Why do we say "The chickens come home to roost"?

Meaning:

Eventually, bad deeds or words come back to bite the originator

Background:

The idea of bad deeds coming back to curse the originator has been established in the English language since at least the late 1300s, with the earliest known use in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Parson's Tale."

And ofte tyme swich cursynge wrongfully retorneth agayn to hym that curseth, as a bryd that retorneth agayn to his owene nest.

Here is the full context translated into modern English, thanks to sites.fas.harvard.edu.

Speak we now of such cursing as comes of irate heart. Cursing generally may be said to be every sort of power of harm. Such cursing bereaves man from the reign of God, as says Saint Paul. [620] And oftentimes such cursing wrongfully returns again to him that curses, as a bird that returns again to his own nest. And over all thing men ought to eschew cursing their children, and giving to the devil their offspring, insofar as they can. Certainly, it is great peril and great sin.

And some sources say that earlier references to the sentiment can be found in Spanish and Turkish; and, as phrases.org.uk points out, Buddhists are familiar with the idea that a person is punished by their bad deeds, not because of them.

The first known use of the expression in its modern form (including chickens) is found on the title page of Robert Southey's 1810 epic poem, The Curse of Kehama: "Curses are like young chicken: they always come home to roost."

By the mid 19th century, the phrase had been abbreviated to its modern form (dropping the direct reference to curses). For example, in a November 1855 edition of the Wisconsin Patriot, the writer states that “Barstow has always been a belter, and he need not complain to find his chickens coming home to roost." Presumably, this refers to William August Barstow (1813-1865), third Governor of Wisconsin.

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