Our chickens are very useful pets.  They provide chicken compost for my garden, eat all the food that my children waste, and provide eggs for us as a bonus!

I loose some eggs as my eager helpers are still in training, but that is part of the fun.

I clean their coop out four times a year.  I place fresh straw in the coop at the beginning of each season and then harvest it at the end and put it on my garden or berry bushes.  I also give them all my organic grass clippings and fallen leaves.  They love to dig through them and it makes a really nice garden compost.  The straw does send up some weeds, but they are easy to pick out.

We are in the process of building a chicken run.  This way I won't feel guilty about not always letting them out to run around the garden.  Sometimes I appreciate the bugs they eat in the garden.  This year, they ate all my newly planted lady bugs!  That makes for expensive chicken food!