How to Raise Chickens

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." ~ Arnold H. Glasgow

Before you decide to raise chickens, you need to make sure about various factors, the most important thing that tops the list is that whether or not raising chickens in your city is allowed! Once you are sure of the city laws, other factors include the time and attention that you need to give them, the space that you require to raise them, and whether or not will they fit into your lifestyle! Once you are sure about all the aforementioned criteria, there are other concerns that pop up in the mind, like how hard is it to raise chickens, how much does it cost to raise chickens, what you need to raise chickens...?? Relax, all your questions will be answered as we proceed further.

What You Need to Do for Raising Chickens

Raising chickens can be easier and cost-efficient as compared to other pets. Although, unlike all other pets, you need to take care of the chicks when they are tiny and fragile. Another thing that you need to be careful about is the space. Each chicken requires a minimum of 10 square feet just to run around and in addition to that, it needs 4 square feet extra. If you are planning to keep a flock of 6, a 6 by 10 foot yard and a 4 by 6 foot house would be ideal. Mentioned below is the step by step procedure that one needs to follow.

Get the Chicks: The first step is obviously buying a chick depending upon the chicken breed that you want. Make sure that you buy them from a trusted store that would efficiently certify the sex of the chicks. So that they end up growing into hens and NOT roosters!! Also make sure that they are vaccinated for Marek's disease which is a fatal poultry disease.

Keep them Indoors: For the first 4 weeks these cute little fragile chicks need a lot of care and warmth unlike any newborn. Therefore it's important to keep them in a warm indoor shed which has a heat lamp creating an ideal temperature of 90 degrees F. You also need to keep a constant check on whether or not they are having proper food and water and that their wire cage is clean. Their food includes finely grounded mixture of grains which has at least 20% protein content. You can feed the chicks this food with the help of a chick feeder until they are 8-10 weeks old. You can also feed them with medicated chick starters which will help prevent a horrible infection called coccidiosis. To make sure the chicks grow healthy, you can also dissolve electrolytes in their drinking water. This gives them strength until they are old enough (about 8-10 weeks). Another important thing that you need to do is pat them constantly for them to get used to you (humans). This special care needs to be taken unless they start to feather out.

Time to Go Outdoors: After they have fully feathered you can let them out to have some fun! Make sure that you take them out at the backyard making sure of their safety. Otherwise too, you need to make sure that their coop is well built and can safeguard them from predators. Chickens tend to sleep like a log and that makes them an easy prey for predators like foxes, weasels, raccoons and so on!

Care After 10 Weeks: When they were small chicks, a plastic 1 gallon water fount was fine, but after they grow up to be adolescents, they need at least a 5 gallon water and food dispensers which can hang from the roof of the chicken coop to provide constant and adequate supply of food and water for the chicken. The food now consists of lesser proteins and is in the form of a layer crumble which can be started when the chicks are 8-15 weeks old. This is the main food for chicken for the rest of the life. You can also give them a couple of coarse ground oyster shells few times in a week. Pecking on these helps the chicken strengthen their eggshells which can be rubbery and weak otherwise. Cracked corn too is a good food with high energy levels and helps the chicken keep warm in the winters. Older chickens also love eating arugula, overripe strawberries, cilantro stems, weeds, chile seeds and so on. Try to avoid giving them citrus as it weakens the egg shells, garlic and onions as they tend to make the flavor of the eggs a little weird and also shells, as the chickens may start pecking their own eggs! Yes they can do that as they are omnivores and can eat anything. So if you put meat in front of them, they'll eat that too! But try not to give them that and legumes as legumes can prove to be toxic!

Time to Lay the First Egg: A lot of people think that hens need a rooster to lay eggs. Well, that's not the case! Hens normally start laying eggs between 18-24 weeks and can continue to do so until 4-5 years. Other factors depend upon the warmth in the surrounding which encourages the chickens to lay eggs. So you need to make sure that you provide enough warmth in the shed where you have kept the chickens! Also chickens require a box to lay their eggs (2 boxes are enough for 6 chicken to lay their eggs!) Chickens lay at least one egg everyday.

Things to do for Daily Care: As mentioned before, grown up chickens don't require much of a maintenance! Only a few things that you need to take care of includes cleaning their coop, at least once in a week as it tends to get smellier and give them fresh food and water daily. Also make sure you take out the eggs everyday otherwise the hen will refuse to move from it's nest hoping to hatch the eggs. Also make sure that they continue to get used to your presence on a daily basis which will make it easier for you to handle them at times when they need help while sick! Speaking of which...

Chicken Gets Sick!: Well, this is one concern that should be sorted before you choose to raise a chicken, especially when your main motive is to raise them for meat! Not all vets are efficient enough to handle a chicken illness. Therefore, locate a vet in your area which is a trusted one and well experienced in treating chickens.

Raising chickens at home, or otherwise, is not a difficult task. Unlike other animals, they don't require constant patting and cuddling. In fact, chickens seem to be emotionless when it comes to affection towards their keeper. There is a high chance that they may not even recognize you individually! But then they are worth raising as they provide their keepers with multiple benefits! Their droppings are the best fertilizers ever! Their eggs are the most tastiest and nutritious among all, and their meat too will be fresh and healthy as they have been brought up that way..., although, after taking so much of care, you wouldn't want to eat their meat! Speaking of cost when it comes to raising them, the food and other equipment is pretty cheap, but you might have to spend some good amount on their sheds and coops, also on their vet bills! Keeping that aside, raising chickens can be an amazing experience with rewards, which are worth every effort!