How To Raise Chickens: Beginner’s Guide

Raising chickens around your home is an amazing experience, especially if you have a spacious backyard. It doesn’t take much effort to raise these beautiful birds. And they can help to control bugs and weed within your home. In this article, I will be sharing with you some ideas on how to raise chickens. 

Again, it’s relatively easy to start raising chickens for egg or meat production in your backyard. But it requires a level of hard work and commitment. Otherwise, they won’t be productive or give you a great return on your investment. 

Raising chickens is something everybody can enjoy, including – children and adults. It doesn’t matter where you live (whether town or city), you can always raise chickens around your home. 

Of course, it comes with some challenges, including noise, dirt, smells and sometimes can be unruly to each other. But the benefits of raising chickens outweigh the challenges if you raise the right backyard chicken breeds. 

What are the Benefits of Raising Backyard Chickens

Before I guide you on how to raise chickens, let’s quickly look at the benefits of raising backyard chickens. I never took raising chickens seriously until my close friend told me about the benefits. And immediately I saw its potential; I took my time to learn how to raise chickens. 

So, if you think people are only raising chickens for eggs and meat production, you are wrong. Here are some of the benefits of raising chicken in your backyards. 

#1. You Can Raise Chickens for Eggs

How would you feel to get all the eggs you consume from your chickens? I mean, you get to consume fresh eggs daily without spending a dime. Awesome, right? Well, that’s one of the benefits of raising chickens in your backyard. 

Interestingly, eggs from your backyard chickens tend to be fresher, taste better, and more nutritious. Do you know why? It’s because you control what goes into the egg production process with the food you give them. If you want, you can sell some of the eggs for money. 

#2. Raising Chickens Produce Natural Fertilizer 

The manure from chickens is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These are great ingredients of lawn and garden fertilizers. So, you can compost your chicken manure and add it to the soil around your garden, lawns, flowers, shrubs, etc. 

Even though chicken fertilizers are homemade, they produce excellent results and save you money. 

#3. Chickens Can Make Great Pets

Oh! You think the only thing chickens are good for is to produce eggs and meat? Well, sorry to disappoint you, you can use them as pets. Like every other animal, chickens have their personalities, and they are affectionate towards humans. 

Depending on the backyard chicken breeds you are raising, they could have a shy, sweet, playful, and sometimes temperamental personality. One thing is sure – you will always have a fantastic time with your flock of backyard chickens. 

#4. Raising Chickens is Relatively Easy and Cheap

Compared to other livestock, it’s inexpensive and less stressful to take care of chickens. Of course, you need to feed and water your chickens. Also, they need a coop to nest in. All these require little effort and resources.

You see, if you don’t know how to raise chickens, you may think it’s expensive. But it’s budget-friendly and easy. 

#5. They Help to Control Bugs and Weeds Naturally

Raising chickens for eggs or meat production helps to control bugs and weeds naturally. If your garden is overpopulated with crickets, grasshoppers, snails, and other pets, your chickens will eat them up. And this will help to reduce their populations.

How to Raise Chickens – Step by Step Guide 

It seems we are in the backyard flock revolution as everybody wants to raise chickens in their backyard. Raising chickens requires a level of commitment, consistency, and patience. 

I know that raising backyard chickens is easy and less stressful. But you don’t understand the process; it can be very frustrating. So, here is a step by step guide on how to raise chickens. 

Create a Plan 

Once you decide to start raising backyard chickens, try to create a plan. It’s a roadmap of how you want your backyard poultry farm to be. It includes the backyard chicken breeds you are raising and how you can balance your regular schedule with raising backyard chickens.

Select the Backyard Chicken Breeds That’s Right For you

There are different backyard chicken breeds you can choose from. They are available in different shapes, colors, and sizes. For instance, if you are raising chicken for eggs or meat alone, it’s advisable to start with some of the common breeds below; 

• White Leghorn Hybrids (Produce white eggs)

• Plymouth Barred Rocks (produce brown eggs)

• Rhode Island Reds (produce brown eggs)

• Blue Andalusians (produce white eggs)

• Ameraucanas (produce blue eggs)

However, if you need a backyard chicken breed that can produce eggs and meat, breeds like Plymouth Barred rocks, Sussex or Buff Orpingtons. But if you are looking for a breed that you can use as a pet, the exotic breed is a perfect choice. 

Search for a Reputable Chick supplier 

Once you decide on the backyard chicken breed to raise, the next step is to search for a reputable chick supplier. It’s advisable to get your chicks from a trustworthy Pullorum – Typhoid Clean Hatchery. 

As a rule, get the hatchery you are buying the chicks from to vaccinate them against coccidiosis and Marek’s disease. You can always check with your local retailer for the best chicken breeds, timing, and availability. 

Prepare Your Brooder

A brooder is a heater structure used to raise chickens. It’s a draft-free shelter that helps to keep your chicks warm. Once you decide on the backyard chicken breed to raise, the next step is to prepare a brooder. 

Try to enclose the brooder with a bottom surface that you can cover with bedding. It should also have a reliable heating lamp to keep the chicks warm. 

Again, it’s strongly advised not to locate your brooding area close to a square corner. Otherwise, your chicks could be trapped in one corner if they huddle together. 

As a beginner, you need to understand how to raise chickens during their early days. For instance, each chick needs a floor space of about 2 to 3 square feet to itself during the first six weeks. 

During the first week, set your brooder temperature to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and reduces it by 5 degrees Fahrenheit every other week. However, when the brood temperature gets to a minimum of 55 degrees Fahrenheit, you will have to stop reducing it. 

But when your chicks are grown enough to survive without a supplemental heat source, provide them with a spacious and clean coop. And always provide enough clean water for them, change the water every day. 

Take Sanitation Seriously 

It doesn’t matter whether you are raising chickens for eggs or meat production, or you are just keeping them as pets, you need to give attention to sanitation.

 Always keep the environment clean. Otherwise, your chickens will be vulnerable to early health risk. So, try to disinfect every material before and after using them. All backyard chicken breeds strive better in a clean environment. 

Have a Long Term Nutritional Plan for Your Chickens 

If you want your backyard chickens to be healthy and grow faster, you need to feed them well. And the easiest way to achieve this is to create a long term nutritional plan for them. 

If you don’t know much about backyard chicken breeds and their feeding habits, you can get an expert to help you create a long term nutritional plan. 

Your chicks require about 38 different unique nutrients every day to stay healthy. And you may not be able to provide them with these needed nutrients if you don’t have a nutritional plan. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Raising Backyard Chicken Breed 

In this section, I will answer some of the frequently asked questions about raising backyard chicken. Even though you don’t know how to raise chickens, the answers to these questions will provide you with what you need to know about raising chickens for eggs or meat production. 

#1. Which is the Best Backyard Chicken Breed to Raise?

Well, the answer to this question is relative. It depends on your goal as the backyard poultry owner. 

For instance, if you are raising chickens for show or pet, breeds like Silkie, White-crested Polish, or Japanese, are the perfect breed. These chicken breeds display patterns, personalities, etc. 

Similarly, if you are raising chickens for egg production, breeds like Rhode Island Reds and Andalusians are a great choice. 

You see, the backyard chicken breed to raise depends on your purpose of starting the poultry. Take note of that… 

#2. Do I need Rooster for my Backyard Hen to Lay Eggs?

Well, this is one of the most common misconceptions about chickens. However, the answer is No. Hens can lay eggs on their own without roosters. 

#3. How Many Chickens Can My Chickens Lay and How Often Can they Lay?

Again, the answer to this question is relative. The number of eggs your chickens can produce depends on certain factors. And the backyard chicken breed you are raising if one of the factors. 

Some chickens are raised solely for egg productions. And if you have such chickens, each of them can lay an average of four to five eggs per week. But if the hens aren’t healthy, they may not be able to achieve that. 

Additionally, the age of your chickens can affect their egg production. For instance, most hens usually start laying eggs when they are 4 to 6 months old. And they tend to be more productive and consistent in producing eggs during their first years. But after that, the number of eggs they lay will reduce. 

#4. How Long Do Chickens Live?

It depends on the chicken breed and the environment you are raising them. But if the chickens aren’t exposed to disease and are protected from predators, most chicken breeds can live up to 8 years. 

#5. Is Raising Chicken Challenging?

Generally, raising chickens for eggs and meat production is fun and rewarding. It comes with amazing benefits. But as the old saying goes, “nothing good comes easily,” raising chickens has its challenges. Some of them are; 

• They make a lot of noise

• Chickens poop a lot, and it takes hard work to keep their environment clean at all times. Otherwise, they will be vulnerable to diseases. 

• They dig the soil a lot when searching for bugs to eat.

• According to health experts, chickens could carry Salmonella germs in their droppings, feathers, feet, and beaks. And if you fail to wash your hands after attending to them, you may be prone to Salmonella infections. 

• You need to protect your chickens from predators.

Irrespective of why you decide to raise backyard chicken, you have made the right choice. Trust me; you will have a lot of exciting experience raising these beautiful creatures. You will also have a fun story to tell. Lastly, it comes with great benefits.