Raising Chickens

 So you want to raise chickens? Congratulations on taking the step to owning a little bit of food freedom! Keeping chickens for egg production is a great way to ensure you have a protein source on your homestead, doubly so if you process them for meat. There are a multitude of ways to raise chickens and you can save a lot of time and money if you research them before you invest. I’m happy to share how we raise our chickens now and the mistakes we’ve made in the past. The main areas to consider in chicken keeping are shelter, food, space, reproduction, time, health, and clean-up.

SHELTER

There are so many cute coops popping up around the farm stores! They aren’t cheap although some of them seem to be cheaply made. Knowing how many chickens you’re going to keep and what types of predators are in your area will help you decide how big of a coop you need. 

When we bought our first little flock (3 hens of unknown age) from the local auction, we didn’t have a proper coop. They were sheltered in a dog run with a dog house for the first week or so. But I knew we would be getting more chickens before that first week was up. So DH built an old-fashioned coop out of repurposed tin, discarded house doors, and scrap lumber. Twelve years and dozens of chickens later that old coop is still standing. We added a concrete floor (to make clean-up easier) and a small automatic door (to make life easier) but otherwise, it is exactly the same. It provides shelter from the elements, a place to roost at night, nesting spots for egg laying, and a feed storage space. We hang our feeders in there to keep the feed dry and there is always fresh water inside and outside.

FOOD

Even though I toss them garden and kitchen scraps, most of our feed comes from the farm store. We buy enough 50-pound bags to last a month. We use pelleted feed because there seems to be less waste than if we feed the crumbles. Hanging the feeders helps to deter rodents from coming into the coop to sneak a meal.

SPACE

Free-range is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the chicken-keeping world. According to the USDA The claim "Free Range" can be used on any meat or poultry food product. Before we built the pen (called a run) we let our chickens have true free-range of our little acre. We lost dozens of chickens to predators (wild and domestic) during that time. How much space your chickens need is subjective to how you want to raise them. Cage-free and free-roaming simply mean they aren’t kept in a cage. It doesn’t mean they have access to the outdoors. 

REPRODUCTION

Most hens’ egg production drops off after 2-3 years. At that time you will have to introduce new layers to keep your egg supply at the same level. It’s best to have a plan for the older hens, too. We generally process ours for meat at age 2. If you can afford to continue feeding hens that aren’t laying, that may be a good option for you. We prefer to use our birds for nutrition. In order to procure new layers, you have several choices: buy layers, buy chicks to raise, or hatch your own chicks. If you choose to hatch your own, you will need to have a rooster to fertilize your eggs. Otherwise keeping a rooster is only beneficial for protecting the hens. We like to keep a rooster and hatch our own eggs. This prevents the risk of introducing an illness through new birds being brought into the flock. We have had to deal with a few “mean” roosters, though. They didn’t get to stay after they showed their true colors but if we didn’t have the plan to process them in place, it would have been a tougher problem to solve. Before we started keeping a rooster, we were spending a lot of money on chicks every time a predator wiped out the flock. Now we have extra protection and a steady supply of chicks.

TIME

Keeping chickens is not a hard labor task but requires a time commitment. Before we installed the automatic door, we had to let them out each morning and lock them up each night. They need daily food and water checks. You have to collect the eggs at least once a day- more in the wintertime if you don’t want frozen eggs and in the summertime, if you don’t want them to go bad faster. 

HEALTH

Chickens can and do get sick. In our area, vets do not treat poultry. Medications and treatments are on the shelf at the farm store but diagnosis and dosage are self-taught. Be prepared to ask neighbors and web crawl for answers. We’ve not had to deal with a major illness but things like mites have sent us down some Google rabbit holes for treatment options and preventative measures.

CLEAN-UP

Chickens POOP. Standing, sitting, roosting, and laying are all excellent opportunities for a plop of poo to land wherever they may be. In some instances, like after an 8-hour sleep session, the poo will be piled up. You will need to have a place to put it. No matter what type of bedding you have down on the coop floor, that will also have to periodically be cleaned out. Ammonia build-up from droppings in the coop can make your birds sick. It can make you sick if you don’t wear a protective mask while you’re scooping it up. Have a plan. We compost our litter and manure. Since it is a hot manure, we pile it for a year before we put it in the garden. 

Chickens can bring a lot of positive experiences and benefits to your homestead. Hopefully, this list can help you be better prepared to enjoy all the good things you will get from being a chicken owner!

Adding Chicks to the Flock

I love baby chicks! Their little fluffy butts and cute peeps are so entertaining. Normally, I prefer to let a broody hen take care of them, though. Whether she hatches them herself or adopts the new ones we slip under her, she will make sure that the rest of the flock accepts them. This year we don't have a broody so I'm introducing the chicks myself. It's important to let the older birds get used to them before they're released into the coop. 

I could have started them in the house and moved them out to the coop when they were old enough to survive without added heat. But, y'all, THE SMELL. Plus the cleaning of the brooder is a constant battle. I find it much easier to set up a playpen in the coop and take care of them there. By the time they are ready to run free, it will also be time to deep clean the coop. I can kill two birds with one stone. (OOPS, bad pun!)

Our playpen set-up is made with framed wire that is zip tied together. When it's not in use, we take it apart and hang it on the wall. The support that is next to the wall beam is wired so I can open the space up gradually. This will give the chicks a way to mingle with the older birds but still escape to the playpen sanctuary if they feel the need. Pecking order can be frightening- remember high school? Our coop has two entry doors so we make one of them the back wall of the playpen. That way I can go in and out to fill the water and feed without the chicks escaping into the coop. For safety, our brooder light is hung from a rafter so the chickens can't knock it down. 

Fall Poultry Care and Pecking Order

 I spent more time than usual with the chickens and turkeys this morning. The typical morning chore is an in-and-out job of checking the feeder and waterer to see if they need filled, grabbing the eggs, and throwing a handful of scratch to get them all together for a head count. This week, though, they're in molt and I want to check their condition. I mixed extra scratch with a scoop of sunflower seeds so they would hang around a little longer. I always enjoy watching them but I find I don't do it as much since we no longer free range. It was easier when they would come to me instead of my going to them. 

 This week I'll be cleaning out the coop, also. Dust and feathers are everywhere! We will be adding a light to the coop to increase egg production in the colder months. The teenagers likely won't start laying until springtime and the slackers other hens haven't been regular layers in a while. Before I add that light I make sure there are no cobwebs that could smolder. We use a deep litter method in the winter so I also clean the floor and treat everything with mite and lice spray before I add the first layer of straw. AND it's time to put the fan away, install the heated base for the waterer, and cover the large window. 

 We added a rooster and some new breeds of chicks along with 2 heritage breed turkeys this year. Anytime the flock changes, so does the pecking order. It didn't take long for the rooster to make his way to the top. All the ladies love a bossy guy! The turkeys and chicks have reached the teenager phase of bird life. They've found their place on the roost at night but the older girls still will scold and peck if they go after a choice piece of scratch. Since we allow our broody hens to raise the chicks, we don't have to worry about them being accepted into the flock but those hens let them know who's the boss! Even the turkeys (who are twice their size) will scoot away from a pecking hen!