So you’ve decided to make the jump into raising chickens. You’ve taken into consideration what it takes to have chickens. So now what? Where do you go from here?

Figure out how many chickens you want to have. How many are you allowed to have? How many eggs a week does your family use? Consider that a hen in her prime (6 months to 2 years old) will lay about 6 eggs a week. After two years old it will start to drop off until 4 years old and then she’ll pretty much stop laying.  Chickens can live past 12 years old so you’ll need to figure out their retirement plan as well. You will need at least two hens but I always tell people to get no less than 3. That way if one of them dies you don’t have to scramble right away to find her a companion.

So now you’ve figured out how many chickens you want. Next you’ll need to figure out where you will be keeping them. A nice shady place is usually the best, but you can always create shade for them if you don’t have any other options. A good rule of thumb is 2-3 square feet per hen inside the chicken coop plus an additional 5-6 square feet per hen in the outside run. I generally prefer to give ours a lot more space (right now they have 250 sf per hen because they are free ranging but their fenced in yard gives them about 10 sf per hen (not including the coop). Backyard Chickens has some great coop ideas (some of which include instructions on how to build) that you can peruse to figure out what kind of coop you want. You can also purchase pre-made coops at feed stores, online and on Craigslist, though they are generally a lot more expensive than making your own. The main thing you need to look at is security and whether it can keep predators out. A coop with a floor that can be locked at night is your safest bet since critters can’t dig under it. Otherwise you’ll want to bury wire mesh around the perimeter going down vertically at least 18″ to stop diggers. The wire from the ground up to about 18″ should be a smaller cell mesh so as to keep raccoons and other predators from grabbing chickens through it (oh yes, they will do this and it ain’t pretty). It will also help if you get chicks and brood them in your coop so they can’t escape. The only other requirements chickens need are roosts, nest boxes, a feeder and a waterer. You will also want your coops to be able to shield them from drafts while also providing plenty of air circulation.

Now you’ve got your coop built and ready for some hens. Now is time to start researching breeds. You’ll need to figure out what your priorities are. Do you want friendly birds that your kids can handle? Would you prefer consistent layers and don’t care about their friendliness? Do you want hardy birds that can handle temperature extremes? Do you want hens that are prone to broodiness (wanting to raise babies) so that they can raise future birds?  What about egg color (the color doesn’t have any bearing on the healthfulness of the egg)? Dual purpose birds (heavier and can be used for meat and eggs) I feel are easier to care for because they aren’t as good at flying so are less likely to escape over fences.

Once you’ve figured out how many you need, you have your coop built and you know what breeds you want it’s time to think about getting some chickens. You can choose to go a couple of different routes. You can buy hens or older pullets (female chickens that aren’t laying yet), but generally they can be quite expensive. The other option is to purchase chicks. There of course are downsides to getting chicks that I discuss in the first link above. However, they do have their benefits. They are easier to bond with if you get them really young plus they are much cheaper. Older birds are, of course, easier because you don’t need to set up a brooder and they can just go into your coop. Chicks will need a brooder, which is basically a special setup to keep them warm until they are feathered out.You will also want to feed them chick starter feed which is higher in protein.

The brooder can be made up of any solid sided box that is large enough for the chicks to move around plus their feeder and waterer and a heat lamp can be hung from above. Our brooder isn’t a standard setup. It’s a wire dog crate with small cell chicken wire around the bottom to keep the little buggers in. When the chicks are young we either place a large cardboard box without a bottom in the crate or line the cage walls with cardboard. This helps keep more heat inside when they are really young. We also choose to keep them outside in the coop where they will be living so as to expose them as soon as possible to coccidia. By doing this we don’t have to feed the chicks medicated feed and we don’t end up with sick pullets when we put them out in the coop. After 3 weeks we remove the cardboard and start to allow them to roam some more. Depending on the weather we’ll also only keep the heat lamp on at night. The chicks can help you determine how far the heat lamp should be from them. If they are panting, it’s too close and they can’t get far enough away from it. If they are piling on top of each other and chirping a lot then it’s not close enough.

Now you are ready to purchase your chicks. In the spring most feed stores will carry them. Call them and ask when they will be getting the breeds you want. Sometimes they’ll even special order them for you. Another option is to order them from one of the various hatcheries. Unfortunately almost all hatcheries require a minimum order of 25 chicks to help keep them warm during shipment. Don’t worry about them starving or dehydrating. Nature has made it possible that a chick can go three days without food or water without suffering. A hen will sit on her eggs steadfastly for at least 3 days from the first hatched chick to make sure they all hatch before she will take her chicks to food and water. They are able to do this by absorbing the nutrient rich yolk right before hatching.  Keep them warm and happy until they are 8-12 weeks old and then they can start living in the coop without the heat lamp. After 16 weeks you can transition them to layer feed which has a bit less protein but has added calcium. Depending on the time of year they should start laying for you when they reach 6 months old. If they turn 6 months old when the daylight hours are less than 14 hours then it will take them a bit longer to start laying. When they start laying you’ll also want to be sure to offer them oyster shell so that they get enough calcium for shell development.

So those are the basics to getting started with chickens. Got more questions? Throw them on over.

Tags: chickens