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Keeping Chickens

chickens

For most people, the hardest part of keeping chickens is protecting them. We have regular visits from racoons and possums, not to mention neighborhood cats and dogs, who love a good chicken dinner as much as we do.

Read about our chicken adventures on the Chickensense blog.

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Getting Started

Starting out with a few grown chickens to supply eggs for your family does not need to be difficult or expensive at all.

If you live someplace where it is not very cold, and you will have only a few adult hens, you can get by with a very simple shelter consisting of 2 pieces of plywood with a circle of wire fencing standing upright between them. So, one piece of wood is the floor, one is the roof, and the wire fencing is the walls. To keep predators out, hammer nails in the plywood, then bend the nails over the edge of the wire to attach it securely; or use fencing staples to fasten the wire to the plywood. Fasten the ends of the fencing together with snap hooks in at least 3 places (top, middle, and bottom). Spread 3 to 6 inches of sawdust, straw, or other bedding material over the floor. This will absorb the liquid so the birds will stay dry and clean.


Roosts and Nests

Stick some long branches or broomsticks or something similar through the wire near one end to serve as the roosts. Place a box turned on its side at the other end and fill with straw or grass to serve as a nest. You can also use a 5-gallon bucket turned on its side as a nest, just be sure to brace it so it won't roll around. Hens prefer a dark area to lay eggs. Three or four hens will share one nest.

When you first receive the (adult) birds keep them inside their shelter for several days. After that you let them out to roam in the daytime. They will return to the shelter to lay eggs (usually), and they will go in all by themselves in the evening when it starts to get dark. Each evening you just fasten the latch behind them, and each morning you let them out again. Collect the eggs each day, and make sure they always have plenty of clean water and 'laying mash' for food.


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Breeds to Avoid

Homesteaders or anyone striving for self-sufficiency and/or sustainability will probably want to hatch some of their eggs to maintain or increase their flock. In that case, avoid the "super-laying" hybrid hens such as Red Star and Black Star hens available from hatcheries such as McMurray Hatchery, because these breeds are hybrids so they will have very different chicks that won't have the laying ability of their parents. You'll also want hens that will sit on their eggs (go broody), unless you plan to use an incubator and hatch them yourself. A good breed for sitting on their eggs, who make good mothers, lay very well, have calm dispositions, and also are large enough to be good for meat, are Buff and White Orpingtons.

chick in a box

If all you want is eggs, and won't be hatching chicks, then you will do very well with Red or Black Star hens, or Rhode Island Reds, for brown eggs, and nothing beats the Pearl White Leghorns for white eggs. These breeds have been bred especially for laying ability. Our Red and Black Star hens have kept on laying all through the winter, when many other breeds will quit until spring.

Roosters

You don't need a rooster at all in order for the hens to lay eggs; however, if you want a rooster, don't get more than 1 rooster for every 10 hens, otherwise he/they will wear the hens out. It is not recommended to keep adult roosters together in a cage or small area because they will constantly fight. If they have plenty of room to roam and are in separate shelters at night, then multiple roosters will do fine.

Take a look at some great books about raising chickens at the Chickensense Bookstore.



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