One of the more popular activities nowadays would be raising chickens in your backyard. Many people have seen the benefits that they could get from having these animals in their yard and have started their own flocks. Of course, if you are starting out your own collection of chickens, then you would probably encounter chicks.

Beginners would usually encounter chicks in a couple of manners. The first is that they would get them as the starters for their flock. They would be the ones who you would have to grow and raise so that you would be able to raise adult chickens in your backyard. You may also encounter them if you have a meat bird breed and you would use the offspring of your adult chickens as the source of the meat.

You should know however that the needs of your chicks are very different from that of your adult chickens. That’s why you would need to provide them with additional care in order for them to grow well enough to be productive members of your flock:

Here are some of the proper ways for you to handle your chicks:

Ensure that your brooders are at the proper temperature:

As mentioned in this site before, brooding is necessary for your chicks. Brooding is the act of the warmth that your chicks would need, which simulates a hen who warms her children.

You should always try to prepare your brooding area and equipment before putting your chicks in them. This means that you should ensure that the brooding area is enclosed to prevent the entry of predators such as cats and rats that could eat your chicks.

The brooder should also be of proper temperature. Your heat source should be able to provide enough heat for all the chicks that you would put in the brooder. You can control the temperature by selecting the proper bulb wattage and placing it at the recommended height.

You would use the breeder for around 25 days and wait until the chicks are all fully feathered before you can transfer them to another part of the coop.

Provide them with Clean Drinking Water:

Chicks would really need a lot of hydration during their formative weeks. This would ensure that their organs would be healthy enough to develop. That is why giving them a fresh supply of water  is a must if you want them to be in good physical shape.

You should always try to replace the dirty water with fresh water every day. This is because standing water can become a hotbed of bacteria and could contaminate the water. This could lead to your chicks becoming sick because of their not yet developed immunity system.

Vaccination:

Lastly, you should also give your chicks the proper vaccines to ensure their good health. There are vaccines that should be given on the seventh day as well as the 14th day of the chick.

You should coordinate with a veterinarian to ensure that you are giving them the right medication as well as the right dosage.

If you are raising some chickens in your backyard, then one of the things that you would have to continually do to ensure that your chickens are in good condition would be to clean their coop. Having a messy and unsanitary coop could lead to a load of trouble for both you and your chickens.

If you would not clean your coop, you would risk that your chickens would be infected by disease carrying bacteria and would get sick and even die. Worse, the bacteria of an unclean chicken coop could also be the cause of some human diseases. T the stench of an un-sanitized coop could also make local city inspectors ban you from raising chickens.

Here are some

Insects especially Roaches:

One of the most common infestations that happen to chicken coops come from cockroaches. While 1 or 2 roaches is not a problem (you could even feed them to your chickens as they seem to like it), it would be quite difficult if it gets out of hand.  That is why you should take measures in order to prevent them from infesting your chicken coop.

The first step that you would do is to secure the food and other materials that can become breeding grounds for these pests. You should put your feeds in an airtight container so that the insects would not be tempted to live in them.

You could also try using natural insecticides to deter some types of insects from entering your chicken coop. However, you must control the amount of pesticide that you use so that you would not endanger the lives of your chickens.

Nesting Box Bedding:

Another part of the coop that could get messy and unsanitary would be the nesting box bedding. The nesting material could get worn out with repeated use of the hens. That is why you should try to replace them immediately so that the chickens would not use them as nothing more than a dropping area.

Droppings in the Perch area:

One of the messiest areas of the coop would probably be the perch area. This is because your chickens would be staying there when they are sleeping and would often just release their fecal matter in that area. You must ensure that the manure is cleaned regularly to avoid the unpleasant odor as well as the risk of infection or contamination.

You may want to install a droppings board underneath the perch so that the task of cleaning it would become much easier. You would just have to slide out the board and collect the droppings so that you would not have to stoop under the perch or move it out of the way during cleaning sessions.

Of course, aside from these three, you must also try to do a general cleaning of the coop at least once or twice a year. This would ensure that you would be able to get every nook and cranny of the coop and would allow the chickens that you are raising in your backyard to have a clean and sanitized environment to move around in.

After some time doing some research about raising backyard chickens, you would realize that there are a plethora of terms used for the different parts of the chickens. Some of them are easily understood by everyone as they are quite common and are used in day to day language.

However, there are those that are jargons that are usually just used by people who have been discussing chickens for a long time. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of these and you may have some problems in caring, observing, or maintaining your backyard chickens if you do not understand them.

That is why it would be great if you could understand the terms that are used to specify the various parts of the chickens. This would enable you to easily know what part of the chicken you must look at if you would need to check on them, and find out if there are abnormalities with any of them.

Some of the terms that are used for the different parts of the chickens include:

Beard:

Beard refers to the feathers bunched under the beaks of some of the chicken breeds. Breeds that are famous for having beards are the faverolle,  the Houdan, and also the Antwerp Belgian.

Booted.

Booted chickens refer to those that have a clump of feathers on their shanks and toes. This is coined because it gives off the appearance that the chickens are wearing boots.

Cape

Cape is the term used for the narrow feathers found between the back and the neck of the chicken.

Crest

The chicken’s crest is the puff of feathers that are found on some chicken breeds. They are also called as a chicken’s topknot because of its appearance. Breeds that have a crest are houdan, silkies, or polishes.

Egg tooth

The egg tooth is the horny cap found on a chick’s upper beak. It is used by the chick so that it would be able to break or pip through the shell.

Hock

The hock refers to the joint between the lower thigh and shank of the chicken. It is sometimes mistakenly called as the chicken’s knee.
Keel

Keel refers to the breast bone of the chicken.
Saddle

Saddle would refer to the part of the chicken’s back just before the tail.

Vent.

The vent is the outside opening of the chicken through which they are able to emit the eggs.
Of course, there are still other terms that you would encounter as you delve into the world of raising backyard chickens. These are simply basic terms that you would encounter if you are talking about their different body parts.

While raising chickens in your backyard is really a very enjoyable and even profitable venture, you could encounter some problems if you live in a neighborhood or city that does not allow it. Unfortunately, you should realize that taking care of chickens is not legal in all cities or states. There are actually some places wherein taking care or raising chickens in your backyard are outlawed and might be a cause for a fine.

If you are unfortunately living in this kind of neighborhood, does this mean that you have no more future with regards to raising chickens in your backyard? Well, the good thing is that you could actually do some actions in order for you to be able to keep chickens in your area despite the ban.

Here are some of the things that you can do:

Apply for special zoning permits:

If you want to raise backyard chickens despite the ban then you could probably approach your local officials and ask for special zoning permits. These kinds of permits would enable you to have a number of chickens in your flock legally, as long as they remain in your area.

Of course, there are a lot of conditions attached to this permit. They are usually only given to people who have passed inspection by a local zoning official as well as under some strict conditions regarding the proximity of your chicken coop to your neighbors and other structures and the proper sanitation and waste disposal.

Challenge Local city ordinances:

If you are not given a special zoning permit by your council, then you could also try to challenge the law altogether. You can try to attend special city meetings and try to raise your concerns about raising chickens in your backyard.

When you do this, you must be prepared to handle answering the various questions that people may have about chickens. You would have to present the positives of having them in your backyard while repealing all the negative things about it. Your goal would be to convince the city officials as well as your neighbors about the great benefits of having chickens in the backyard.

After a few meetings, the city would usually leave it up to a vote and you should hope that you have convinced enough people that raising chickens in your backyard so that they could pass new ordinances that would now allow the activity.

Ask your neighbors:

If you fail in both applying for special zoning permits or in challenging local city ordinances (and the chances are quite high that you will) then you can just try to talk to your neighbors. Explain to them that taking care of chickens in your backyard would not be of any nuisance to them and that you will try your best so that they would not be bothered by the flock in your backyard.

Hopefully, they would agree and you would be able to raise chickens in your backyard. Don’t forget to thank them by giving away some eggs to them when you finally have your flock!