Raising Chickens

If you’re thinking about homesteading or food security, a great first step to take would be to raise chickens. Whether you raise them for meat or eggs, chickens are an easy introductory animal, they’re relatively inexpensive to raise and they require little special care. Raising chickens can be rewarding and fun. This guide is a good overview on how to raise chickens for beginners.

We got our first chickens two years ago. I started researching by buying a book about raising them because I had little to no experience with them. Then I started looking at breeds on hatchery websites until I became overwhelmed and scrapped that idea. One day while I was at a local feed and seed store, I bought twelve, week-old chicks leftover from their weekly shipment. We put them in the living room of our 730-square foot home in a couple of plastic storage tubs not really knowing what we were doing. Thankfully they all lived and soon moved to our porch and then to their permanent home, the coop.

 We’ve learned a lot about chickens in these two years and are expanding our flock. We’re also raising meat birds this year. Here is a quick overview on how and why you should raise chickens for yourself and some lessons we have learned along the way.

So what do you need to know before you purchase chickens?

1. Chick care

There are several ways that you can obtain baby chicks. There are online hatcheries that ship nationwide, such as Murray-McMurray. Most feed and seed stores along with Tractor Supply sell chicks each Spring. In Mississippi, people post ads for baby chicks in the state market bulletin. Most likely, you can find a nearby hatchery or farm to purchase chicks from.

There are a few things you will need in order to bring your chicks home.

• Chicks will need a “brooder” such as a plastic tub, cardboard box, or even a galvanized watering tank for lifestock. If your brooder is going to be outside, it will need something like wire mesh over the top to keep predators out.
• Chicks will need a source of heat. We used heat lamps, but since they can be a fire hazard, they also make small brooders that can be placed inside the chicks housing that the chicks can get under for warmth. You will know if your chicks are warm enough by the way they are acting. If they are all huddled together, they’re most likely too cold. If they are staying far away from the heat source, they are probably too warm and the lamp can be lifted a little farther away from them.
• Chicks will need food and water. Chicks need a higher percentage protein feed than adult laying hens, so they will need special chick starter feed. They will also need chick grit to help them digest their food. Chicks need water at all times after they are about two days old. To get your chicks to drink, take their beaks and dip them into the water. They should catch on after that. It is important to keep them dry. Young chicks have to stay warm or they can easily get sick and die. When the chicks are small, we put the waterer on two bricks so they are less likely to knock it over or get it dirty.
• Chicks do best with a bedding that can be cleaned and changed out such as pine shavings or even newspaper.

2. At around 6 weeks of age, chicks can be introduced to an outside coop. This is the age that we moved our chicks into the coop. It was plenty warm enough for them outside and they needed the room to run around. They were also getting their feathers, which is a good sign that they’re getting ready.

3. Although chickens don’t require much space, they still need a good amount of room to move about. If you can, free range your chickens, and they’ll be their happiest. However, this is not always possible with predator dangers, city ordinances, gardens, etc. You don’t have to have a fancy, expensive or complicated coop for your chickens. Our new coop is much smaller than the first because we realized that our chickens are only in the coop when they are sleeping or laying. Coops do need ventilation, clean bedding and protection from the elements.

We place our chickens feed and water in their run rather than in the coop itself. This keeps their food and water more sanitary and it’s also easier to clean. Laying hens do need somewhere to lay eggs. Truthfully, none of ours have ever used the ones my husband built inside their coop. They have always laid their eggs in a corner of their coop and they all take turns laying in the same spot. I read so much about nesting boxes before we built our coop that I was sure they were going to be so happy in the ones my husband designed. We don’t mind where they lay though. It is actually easier to collect them in the corner of the coop than in the nesting boxes.

Don’t stress over having the perfect coop. We had a large list of requirements and now we realize that our chickens only ever sleep in the coop since they free range during the day. They spend the vast majority of their time in the yard foraging.

4. Chickens need shade. Where we live, it’s not unusual for the heat index to be well over 100 degrees in July and August. Our ladies need the shade or they could very easily overheat. Chickens will lay on the ground with their feathers fluffed out and mouths open attempting to cool off when they are too hot. We raised our coop up four feet off the ground so that the hens could get under for shade. They mostly hang out under our oak trees though.

5. Chickens need a roost. It is instinctual for chickens to roost at night as protection from predators. When my husband built our coop, he made two roosting bars. Just like with the nesting boxes, they didn’t see fit to use them the way we intended. They now all cram onto the same one every night. There are so many creative ways to make a roost on the internet. Our meat chickens have a hanging roost that we can move up and down inside their chicken tractor.

6. Chickens need protection from predators. During the spring and summer, we let our chickens free range. However, when the cold comes, so do predators. We have many predators here such as coyotes, raccoons, dogs, bobcats and even panthers. The only predators we have had problems with though are dogs and hawks. Since our chickens are in our yard, we only really worry about them at night. We let them free range and then close their run at night once they are all back inside.

What about caring for a chicken’s health?

Chickens do not need as much special attention as say goats or cows, however there are still some things they need to keep them healthy. Chickens need clean water and food. Dust baths are a great addition to a chicken run. Dust baths containing diatomaceous earth help to kill mites which are a common pest.

Chickens can sometimes get into scrapes and do need a little first aid. Tractor Supply sells several products pertaining to chicken first aid. Chickens can get parasites and illnesses. There are a few herbal remedies for this. However, I recommend getting “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens”. It is chock full of information and has answered any questions we have ever had raising chickens.

Overall, raising chickens has been so much fun for us. So much so that we are raising eight new layers in a separate coop. We are also raising ten meat chickens just to see if it’s something we want to do in the future. My toddler has loved our chickens from the get go. I have countless photos of him feeding them in our yard. He knows where his eggs come from and loves to eat them because of that. Eggs are now a part of our daily diet and I am so thankful for that.

Now that we are confident raising chickens, we’re looking forward to expanding our homestead to include bigger animals. Our chickens have given us food security and provided lots of entertainment. They opened the door for us and gave us confidence knowing that we have a steady food supply. I hope this gives you the confidence and knowledge you need to raise chickens for yourself.