What To Know About Raising Chicken At Home

Introduction

You might be like many of us these days that have starting thinking about keeping backyard chickens. It is not really that much of a stretch with a poor economy and raising chickens provides children with good lessons about animal care. Keeping a home chicken is fairly easy and does not cost much to get started. Many people get so taken with their home chicken that they become pets and even come inside the home. Backyard chickens supply fresh eggs daily, work at weed control and make excellent fertilizer for compost piles used in gardens. Chickens are actually entertaining and fun to watch.

 

 

Make sure raising chickens in your backyard is legal. Check city ordinances and homeowner association laws regarding chickens. Some cities may have conditions or regulations about how they are raised. For example, roosters are loud and noisy and may be restricted for this reason. A home chicken, which is a hen, may be allowed in your area, but there could be restrictions on the quantity of chickens allowed.

Plan to allocate enough space for raising healthy chickens. They need to have room to roam about and get exercise. There are varying opinions about proper amounts of space for pens. The general rule for outdoor pens is 10 square feet for each chicken. Coop space varies between two to four square feet for each chicken. Outdoor pens must be fenced to properly contain a home chicken and keep it away from roads. Fencing also provides protection from predators.

A coop is a structure where a home chicken will lay its eggs, may take feed indoors and sleeps. Requirements include a place to roost and nest boxes for laying eggs. Coops are creatively constructed with almost any kind of material imaginable. People use repurposed wood scraps, assorted roofing materials, metal scraps or anything that can make a side wall, a door or roof. You must have a doorway for collecting eggs and proper ventilation.

Check several resources that may sell a home chicken. If you are in a rural area, visit the feed supply stores that often sell young chicks inexpensively during the spring. Look in the classified advertisements of the local paper in the livestock section for ads or special event sales. Check farmers markets where a home chicken might be purchased for a reasonable amount. The county extensions service may offer recommendations about purchasing chickens. Talk to 4H teams about buying and visit local county fairs. Research a number of varieties of chickens to find suitable types for your climate and needs.

Look for pelleted poultry feed at feed supply stores and online sources. Grow your own corn and feed a home chicken cracked corn. Chickens eat many types of table scraps including baked foods, apples and tomatoes, as well as weeds from the garden. Provide a heat lamp during cold weather and accessible shade.

 

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