They would then be turned off when they find out that they would have to spend quite a price on the upfront costs before they earn money.

Of course, while this is a valid way to look at chickens, you should also understand that there are some nonmonetary incentives for raising backyard chickens. It would help to focus on them so that you would not be too worried about costs when it comes to raising them.

Here are some of the benefits of raising backyard chickens, that are not related to finances:

Pest Control for you backyard:

One of the more common treats for your backyard chickens would be the insects that are roaming around in your backyard. By having them around, you would have an automatic pest control as they would peck at the bugs and other crawling insects that are in your backyard.

Of course, it would dependent on the space that you allot for them. If you would allow them to roam freely around your backyard during short periods of time, then the chickens would be able to catch more bugs.

Educational factor:

Raising backyard chickens is probably one of the closest things to having a farm in an urban area. This would provide a great method for you to teach your children about other animals aside from the usual pets (the dogs, cats, hamsters, etc.) that they are used to seeing.

Another great educational tool is the fact that the chickens would lay eggs that you can use for food. This would enable you to teach them about where their food comes from. Of course, if you are dealing with children, then it may be a bit too extreme if you would slaughter the chickens. As such, you have to consider how you would showcase the food aspect to them.

The pet fun factor:

When people hear about others who are raising backyard chickens, the immediate mindset is that they are doing it just for the financial benefits. However, you should think in another direction sometimes. When you are raising chickens, it does not necessarily have to have a trade off!

Think about it, if you are keeping any other animal to keep as pets, like a dog for example, you do not think about the monetary incentives. If you would spend for a chicken coop and feeds for your chickens, then you would spend for the dog house and dog food for the dogs. The dogs would not even give you eggs that you can eat!

So you can actually just take care of chickens just for the fun of it. They are also an enjoyable bunch of animals; just like any other common pet.

As you can see, not everything would have to be about money. You can take care of backyard chickens without having to have financial incentives to do so! So what are you waiting for? Get the necessary supplies, and start your chicken flock now!

Unfortunately, this kind of approach for learning about raising backyard chickens is such a big waste. Once you commit a mistake while handling your flock, you are risking the loss of money, time, effort, and even the life of your prized birds.

That’s why it may be best to be familiar with the mistakes that are commonly done by beginners in order for you to learn about them. You would then be able to learn the necessary lessons while being able to avoid committing the mistakes that may be harmful to your chickens.

Here are some of the common beginner mistakes when it comes to raising backyard chickens:

Not being able to purchase proper feeds:

You should understand that your chickens have varying needs according to age. Generally, chicks and chickens that are just a few months old still do not have the developed organs that are necessary for handling the regular sized food.  You should also add in the fact that most of these chicks would need additional vitamins and minerals in order to grow well. That is why there are some feeds that are catered to chicks and young chicken specifically.

In short, you would need to purchase feeds that properly match their needs. If you want good eggs, then you should purchase calcium rich feeds, if they are chicks, then it’s the starter pellets, and other similar adjustments.

Not understanding the breed:

Another common mistake that beginner’s would usually make when raising backyard chickens would be to assume that all chickens are the same. A chicken is a chicken no matter what breed it is. This is unfortunate as they should know that each breed would have specific needs and varying tolerances about their environment.

You should understand that some breeds are generally more adaptable to temperature changes, while some breeds would immediately get sick. There are also variations that are breed related when it comes to their functions; some chicken breeds are better egg layers while some are better at being meat birds.

By understanding the breed, you would be able to cater your coop design, your method of taking care of them, your objectives, and expectations of the flock to match the capabilities and nuances of the breed that you have.

Getting roosters for an egg laying flock:

Lastly, one of the most surprising things for beginners is that they do not realize that you would not need roosters if you want your chickens to lay their eggs!

Some people think that for their chickens to have eggs, they would need to add a rooster in their flock. Actually, you don’t have to have one, as egg laying is a naturally occurring thing for the hens once they reach a certain age.

You would only need the roosters in your backyard chicken flock if you want the eggs to be fertilized and hatch into chicks.

The different breeds of chickens would usually correspond to the different needs that you have depending on what kind of products you want to reap from raising them. There are usually two main options when you decide to raise backyard chickens, you could decide to sell or use their eggs for a profit, or you can sell the chicken themselves as meat. You should probably decide between the two as you would probably need different breeds of chickens to match either need.

For raising chickens for eggs:

The best breeds would usually be those that are able to lay large, beautiful brown eggs. This is because these kinds of eggs are the type that a lot of people would use and therefore purchase from you.

For this need you may want to select a chicken that comes from the Barred Rock, Black Australorps, or Rhode Island Reds breeds. These are the breeds that are generally famous for the ability of the chickens to produce good eggs.

For raising chickens for their meats

You may want chickens that are generally heavyset and larger framed than others. This is because these are the types that would be able to cook well and sell well in the market.

The breeds that would provide you with this kind of chickens are usually the Orpingtons, Cornish, or Giants. Chickens from these breeds are usually great for roasting, broiling, or frying.

Can a breed do both?

Some people may want to hit two birds with one stone and want the chickens that they raise in their backyards to do both the laying of eggs and giving meat. However, they are wary of having plenty of breeds as they have heard that it is a bad idea to mix breeds in a single coop.

For these people, perhaps the best option would be to select a chicken that is not necessarily great in laying eggs or providing meat, but is not poor in both either. Some breeds that are able to do this are the aforementioned Orpingtons.

Chickens from the Orpington breed would usually be able to add a nice brown egg to complement the meat that it would also be able to provide you.

Now that you are aware of the different breeds of chickens that you could use for your own backyard raising experience, you may want to consider your needs so that you would be able to select one that perfectly suits it.

She writes to provide a quick summary to help people who want to know more about how to raise chicks:

“Growing up on a farm in Georgia, I learned first hand how to take care and raise chickens. On the farm we’d mostly use the chickens for fresh eggs, but occasionally, my mother would slaughter one for a nice dinner.  Even though we consume chickens and their eggs, the animals themselves deserve our respect for the gifts that they give to us.

In my family, we like to get baby chicks.  They’re cute and the kids enjoy watching them grow up.

Most people want to know where to get the chickens. Let’s face it. You just can’t go to the local pet store or to the grocery store and tell them you want a chicken and expect to bring home a small chick that you can raise. No. To get new chicks for your project, you need to go to a hatchery or to a local chicken farm.

There are several varieties of chickens, so before you go, make sure you know what breeds your supplier offers and if they are what you are looking for in a chicken.

After you select your chick(s) and take them home, you will need to have a box with a 100 watt light bulb nearby to house the young chicks and provide them with warmth.

The temperature should be kept around 100 degrees for the first few weeks, decreasing by 5 degrees every week for the first two months.

You will need to provide food and water for the growing chicks. You can find chicken feed at your local farm supply and feed store. A well equipped pet store may have it as well.

After two months, you are ready to move your chicks into a chicken coop where they will live for the remainder of their lives. Not only does a chicken coop require an indoor area for the chickens to live, but also space outdoors for them to run around and get some fresh air. In general, for every chicken you will need approximately two to three square feet of area indoors and about five square feet of outdoors space.

Make sure your chicken coop is secure inside and out from predators. To do this, you can fence in the outdoor area (be sure to bury the fence at least 1 foot underground) and be sure to lock the hen house itself at night. You can cover the floor of the chicken coup with wood shavings or saw dust. You want to have those on the ground so that you can clean out the floor easily.

That’s all I had time to write for now, but I wanted to contribute to your readers.  I hope you like it.”

Thank you Kathy and, for anyone else who may want to share tips for raising chicks, please feel free to comment below!

Chickens thrive in temperatures in the low-70s … but as it starts to approach 80+ degrees … just like most animals, your chickens may start to overheat.

… and, this is especially true if it’s humid!

The heat can cause stress on the chickens – and, though, they may not die from the heat (unless they are dehydrated) – the stress may cause them to stop laying eggs for weeks (if not months!) … and meat chickens may stop putting on weight during the hot days.

Look for signs of overheating – such as: panting, the chickens keeping their wings spread away from their body and lethargy.

If you suspect your chicken is overheating, consider the following tips to keeping your chickens cool:

1. Try to angle your chicken coop so that they can avoid direct sunlight from shining in the windows and doors – and so that the coop may provide some shade for the chickens ranging outside the coop.
2. A simple fan will not only reduce the damage that humidity can cause to the coop, you’re chickens will love the circulating air!
3. Corn and scratch generally create more body heat to digest those foods – instead, try feeding them pellets or crumble.
4. For extreme weather conditions, consider getting a water mister and just let it run when the sun is the strongest. Try not to let the water pool because the chickens will want to drink the dirty, muddy water.
5. Clean and fresh water, clean and fresh water, clean and fresh water … do I need to repeat this a 4th time?  This is critically important!

NOTE: Some chickens are better adaptive to the heat (such as White Leghorns).  If you haven’t purchase your flock yet, be sure that you select a chicken that is more likely to thrive in your climate.

One of the things that is usually required for people who want to raise backyard chickens, would be to understand the things that they should be immediately wary of. By knowing these warning signs, they would be able to prepare for them.

Predators:

You should understand that there are plenty of predators that would try to take your chickens away from you. The most known would probably be the fox. Now, you may say to yourself that you are safe from predators since there are no foxes in your neighborhood. Sadly, there are actually plenty of other animals that can try to mess with your chickens.

Some common ones that could be found on your backyard would be stray dogs or cats, skunks or raccoons. You should also be try to ensure that there are no pests like mites or lice in your coop to ensure that you would be able to raise chickens well.

Lastly, you should also consider some kids or children as predators. Sometimes, the kids can get overly excited by seeing chickens and could do some actions that might cause the chickens that you are raising some harm.

Moods:

You should also be aware of the moods of your chickens. One example would be when it comes to the roosters in your care. When you are raising chickens you would be able to notice that sometimes there are some roosters who can get overly aggressive and destroy the “harmony” in your chicken coop.

These roosters would attack the smaller ones, or would fight each other for some unknown reason. When this happens, you should try to take measures to separate the aggressive chicken from the coop and try to see if they would begin to act normally again.

Unfortunately, sometimes the chickens are really just moody and aggressive and would still act that way no matter how much time you separate them from the group. If this happens, then you should probably try to sell the chicken to others so as to preserve the well being of a greater number of chickens.

Sickness:

There are some instances where a chick or chicken would get sick. You would usually be able to notice this by the actions of the chicken. IF they seem to be very weak or tired then it may be an indication that it is suffering from a disease.

You should try to be very aware of this because sickness can easily spread from chicken to chicken especially in the small coops that are commonly used when raising backyard chickens. Being immediately aware of the situation would help you easily isolate the chicken from the rest of the group until it is able to recover.

When raising chickens in your backyard, you should always be very aware. The chickens would need your help in being able to grow well, and being aware of their conditions and threats would help you solve them immediately.

Imagine how much fun you could have raising your own chickens!

If you noticed in the video, raising chickens isn’t as difficult as some people make it out to be – in fact, the woman in the video says that she can get started by buying chickens (she gets them in the mail), throws up a fence (to keep up the predators), and the chickens would even be happy living in a dog house (while you’re building your coop or waiting for it to arrive).

Let us know what you think of this video and if you have any quick tips for someone wanting to get started in raising their own chickens!

To be sure, you must contact your local animal control office or your local municipality to ask them if you’re allowed to have chickens and if there are any specific rules and regulations that govern the way that you raise your chickens.

… and, even though it may be okay to raise chickens in your town, if you plan on having a rooster – you better double check if that’s going to be okay (because, in many cases, roosters tend to fall under the town’s noise and nuisance ordinaces … as not everyone welcomes a 4:00am wake up call).

Some other questions to consider would be:

• How many chickens am I allowed to have on my property?
• How many chickens am I allowed to have per square foot of grass yard?
• Am I required to have a permit or license to raise chickens?
• Are the chickens allowed to be free-range or must they be penned?

Grab ahold of the city ordinances and read up on any specifics – you might be surprised at what you find out (such as, how far you can keep your chickens next to your house or your neighbors house).

Hope this helps!

This is because there are various things that you would need to prepare before you can expect to raise your chickens well. Without these things, you may encounter some trouble while raising and caring for the chickens or even have some problems with the neighbors and the local officials.

Here then, are some of the prerequisites before you can start to raise your own chickens:

Large enough area:

Raising backyard chickens would be quite difficult if you have a very limited area available to you. That is why it would be important to check whether your backyard would be able to fit in the equipment and houses that you would need to keep your chickens comfortable.

Of course, you should understand that the more chickens you plan to raise would also mean that you would need to have a larger available area.

Equipment:

For raising chickens, you need to ensure that you have adequate equipment available. The equipment can range from their food and water supplies, their places of living, and the other things that you would need to be able to take care of them well.

You should be aware that your chicks and the adult chickens would have varying needs. For example a chick would probably be best suited in a young chick brooder that would enable them to move around freely but not at the mercy of the bigger chickens. A brooder could be a sturdy card board box, or a small animal cage. They would also need some starter pellets for their food.

On the other hand, adult chickens would be better situated in a chicken coop. You could purchase a prefabricated chicken coop or even start from scratch and just build your own. The great thing with “prefabs” is that you would not have to put much effort in building them. However, they are not as sturdy or as easy to design as compared to just building your own.

Local chicken laws & ordinances

Lastly, you should be aware that there are various ordinances concerning the raising of chickens. They vary from state to state and would usually dictate the terms and conditions about raising chickens in your backyard.

Before starting out in this endeavor you should be sure to check first with the local authorities about the legality of what you are doing. This is to ensure that you would not waste your time and resources, as well as paying for the fines, in case you find out that they are actually not allowed in your area.

When you have these prerequisites down pat, then you can already start enjoying and reaping the benefits of raising chickens right in your own backyard.

This kind of mindset is unfortunate as raising chickens can give plenty of benefits for the people who do so. They would be able to reap these rewards and find out that

Here are some of the benefits of raising chickens:

Great Supply for Fresh Eggs:

If you and your family all enjoy an egg for breakfast, then you would be pleased that you can get fresh eggs from your own backyard. When you raise chickens you can expect to have a source of fresh, great-tasting & nutritious eggs without having to purchase them from the supermarket.

Since you are the ones raising the chickens and collecting the eggs, you can be sure that no harmful and unnatural processes would be used to harvest them.

When you think about the number of egg purchases that you make in a month, you would realize that raising your own chickens could actually pay for itself in the long run.

Chicken manure can be used as a great fertilizer:

One of the biggest reasons that people avoid having to raise chickens is the fact that there can be a foul stench emanating from the coop because of the manure. They also hate that they would have to clean up the mess that the chickens make.

However, you can turn this into a positive as chicken manure is one of the best natural fertilizers available. If you are raising your own vegetables and fruits, then you could utilize the manure to be able to make the soil more fertile.

You can gather the chicken manure that your chickens make a better alternative than those that are chemically produced.

Fun & friendly pets

The chickens could also be great pets for you and your kids. Instead of having a dog or a cat that would also provide you fun but not the benefits that your chickens can give you such as the additional income for eggs, then why not get chickens instead right?

Chickens also have their own fun personality than can really be enjoyable for both the kids and adults.