Backyard Chickens

Chickens

Raising chickens is easy and fun for your whole family and who wouldn't want fresh, delicious eggs daily. At first, the prospect of raising your own backyard chickens might seem overwhelming, but we want to show you how easy it really is. Below you will find some first-hand ideas, tips and information to get you well on your way to successfully owning your own backyard chickens. Check out the recommended reading section at the end of this page for further information that will also help you. If you have any questions throughout, feel free to contact us.

Making A Chicken Coop

Making or buying a chicken coop is probably the hardest part of the process of owning your own backyard chickens. But this part can also be very fun for the whole family whether you decide to design and build your own coop, or purchase and assemble one. No matter what you decide, there are some basic factors you will need to plan for such as location, size and materials. Below we will break it down and give you some practical questions to ask yourself to ensure you make the right choice for your needs.

Location

You need to decide where you are going to put your chicken coop. I recommend having it close to your home for a few reasons. One reason is for the convenience. You will need to visit the coop daily, if not more often. Having it close to your home makes this easier. You will want to collect eggs, provide fresh water and feed, offer treats, and maybe even let them out of their pen to roam for the day and put them back in at night. The next benefit of having your coop close to the house is the ability to run power for a heat lamp. I recommend a heat lamp during the winter months as it keeps water from freezing, egg production flowing, and helps keep your chickens comfortable.

Size

When you are planning to build or buy a chicken coop, you will first need to think about how many chickens you want. You can expect your chickens to each lay an egg a day so the real question is, do you want eggs for just your family or also for your friends or even to sell? We started with 5 chickens for a family of 4. We often give our eggs to extended family and friends and have even sold a few dozen. Once you decide on how many chickens you want, you can determine the size of your chicken coop. Chickens are happiest when they have space to move around, have nest boxes to lay their eggs, and a place to get away from the other chickens. A happy chicken lays daily and its eggs taste the best. The more space, the better, both inside and out.

Materials

Once you decide on the number of chickens you want you can then plan your chicken coop. There should be 1 nest box per chicken. Nest boxes should be at least 1 foot by 1 foot. There should also be places for your chickens to perch. This could be simply on an upright 2x4 or a large piece of dowel. You will also want to ensure you have a place for food, water, a heat lamp, and a doorway to an outside pen. Outside pens need to be secure on all sides using chicken wire. Chicken wire should be buried at least a foot under the soil to prevent preditors from getting in. There are tons of design ideas online. We ended up converting our existing shed into our chicken coop. There are also many different ones you can purchase. Just be mindful that the more space the happier your chickens will be. The pre-made coops tend to run very small.

Where To Buy Your Chickens

I highly recommend buying your chicken locally, at a farm store. Purchasing chickens online from a faraway location is in our opinion cruel, as the journey is harsh and you will likely end up with some dead birds. All of our local feed mills, where you would purchase food and supplies, supply chickens. They support local farms and work with them to order the age, sex, bread, amount, and date you want your chickens for. We ordered ours from our local store Neighbours Country Depot.

Preparing For Your Chickens To Arrive

Preparing for your chickens will depend upon the age and date you plan for. We ordered day-old chickens set to arrive at the end of April. Our last frost date here is the 3rd week into May so we were prepared to keep our chickens indoors until that time. We had alternating boxes we housed them in and kept them in the office of our house. We handled them often so they would be used to us and our pets and therefore comfortable and friendly. We ensured their pen, food and water were cleaned and fresh daily. We also kept a cage over the top of the box so they couldn't get out or our other pets couldn't get in! Our chickens get along well with us, our cat and our two dogs because of this introduction.

Caring For Your Chickens

Chickens are a very low-maintenance animal to care for but have some absolute imperative care requirements. It is important they always have access to clean, fresh water. Water feeders are great, but you still must make sure you change the water often.

They must also have access to feed. Even if they are cage-free during the day, there must always be chicken feed available to fill their nutrition requirements. Having a chicken feeder makes this simple as you can go a few days without needing to put feed into it.

Bringing your chickens treats is a great way to keep them healthy and happy. There are treats you can buy from your local farmer's store, or simply giving them scrap food is great. You will find over time what scraps are your chicken's favourite. Mine absolutely love tomatoes and watermelon. Make sure to do some research before feeding your chicken scraps as there are some food that are detrimental to their health, such as salt.

Chickens can also get bored and therefore peck at one another. I let my chicken roam around free every day. They always come back before dark. They like to clean my grass and gardens from pests. It's also very healthy and nutritious for them. Beware of predators or neighbours who may not like your chickens wandering on their property.

Another thing you can do to curb their boredom is to place different items for them to explore in their coop. I place different types of perches in different areas during the winter months. I also open up their coop to the rest of the shed so they can roam around when the weather is too cold for them to want to go outside.

Raising backyard chickens is truly a rewarding experience. The chickens become like pets and are very fun. They produce the most delicious eggs available. They also help teach your children so much about life. Check out the recommended reading list below if you would like more information on raising backyard chickens and producing fresh farm eggs.