When you try to raise backyard chickens, one of the things that you would have to come face to face with is cleaning the chicken coop. You would unfortunately realize that chickens would make a lot of mess, and it is on you to be able to clean them and ensure that they would be healthy.

This is because if you do not put the effort in cleaning your coop you would risk these things happening: The first Is that your chickens would become unhealthy, sickly and may even die because of all the bacteria and viruses that can accumulate in dirty places. What’s worse is that these bacteria and viruses may actually cause diseases in your household as well. Another issue that you would have to contend with would be the stench of the poorly cleaned coop.

All of these negative effects may combine and lead to your family and your neighbors asking you to stop raising backyard chickens. As you can see, cleaning your coop is really very important.

One of the ways that you would be able to lessen the burden of cleaning your chicken coop would be to integrate the cleaning ideas in the design of the chicken coop itself.  If you would be able to consider cleaning before you put up the chicken coop, you may be able to make changes that make it easier for you to do the task.

Some cleaning based design would be:

Installing Dropping boards under the perches:

A dropping board is basically a piece of wood that you place under the purchase. It serves the purpose of catching all of the droppings of your chicken. By having a dropping board, it would be easy for you to clean chicken droppings as you would just have to slide the board out.

Drainage Areas:

When it comes to cleaning the chicken coops used for backyard chickens, you would inevitably need to wash the whole thing down. This is because there are some dirt areas that can’t be cleaned by simple wiping and sweeping.

You may want to include drainpipes or at least slopes that can push the water out so that cleaning and drying the coop would become less of a hassle.

Space for you to move around:

Lastly, cleaning a chicken coop would definitely be easier if you had designed it to fit a human being. If you have easy access to the different compartments inside your chicken coop, then you would be able to have an easier time when cleaning it.

Yes, these cleaning tips would mean that you would need to add extra effort at the start when you are designing and building your coop. But by doing this, you are making it much easier for you to raise backyard chickens in the future.

If you are planning to raise backyard chickens for the purpose of having a good source of fresh eggs, then one of your main considerations for your chicken coop would be to put up a nesting box. A nesting box is basically the place where your chickens would go when it’s time to lay their eggs.

The problem with some hens is that they can be quite picky when they would need to lay their eggs. They would usually want to be as comfortable as possible before they start on that strenuous task of pushing out the eggs into the nest.

That is why it would be important to ensure that you make your nesting boxes very comfortable for them to sit and lay their eggs in. Without it, you may find yourself having to scramble all over the coop in search for the eggs that your chickens are laying.

Here are some of the necessary considerations for making comfortable nesting boxes for your hens:

Softness and Warmth:

One of the reasons that the hens would flock to the nesting boxes would be the softness and warmth of the box. That is why it would be important to always put in good nesting materials inside it so that the chickens would really feel very comfortable in it.

Good nesting box materials could be wood shavings, straw or shredded paper. These are quite soft enough that the chickens would feel comfortable sitting in them and can provide them with enough warmth to make them feel really at ease while they are laying their eggs.

Order and Cleanliness:

Another consideration when it comes to nesting boxes for your backyard chickens would be order and cleanliness of the nesting boxes. You should realize that as your chickens use the nesting boxes over and over again, the lining or nesting material would thin out and become disorganized, this means that your hens would find themselves uncomfortable in the nesting box again as time goes on.

You may want to consider including a lining at the bottom of your nesting box. This would enable you to easily clean replace the nesting material just by sliding out the lining and replacing it without having to stuff it down the nesting box.

A good lining could be a piece of hard cardboard, a small and smooth plywood, or even some leftover roofing shingles.

Adequate number and space:

Lastly, you should ensure that your nesting boxes can actually accommodate the number of egg laying hens that you have.  Forcing them to become too cramped up in a small nesting box can lead to some of your chickens searching for other places to lay their eggs in.

Ideally, you would be able to have 1 nesting box for every 2-4 hens in the coop. The cubby holes should also have at least a 12 x 12 x 12 inch area so that your chickens would not be crammed inside of it.

By ensuring that your nesting boxes are able to become very comfortable for your hens, you would not have to exert too much effort when it’s time for you to enjoy the benefit of collecting the eggs from your backyard chickens.

Who came first, the chicken or the egg? Fortunately, you would not have to think about the answer to that age old question when it comes to searching for ways to raise your own chickens. This is because you would be able to choose any of the methods to start your coop.

Of course, when you decide to raise chickens, the first order of business would probably be to determine your source for the chicks. You would have to find ways for you to be able to start your collection of chickens and base your needs from there.

Here are some of the methods that you could use when it comes to getting chicks for raising your own chickens:

Purchase Day Old Chicks:

You could choose to start with day old chicks. As you can probably base from the name a day old chick is a chick that is already for sale a day (or a few days really) after it has already hatched from its egg. The best thing about this is that you would not have to get your own incubator yet as they are already hatched from the egg.

Aside from not having to purchase an incubator immediately, another advantage that you can get from purchasing day old chicks to start raising chickens is that they are significantly cheaper than purchasing a chicken that is already an adult.

Of course, you would still need to purchase specialized feeds so that they would be able to grow well into adult chickens. The day old chicks are usually available around spring time in local feed stores.

Hatch Chicks from eggs:

You could also decide to hatch chicks from the eggs. To be able to do this, you would need to purchase an incubator or even create your own. The incubator would take care of the temperature that the eggs need in order for a chick to properly hatch from it.

Despite the cost of an incubator, eggs are generally much cheaper than chickens so it evens out. You should also consider that you would really need an incubator anyway, so you may as well buy it from the start.

Note that the eggs that you need to purchase are those that have not been processed yet, and not the ones that are already sold in the supermarket! Some people actually commit this mistake and wonder why chicks are not hatching from the eggs that they purchase.

Taking over for someone:

Another way to start raising your own chickens would be to just take over for someone who had raised chickens before.

These are people who are perhaps already too busy to work on their coops, or are already moving out into other places. You can search various bulletin boards, classified ads, and forums to search for people who are willing to sell their chickens to you.

Now that you know where you would be able to get your chicks, you should try and analyze your current situation and find out which of these methods would be best suited for it.

When you decide you’re going to raise chickens, you’ve got to decide if you’re raising chickens for eggs, meat and/or to have as pets.

Some of the most common egg layers are the White Leghorn and the Hubbard Isa Brown.  For meat chickens, the Cornish X Rock Hybrids and the Jersey Giants are favorites.

If you’re just looking for a pet – take a look at the Silky Bantams and the Japanese Bantams – they’re shockingly adorable and have incredibly fun personalities!

To learn more about other chicken breeds, check out http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html for a free chicken breed chart authored by John Henderson on Ithaca College’s website.

Aside from being a different form of pet, another benefit that can be gained by raising backyard chickens is that you would be able to earn some money because of them. While the money that you earn may not be that much, it is still a significant way for you to have some additional income or savings, something that anyone would be glad to have especially in this economy.

Some of the ways where raising backyard chickens can help generate some income for you would be through:

Selling or Keeping the Eggs:

One of the most common products that we associate with chickens is the egg that they produce. A chicken, under good conditions, would usually lay an egg a day. This would mean that you would have a fresh source for your breakfast eggs without having to purchase them from the grocery.

In fact, if you are producing extra eggs, you may be able to sell them to your neighbors or even to local grocery stores. You can even put up a sign in your front yard to advertise that you are selling fresh eggs!

You could also choose to sell the eggs not as food, but as a starter egg for other people who may want to try and raise their own backyard chickens.

While, the profit from eggs may not be that big, they are still a source of income that would help in increasing your funds.

Selling the Chicken themselves:

Another thing that you could actually sell is the chicken itself. You could purchase an incubator and hatch some of your eggs in order to sell chicks or chickens to other people. The chicks that you could sell can be used as pets or as the groundwork for other people who may want to start backyard chickens.

You could also try and raise chickens for meat. However, you must think about the different needs that are entailed for raising chickens for meat. They would usually require a different type of coop.

Use or Sell the Manure:

Even the supposed negatives of raising backyard chickens have the potential to earn you some form of money. One of the things that hinder people from taking care of such animals in their own backyard is that they are wary of having to clean up after their chickens. They also know that the fecal matter of the chickens can cause some foul odors.

While you do have to clean that up, you can actually collect the chicken manure and turn them into organic fertilizer.  You can then use it on your own garden or sell them to other organic farmers in your area.

Yes, raising chickens would cost some money initially, but after setting it up and getting a good number of chickens to raise well in your backyard you would find out that they can actually help you improve on your financial situation!