Raising Chickens: Everything You Need To Know!

Find a local brewery, ask what they do with their spend grain. My chicks love it and I get 500lb or so every 3-4 months for free. That helps the feed bill a lot

I got hens purely for their eggs. But once I got them they have become the love of my life. They make me so happy and they make me laugh. I never knew how amazing they are, I’m so grateful to have them. I never watch tv now because I’m always hanging out with them 🥰

Our chickens legit survived a category 4 almost category 5 hurricane. The storm intensified quickly and it was all we could do to get ourselves out. My husband shut them in the coop with a lot of food and water and when we were able to come home a few days later they were a little shaken up but all alive. Their entire coop had shifted a couple feet over but luckily no trees fell on them and no animals were able to scavenge them.

In addition to the other benefits mentioned: - Great at starting compost - Can help divert a lot of your food scraps - Lower insect pressure - Can be used to help flip beds

Chicken math is REAL y'all. I started about 13 years ago with three....now I'm up to about 100 LOL. I honestly can't imagine life without chickens, they really do bring so much joy every day, and the eggs are so much better than store bought. Got some new little babies due to hatch this weekend, and I'm just as excited as the first time! 😊

I started three years ago with no knowledge, a diy coop, six hens, and a rooster. Over the years I have had to learn hard lessons about protecting chickens from predators, the dangers of using a heat lamp (rooster melted all his tail feathers), and the struggle of frozen water in the winter. This past year I have upped my chicken game with a new (much bigger and well protected) coop/run with the intentions of many more chickens, hatched my own eggs (4 out of 6 were roosters...), and learned how to butcher (rip those 4 roosters). Chickens are such a joy to own, and chicken math is definitely a thing!

I think it's worth remembering that, well, these are little dinosaurs. Sometimes people get shocked if they see something like some of their chickens kill a lizard, or that they'll readily eat scrambled eggs, etc, if offered. It's not like they're vicious or anything, but they aren't always dainty, so go in being realistic about that.

If in some places you aren't allowed to have chickens due to regulations, it is possible to double check to see if they will allow you to have quail because quail are smaller and also have edible eggs.

Its important to remember that the start-up cost for anything is going to be semi-expensive at first. But once those elements are in place, they aren't a yearly expense. You pay for a coop and run once vs. feed. I would also take into account the amount of compost and fertilizer they will produce. With the cost of fertilizer skyrocketing, I'd make several bins for them to break down and then use throughout the gardening season.

19 days ago I sold 12 chickens and used the proceeds to buy an incubator. So in a few days I'll have 15 new faces on the farm.

The two I got were mature hens from a local hobby farm. One was being bullied by the other hens, and they just couldn't get the flock to accept her even though they were all the same age and came together as chicks. she was very unhappy and ruffed up. The other hen was the next lowest hen in rank. They are pretty happy here, very cuddly too ☺️

I still have 5 of my original 9 hens. I avoided the chicken math situation because we would like to travel for a couple weeks at a time after they have lived out their spoiled lives. My husband ( aka Chicken Daddy)fell in love with them so I’m sure we will get more in a few years.

In the UK we have a fantastic charity called the British Hen Welfare Trust. They resuce ex-commercial hens destined for slaughter and re-home them. We got 3 of them at 18 months old and they are laying regularly, still 2 years later. Some of the hens have never seen the light of day so it's a feel good factor too knowing you have provided them with a second chance at life.

A very thorough breakdown on Chicken keeping Kevin! We’ve had chickens for 10 years now here in Australia and they are so rewarding to have as garden buddies. We built our coop completely from scratch using a huge wooden potato box. It looks like a mini house with it’s white paint, red trimmed windows and pitched roof 😃 Our longest living hen died recently at age 9, she was fantastic and really taught our newest flock members the ropes before she passed. We currently have two Wyandotte (a silver laced and a gold laced) , 3 Cream Crested Legbars (yeah they are skinny and strange looking 😂 ) and one Maran x Orpington who looks a little like your Lavender. Previously we purchased Pullets but our newest 4 we raised from chicks. Yes, the difference is real in regards to relationship building and handling. The newbies (who are now Pullets themselves) are the friendliest, sweetest, easy to handle girls we’ve had to date. They are personable, sit on my lap, and generally very confident around humans. So I have to agree that if you can raising from chicks is the better option. Anyhoooo Chicken Daddy, thanks for an enjoyable episode!

With regards to the bloom of the egg and washing them, one of the big concerns people have with eggs is about salmonella. Although many cases of salmonella does come from egg contamination by bacteria getting through damage in the bloom - especially in unhygienic conditions - washing the egg actually increases the risk of bacteria getting past the shell into the egg, which is why eggs that have had the bloom removed should be refrigerated immediately. What no one likes to mention is that chicken eggs can have salmonella inside them before they're even laid. Industry in most countries counteracts this nowadays by vaccinating their chickens, but a lot of home breeders don't due to the expense, but vaccinations do exist - talk to a veterinarian. If the cost is too prohibitive where you live, just make sure you put the eggs in the fridge as soon as you collect them to stop any bacteria that is inside the egg from increasing to dangerous quantities, and don't consume the eggs raw, make sure to cook them in some way (either as a cooked egg or by cooking whatever the egg goes into in a timely manner such as in a cake). Keeping the chicken house clean and mouse-proof will help mitigate any disease problems, but won't always completely stop it. As for space, sadly many parts of the world consider 1 sq foot per chicken sufficient for "free range" so long as the chickens aren't caged, other places require a lot more space per chicken, so it's worth checking for local regulations regarding space requirements and check your own morals about animal welfare. The good thing about having your own chickens is that you don't have to ponder whether the eggs your using labelled as "free range" are from a mass-produced farm where the chickens can "move freely" but are crammed together in a large shed - you get to choose how much space and comfort your chickens get. Keep in mind, breed makes a difference as well, large breeds are going to need more space than little bantam breeds. If you're space limited, look into keeping bantam hens, they lay smaller eggs, but need half the space of a large breed like leghorns. If you don't eat a lot of eggs or only have a small family, two or three little young bantam hens will still give you a dozen or so small eggs per week during peak laying season.

I'd love to have a flock of tiny dinosaurs in my yard! You're right, we don't wash eggs in New Zealand, so we don't have to keep them in the fridge. It's just an extra step that's not needed. We also don't feed them antibiotics or hormones, in either egg or meat birds. None of our livestock is treated that way. No feedlots, no hormones, no battery chooks. We eat animals, lots of them, but we try to give them a natural life as it's seen as cruel to do otherwise.

It wasn't until this last day or so I've heard the term chicken math repeatedly. It is a thing. We started two years ago with five girls and now that they survived two winters I was like we can get a couple more. I accidentally got 35 standard high egg layers (can't remember which kind) , 5 black sexlinks (I liked their spunkiness), 2 white turkeys in case they are scarce come the holidays, two geese, and a brown turkey. I didn't know how it happened until my wife informed me what I had done. I've been working on the Hilton of coupes for them this last two weeks. Idk what we will do with the eggs.

It depends on the breed, but old chickens don’t stop laying. They slow down, but will still lay. I’m still getting eggs from my 8yo hens. If you’re limited on the number of chickens, I recommend adding 2-3 chicks every 2-3 years to maintain levels of production (again, depending on the breeds you get).

I wish this video existed when I was getting into chickens. This is probably the best chicken 101 video I’ve ever seen!

Love that coop! We've raised chickens for about 16 years. Always used a heat lamp and haven't lost a hen yet. Fun fact about egg color... you can tell the egg color by the color of the ear lobes.