercise by taking them for walks. But dogs come at a cost.

Dogs come at a substantial cost to the natural environment. Most people feed their dogs food made from meat. Often the meat is from organs such as the liver, lungs, heart, or kidneys that people don’t as readily eat. But it’s still meat, which took a lot of energy to produce and most likely originated on a contained animal feedlot. Instead, chickens turn waste into a resource.

Chickens Turn Waste Into A Resource

Backyard chickens also eat meat in the form of insects. My plum trees and grapevines are covered with invasive Japanese beetles every July. Each morning, I brush the beetles off plant leaves into a bowl of water and then pour the beetles into the chicken yard. The chickens come running when they see me. Japanese beetles are one of their favorite treats.

I also regularly pick dandelions from my yard each Spring and feed these nutritious greens to the hens. But the biggest source of free food for my chickens is the “compost quality produce” I receive from Natural Grocers, my local grocery store.

Each time I go grocery shopping I request “compost produce” from the clerks working in the fruit and vegetable section. They give me slightly wilted chard, kale, collards, the outer leaves of cabbage and Romaine lettuce, and even gently bruised watermelons or pumpkins. All for free.

I do purchase chicken feed. But the Japanese Beetles, free produce, and dandelions help keep the costs of feeding the chickens low. And it feels great knowing the eggs I eat for breakfast are being produced from hyperlocal beetles and weeds, and waste from the grocery store.

Eggs from backyard hens. Photo by author.

The Scoop On Poop

Dogs poop. There are ways to process dog waste like the Doogie Dooley. But most people don’t currently do that. Many dog companions dutifully bag their pup’s poop and send it to the landfill. Where it sits for eons encased in plastic. Or decomposes in anaerobic conditions, producing methane.

Some other dog companions, when no one is looking, leave their pup’s poop at the park, on the beach, or their neighbor’s front yard. Where someone might step in it. And when it rains, the poop can run off and cause bacterial contamination in rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes.

Chickens poop too. But most backyard chicken keepers add the chicken manure to a compost pile to turn into fertilizer for the yard and garden.

Chickens Can Build Community as Dogs Do

Many dog people enjoy bringing their pups on walks through the neighborhood or to dog parks where the people, as well as the dogs, socialize.

Keeping backyard chickens also fosters community.

I’ve invited neighbors and their children to meet my backyard chickens. Kids like to watch the chickens as they can be entertaining. It can feel like Christmas morning to a child the first time they find a newly laid egg. And almost everyone enjoys getting gifted with a half dozen eggs laid by my happy hens.

Chickens As Teachers

I enjoy watching my chickens scratch and peck contentedly in their yard. Children can also be calmed by the presence of chickens. And caring for chickens teaches kids the same lessons of responsibility as caring for a dog.

Chickens are not as cuddly as dogs. But a child I know sometimes holds her favorite hen as they gently rock back and forth on her backyard swing. When one of her flock injured her foot, this child gave the willing hen a warm and soothing Epsom salt bath.

After the bath, the girl wrapped the bird, named Midnight Star, in a towel and sat with her in her lap, petting her until the chicken was dry.

Midnight Star gets a bath. Photo by author.

Re-Imagining What Makes a Good Pet

I’m not advocating people get rid of their dogs. But, now that the climate crisis is upon us, I’d encourage people to be open to the possibility of other less resource-intensive animals making good pets.

In my opinion, having a pet can be one of the most enjoyable things in life. Especially in this climate crisis, we all need joy. But perhaps we can get as much joy from keeping chickens as from having a dog? Or consider another small animal with easily compostable manure such as a vegan rabbit or a vegan guinea pig as a pet? Just one of the many issues to contemplate as we try to mitigate and adapt to the rapidly changing climate.

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