Is there a connection between the cut in living expenses and rising obesity rates? Of course there is. More people have turned to the low cost of fast food as meals. While it is cheaper, fast food can be horrible for your health if eaten on a regular basis. So, what is a way to eat healthy at a low cost?

Raising your own chickens can be the answer to these problems. Chickens do not cost much to purchase, and the purchase is a one time cost because the chickens and hens will reproduce on their own giving you more chickens and hens. For meals, you can eat the eggs the chickens produce, giving you a healthy breakfast/lunch/dinner regularly. Eggs are only about 70 calories each and contain a great amount of protein. You can use the chickens feces as fertilizer and grow your own vegetable garden. You can also eat the chicken meat which also contains protein and is very healthy for you. The advantages to all of this is that the food is healthy, cheap, and organic.

However, you cannot let chickens roam wild in your backyard. They need shelter, and shelter can be provided in the form of a chicken coop. Chicken coops can be made professionally or home-made. Home-made chicken coops are essentially the same as professionally made chicken coops, cost less, and can be made with materials found around your garage. Want to raise your own chickens? Want to eat virtually free meals every day? Learn how to build chicken coops with the use of this guide.

However, chickens provide more than vegetables can. Raising your own chickens can give you a bountiful amount of eggs on a regular basis, which are high in protein and are only about 70 calories per egg. You can eat the meat of the chicken, also providing protein and giving you a cheap meal. You can use the manure the chickens provide to make your own fertilizer, which you know is natural and is cheaper than going out to the store to buy fertilizer. The chickens are under your supervision, meaning no drugs have been administered to the chickens or placed in the eggs or meat. Chickens also make great pets. They are easy going animals and have interesting and unique personalities.

Raising your own chickens means you can save money on food, fertilizer, and buying a new pet. However, chickens need shelter. Chicken coops can be built in many different sizes and are meant to hold all of the chickens you own. Buying a professionally made chicken coop is expensive and not that much different than the coops that you can make yourself.

Are you interested in buying your own chickens, but want to make the coop yourself? Want step by step instructions on how to build different sized chicken coops (with detailed pictures)? Check out this guide.