To many people, raising chickens in their backyard is quite cut and dried.  You take care of the chicks, they would grow into adults, they would lay eggs or become sources of meat and you would be able to profit.

Many would feel that this cycle of processes regarding chickens is simply repeated over and over again, at least until you decide to end raising chickens in your backyard. Of course, this is not very accurate, there are actually some events which may veer off from the cycle and surprise you.

Some unexpected things that can happen regarding your backyard chickens would include:

The chicks that you initially purchase may immediately die:

If you have decided to raise backyard chickens, then you would probably purchase some chicks to start off your flock. However, after a few days, you may realize that a few of them would seem weak and some would even die.

You should understand that this unexpected death can actually be quite common. This happens for a variety of reasons such as the chicks being just really weak or the seller giving you chicks that have some diseases that they were not able to immediately detect.

Why is it important to know this? Well, it is critical that you understand that this is a common occurrence so that you would not be discouraged when you first start out. Seeing a dead chick can bring down so many owners into thinking that they are not doing things right and that they should stop.

By understanding that this unexpected occurrence can happen, then you would be able to pull on despite the minor setback.

There is a rare chance of a sex change!

Perhaps one of the more remarkable yet unexpected events when it comes to raising backyard chickens would be when the Hen would suddenly transform and become a rooster. This transformation can actually be a bit mild with the hen just exhibiting some male traits such as crowing and becoming dominating, to an amazing hen totally transforming and having male features such as new plumage, a wattle and comb.

This usually happens when an ovary of a hen gets damaged or has an abnormality. The abnormality or damage can be a cause for testosterone levels to rise in the chicken and be the reason for the changes in the hen.

By knowing about these unexpected things that could happen with the chickens in your backyard, you would not be too surprised when some of them would happen to your own flock.

If you plan to raise backyard chickens, then you may want to be familiar with the skill of sexing your chickens. While it may not be as necessary as if you owned a large scale chicken operation, it is still a skill that you can apply to the chickens in your backyard.

Chicken Sexing is simply the method of learning about the gender of the chickens. They are used so that you would be able to immediately determine their sex which in turn would help you determine what you would do with them.

People encounter difficulty in determining the breed because most of the time the chicks look similar even if they are of different sex.

Here are additional data regarding chick sexing for your backyard chickens:

Why should I do chick sexing while raising backyard chickens?

Well the primary reason would be to be able to save costs. Remember that for some cities there are various conditions that you would have to meet regarding raising chickens in your backyard. Most of the time, these conditions revolve around limiting your flock to females and having restrictions to the number of roosters that you have in the flock.

Now imagine if your hen laid a set of eggs and they have hatched. If you do not immediately know the sex of the chickens, then you would have to waste money, effort, and other resources in taking care of them until the time comes where you would be able to determine their sex.

If you were able to determine their sex then you would not have to devote as much time or effort into something that you would ultimately have to cull or give away from your flock.

What are the different methods for sexing?

There are usually three methods for sexing your backyard chickens. These are vent sexing, feather sexing, and natural observation. Here are the three methods described in detail:

Vent Sexing:

Vent sexing or venting is when the chicks are squeezed to a point where their anal vent (known as the cloaca) would open up slightly. This would allow the one doing the sexing to see if the chick has a small bump in that area.

If the one doing the sexing on the backyard chickens would be able to notice the bump, then it would mean that the chick is a male.

Feather Sexing:

Another method of sexing your backyard chickens would be to use their feathers and see the manifestations that would allow you to differentiate between sexes. Usually these, different attributes would be in the longer wing pinfeathers of the females as compared with the male chicks.

While this is quite easy to do, the problem lies in the fact that the chickens have to be sex linked. This means that they would have to be specially bred in order to be able to manifest the differences in their feathers.

Natural Method:

If you don’t feel like doing either of these methods, then you can simply wait after a few weeks and look at the chickens. This is because chicks would usually manifest secondary sex characteristics which would now allow you to differentiate the genders.

As mentioned before, one of the primary reasons for raising chickens in your backyard would be for their egg laying benefits. Having a flock of egg layers would enable you to save money from not having to purchase eggs in the supermarket as you already have a steady supply of fresh eggs in your backyard. Even better, you can sell those eggs that you would not need to your neighbors and earn a small profit.

Of course, these benefits would not come to fruition if you do not take care of the eggs that your backyard chickens are able to produce. You should understand that benefitting from these eggs would not be as easy or as simple as picking them out of the nesting box as soon as your hens would lay them.

This is because there are some things that you should worry about if you want to be able to collect fresh eggs from your backyard regularly.  Some issues that you would need to be familiar with regarding the eggs of your Backyard chickens include:

Low Temperature:

You should understand that very cold temperatures can actually destroy the eggs that are being laid by your backyard chickens? A freezing temperature can actually affect the eggs inside and freeze it. While this is a slight issue if you just plan to eat the eggs, it could raise some questions regarding its freshness when you try to sell it to your neighbors.

You may want to ensure that your nesting areas (the nesting box) can provide adequate heat, at least until you are able to collect the eggs and transfer them to an environment with a more controlled temperature.

The hens pecking the eggs:

You should also be wary of the hens pecking their eggs or even the eggs of the other hens. This is a phenomenon that can actually just happen for unknown reasons. It’s as if the hens would just suddenly decide to peck on the eggs that they are laying.

To be able to counter this, you may want to try and deter them from doing so by including fake eggs that are a bit unpalatable to them. Some people who are also raising backyard chickens suggest coating an egg shell with some hot peppers and including them in the usual nesting areas.

Hens laying their eggs in places other than the nesting box:

Sometimes the hens would just decide that they do not like to sit on the nesting box and lay their eggs in other areas of the coop. This could be trouble since you would have a hard time in collecting the eggs as well as the problem of the place not being safe enough that the eggs may be wasted if they fall and break.

A solution for this would be ensuring that your nesting box is as comfortable as possible for your hens. You could also try to make design changes in the other areas (the roofs of the nesting box for example) so that it would be difficult for hens to lay their eggs in it. Design changes could include making the roof of the nesting box sloped at a difficult angle so that they would not be able to stay in them.

By being aware of these issues with the eggs of your backyard chickens, you would be able to head them off and enjoy the eggs that your chickens would provide you.

While a lot of people may want to raise chickens in their backyard, you should understand that there are actually some cities or even states that would not allow you to do so. They would have some ordinances which would make it illegal for you to raise these animals in your backyard.

The good thing is that there are ways for you to be able to overcome these legal obstacles. One of these ways would be to challenge your local city ordinance and prove to them that owning chickens in your backyard would not be harmful and should be allowed.

Of course, challenging a city ordinance is not as easy as just filing paperwork. You would usually have to defend your position and provide evidence to the council that your chickens are viable animals to have in your backyard.

Here are some of the points that you should study on to be able to properly challenge the local city ordinances so that they would allow raising chickens in your backyard.

Learn more about the breeds of Chickens:

You should explain to the city officials about the various breeds that are highly suited for living in your area. You should consider breeds that are able to adapt to the local climate as well as the usual yard space that the houses in the neighborhood would have.

By doing this, you would be able to prove them that you are not really taking the chickens out of their element by bringing them into your backyard. You would also be able to say that the chickens would not make a ruckus since the breeds that you would get would be those that are suitable for the environment that your city has.

Research more about their points of contention and try to disprove them:

When cities outlaw raising chickens in your backyard, there are usually some basic points that they raise for doing so. You should be able to research more about them and try to find out ways so that you could convince them that it would not happen in your area.

Usually the city would be objecting to raising backyard chickens for three main reasons, namely noise, stench, and disease. It is up to you to try and research data and find testimonials that would eliminate the panel’s concerns about these three things.

Of course, even if you do all of these things it would still not be a guarantee that the city would overturn the previous ordinances and then allow you to raise backyard chickens. However, it would still be better to do these as it would allow you to have a higher chance of getting a new law that would hopefully allow you to keep the birds in your yard!

When you start building a chicken coop for raising backyard chickens, you would have to realize that not only would be taking care of chickens but you may be attracting some other pests as well. This is because the food storage, the additional cluttered areas, and the food that are necessary for the chicken’s survival and are ideal conditions for pests. In fact even the new animals themselves can attract the arrival of these unwanted creatures.

One of these pests that you would really have to contend with would be rats. As mentioned above, all those things are ideal situations for rats to thrive in. That is why if left unchecked you could be looking at a rat infestation in the chickens that you are raising in the backyard.

So why are rats a big problem when it comes to raising backyard chickens? Well you should understand how rats act. First, you should know that rats flock to food sources such as your chicken feed; they would remain to these food sources and try to breed in an area where there is food.  Unfortunately, rats breed pretty quickly and the dark cluttered areas would even provide them with the good nesting spots that they would need for breeding.

If left unchecked, your chicken coop could be overrun with rats that would compete with your chickens for their food sources, bring diseases to them, and even attack some of your chicks! That is why it would be highly critical for you to be able to combat them.

Some ways of combating them would include:

Securing your food storage:

You should ensure that all your chicken feed are secured in a container that pests such as rats, other vermin, or even insects would not be able to go to. You can do this by purchasing an airtight container that you should always try to close when not in use.

By doing this, you are preventing the rats from discovering your food sources and are deterring them from trying to set up a nest in their area.

Cleaning:

You should always try to clean the mess that are left over by your backyard chickens. This includes sweeping the feeding boxes of some of the leftover feed, and arranging the cluttered areas of the chicken coop.

Cleaning would enable you to remove the small sources of food that the rats could collect and also remove the possible nesting places of these vermin so that they would not be able to breed inside the coop.

Secure the entire coop:

Rats would not be able to breed or enter your coop if you would be able to secure it properly. You should try to fix all weak links in fences, mend broken walls and gates, and even check roofing and ceiling to ensure that there would be no entry point for any rats.

By doing these activities, you are ensuring that you would be able to raise backyard chickens without having to worry about rats or other pests disturbing your flock.