Like the title says, this is according to me. After searching the forum, I could not find a thread that really takes the time to lay out a basic primer on how to raise chickens. This is not the do all, end all on how to raise them, but it is the way I do it, and it is something that you can take at face value and run with.
But be warned, chicks can worm their way into your life. I say this with a pet chicken named Jody who lives in a brooder in my office. She coos, trills, and is just fun to have around. She is the only one to hatch out of twelve eggs, so she is growing up in the house. Kind of like 'chicken TV'.....
DO YOUR RESEARCH, PICK YOUR CHOOKS
So you decide you want to raise chickens. If you see them at the feed store, running around in those tubs, cheeping and exuding cuteness, you are probably already hooked. You will be raising chickens.
But before you start, do a little research. Do you want eggs, or meat, or both? Check out this link, it is excellent for breeds, egg color, purpose, etc.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chickens.html
This link is excellent for all-around information, and some specialty info. DO NOT CLICK ON THE 'SILKIES' LINKS. SILKIES ARE EVIL, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR HEART, THEY WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Really. They do.
http://www.poultryhelp.com/link-breeds.html
The following link will hook you on chickens. This forum is one of the best for learning everything you need to know, and the search function is friendly.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
(But please read this short paragraph. I will tell you of the Cornish Cross, my friends. They are meat birds that will be table ready in around 8 weeks. 8 WEEKS. Sounds good, right? Well, unless you are set up to grow and havest this breed, and I mean knowledge and skills, I would pass them by and learn with the other breeds first. Most hens start laying between 5 and 7 months, and are ready to send to Freezer Camp at around a year old. Cornish Cross birds are what you get at KFC, and in the store. But they are best left until you are accomplished at raising chickens. Others may tell you different, but just trust me on this one.)
Peruse the list, take your time to ooh and ahh over all the different types of birds, and what they are best used for. Do you only want white eggs, or specifically brown eggs? Flighty or Friendly? Cold hardy, or best suited for warmer climates? How much room in the coop do I need? Should I coop all the time, free range, or pasture range? What predators do I have in my area, and can I protect my flock? Think about all of these things while researching, but DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED. I pasture range, and have had no problems so far. I expect I will, eventually, and I will accomodate. If things happen, you CAN fix them.
I really do not like any kind of black chicken. At all. So while I have Black Australorps, they are for selling chicks or hatching eggs. My husband likes white chickens, so we have Rhode Island Whites, good for meat and for eggs.
But for all around producers of meat and eggs, my choice would be Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds, and White Leghorns.
For the pretty blue and green eggs, Easter Eggers (commonly sold as Ameraucana by hatcheries).
4 to 6 hens will give you around 4 eggs a day. During optimum time, not counting the moult and whether or not you run lights during the winter. More chickens mean more eggs, of course. Use the extras to give away, or sell to co-workers.
This is also a commitment. Unless you have someone to look after your flock, long vacations are out. While they can feed themselves fairly well, the chickens look to you for food, water, and shelter.
RAISING YOUR CHICKS, THE BEGINNING
Now you have decided which chicks to buy, now let's figure out what you need to raise them.
Let's get them their first home. I use Rubbermaid containers, deep and easy to clean. A cardboard box will work just as well, or any container tall enough to keep the chickies inside. For the first few days, I line the floor of the container with paper towels. DO NOT USE NEWSPAPER!!!!! It is too slick, and the chicks might develop 'straddle legs' from trying to maintain balance on the slippery surface. Some folks use kitchen hand towels, but I am lazy; I would rather throw away than wash. Chickies poo a lot.
Next, they will need water. Basics. For newly hatched chicks, a small bowl will work for a week or so. Just find a small bowl, fill it about 3/4 full of small rocks or marbles, then add water. The chicks will drink, but not be able to fall in and drown. Which they will, babies are bright but not overly so. Tip a chick's head so its beak touches the water. They will get the idea, and the others will learn from them.
Chick food. Here is where puritans and practical folks might disagree. I do not use medicated feed. Others do. It is a personal choice, do some reading on the web. I sprinkle the chick food sparingly on the paper towels, they will peck at everything. They get the idea real quick.
The new babies need heat, and the best source is an infra-red heat lamp in one of those clamp on lamps. Just clamp it (safely) onto the side of your container, and turn it on. You need a little thermometer to get the temp just right. The temp is regulated by raising or lowering the heat lamp. 95 to 100 degrees for the first three or four weeks, then go down by 5 degrees per week. By the time you get to around 70 to 75 degrees, they are getting feathers and will keep warm by themselves. Spring is the best time to get chicks, as the weather will co-operate more and not have cold snaps and such.
Observe your new babies. They will cheep loud and long if they are cold, wandering all over the floor. In this case, lower the heat. If they are huddled in the corner nearest the light, they are cold. Lower the light. If they are huddled in the corner away from the light, they are too hot. Raise the light. I like to keep the light closest to the end away from food and water. Not everyone likes warm food and water.
After the first week or so, graduate to feeder and waterer bases that screw into pint canning jars. As they get older, and you are refilling feeders too much to be fun, graduate to the quart size jars. It is also time to get rid of the paper towels, and move to pine shavings. The shavings are safe for the chicks, and will help with the smell of chick poo. I use a pretty thick layer, and add as needed. Others just love to change a shallow bed of shavings twice a week or so. Not me, as I said before, I am lazy.
One other note, if they chicks are fouling their food and water with shavings, use a couple of boards to put the feeder/waterer on. It raises them, and makes it harder for the chicks to kick shavings into them.
Play with your chickies, take pictures, teach your real kids how to handle safely. Or just ignore them, raise them for the egg/meat machines that they are, no socializing. I challenge you, go ahead and try. Even the most grumpy, grouchy, antisocial folks smile at chickies. Have fun, and enjoy.
TEENAGERS AND BEYOND
So now the cute chickies are in the teenager stage. Ughh. They are not cute anymore, kind of scraggly looking, wearing their 'in-between' feathers. 2 or 3 months old, and they need more room. Probably should have been in a bigger space before now anyway, and maybe you have put them in a bigger box, or even separated them into several boxes. That's good, good for you. And their diet is changing. First, the food, then the coop......
It is time to change to grower feed, which is basically chick food on steroids. It is nutritionally enhanced for growing chickens. It is more expensive, and around where I live, hard to find. So when I need to, I keep using chick feed, with 'treats'. Fruits, veggies, worms and bugs, leftovers, popcorn, you get the idea. The treats are just that, treats. Don't try to feed them from the kitchen exclusively, they will not get the nutrients they need. Unless you have no other choice, I advise you to keep feeding good, basic chick feed.
And since they are going to be eating food that is not just crumbly and easily digestible, now is the time to introduce 'chick grit'. This is tiny rock/sand that chicks eat, and it rests in the gizzard to grind up any food that is not soft enough to be digested directly. So if the chicks are getting chick feed, or egg yolks, or yoghurt, or other soft food, they don't need grit. But I have yet to hear of a chicken lover that does not want to feed treats, so you need grit.
Grit is 'offered freely', meaning that if you leave a dish of grit out, the chicks will eat what the need to digest their food. My ding-a-ling chicks will eat the whole dish like it is food. So I give them a dish of grit a couple of times a week. Grit can be purchased, or you can sift out tiny rocks and sand instead. I like the store bought, it is cheap and lasts a long time. When they get bigger, they will pick up small pebbles and rocks outside, on their own. If they are 'cooped up', you have to make it available.
So, what kind of treats? Clover leaves, chopped up grass, veggies (raw or cooked), leftovers, almost anything. Backyard Chickens is one of the best site to research, and they actually have a treat chart. Cut up grapes (I cut them up 'cause they eat everything whole) are a favorite, as are boiled eggs. If you can eat it, more than likely they can too.
Here is what I DON'T feed them. Onions, garlic, seafood, or plants I will not eat. Like I said before, with a twist, if you can't eat it, don't feed it to the chickens. My all time favorite is popcorn. And specifically, Lady Finger popcorn. It pops to half the size of regular popcorn, just the right size. And, spaghetti! This is dinner and a show, cook up a mess of it and toss into the yard. Let the games begin!
So, now they are going to move into a brooder. This is basically a wire cage. Basically. Use the basic '2x2 per bird', but no smaller than this, because NOW YOU NEED A COOP. The brooder box is a temporary place to keep them til you get the coop built. And you should have been planning this from the beginning, their permanent home. I guess I should have warned you.....
Have food, water, roost, and curious chickens watching from the brooder while you build their coop. The brooders can be cleaned and re-used as little quarantine areas, hospital room, overflow area, etc. They can be kept for emergencies, like, 'oh look. pullets on craigslist need a home'.
Now for the coop. The best way to think of a coop is a shed with nest boxes and a perch. Room for them to scratch around for the treats you toss them, singles bar to meet and greet, fast food restaurant, and nighty-night bedroom. It is their home, a dormitory really, and it needs to be dry, ventilated, warm/cool depending on the season, and SAFE. The coop can be fairly small, it there is a 'chicken run' attached for them to run around in, or you are going to pasture your birds. The coop should be large if you are going to only let your chickens out for short periods on time. It all depends on how much time they are stuck in it.
Google is your friend. Also, go to http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html to see all kinds of coops. I am not going into detail on purpose. A coop is a personal thing, you need to build to the specs you can afford. Some folks buy ready made, some use quality material to make chick-mansions, and some use scrap wood and pallets. As long as they are safe, they will be happy.
I have pastured birds, which means they are let out in the morning, and come into the coop to sleep at night. For 16 birds, including the 2 roos, my coop is 6x12, which is small. But all they do there is roost for the night.
I will give you the plans for my segregated coops. There is the coop, which is 4x4 with a sloping roof 3' at one end and 4' at the high end. This coop houses 4 hens and their roo-daddy. There is an attached run 4x12x4. This is where they spend most of their day. Their food and water is in the run, and nesting boxes and roost are in the coop.
Like I said, you build what you can afford. I suggest you use hanging waterers and feeders, only because it will minimize waste and wet. Or design your own.
One more thing about coops and runs. The wild world is your friend, but it is also your worst enemy. You are responsible for protecting your feathered friends. And you have to be serious about it. The coop needs to be predator proof. Opossums, racoons, rats, snakes, the friendly neighborhood dogs and cats, these are now your enemies. 'Chicken wire' is a misnomer. It will keep chickens in. It won't keep predators out. You need to use hardware cloth anywhere that you are separating your birds from the outside world. There are several sizes, just make sure the squares are small. And in the run, bury it at least 6" deep, bending it towards the inside of the run underground is even better.
These are the basics of feeding and coop construction. Research will make you smarter.
Cheri
But be warned, chicks can worm their way into your life. I say this with a pet chicken named Jody who lives in a brooder in my office. She coos, trills, and is just fun to have around. She is the only one to hatch out of twelve eggs, so she is growing up in the house. Kind of like 'chicken TV'.....
DO YOUR RESEARCH, PICK YOUR CHOOKS
So you decide you want to raise chickens. If you see them at the feed store, running around in those tubs, cheeping and exuding cuteness, you are probably already hooked. You will be raising chickens.
But before you start, do a little research. Do you want eggs, or meat, or both? Check out this link, it is excellent for breeds, egg color, purpose, etc.
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chickens.html
This link is excellent for all-around information, and some specialty info. DO NOT CLICK ON THE 'SILKIES' LINKS. SILKIES ARE EVIL, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR HEART, THEY WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Really. They do.
http://www.poultryhelp.com/link-breeds.html
The following link will hook you on chickens. This forum is one of the best for learning everything you need to know, and the search function is friendly.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
(But please read this short paragraph. I will tell you of the Cornish Cross, my friends. They are meat birds that will be table ready in around 8 weeks. 8 WEEKS. Sounds good, right? Well, unless you are set up to grow and havest this breed, and I mean knowledge and skills, I would pass them by and learn with the other breeds first. Most hens start laying between 5 and 7 months, and are ready to send to Freezer Camp at around a year old. Cornish Cross birds are what you get at KFC, and in the store. But they are best left until you are accomplished at raising chickens. Others may tell you different, but just trust me on this one.)
Peruse the list, take your time to ooh and ahh over all the different types of birds, and what they are best used for. Do you only want white eggs, or specifically brown eggs? Flighty or Friendly? Cold hardy, or best suited for warmer climates? How much room in the coop do I need? Should I coop all the time, free range, or pasture range? What predators do I have in my area, and can I protect my flock? Think about all of these things while researching, but DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED. I pasture range, and have had no problems so far. I expect I will, eventually, and I will accomodate. If things happen, you CAN fix them.
I really do not like any kind of black chicken. At all. So while I have Black Australorps, they are for selling chicks or hatching eggs. My husband likes white chickens, so we have Rhode Island Whites, good for meat and for eggs.
But for all around producers of meat and eggs, my choice would be Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds, and White Leghorns.
For the pretty blue and green eggs, Easter Eggers (commonly sold as Ameraucana by hatcheries).
4 to 6 hens will give you around 4 eggs a day. During optimum time, not counting the moult and whether or not you run lights during the winter. More chickens mean more eggs, of course. Use the extras to give away, or sell to co-workers.
This is also a commitment. Unless you have someone to look after your flock, long vacations are out. While they can feed themselves fairly well, the chickens look to you for food, water, and shelter.
RAISING YOUR CHICKS, THE BEGINNING
Now you have decided which chicks to buy, now let's figure out what you need to raise them.
Let's get them their first home. I use Rubbermaid containers, deep and easy to clean. A cardboard box will work just as well, or any container tall enough to keep the chickies inside. For the first few days, I line the floor of the container with paper towels. DO NOT USE NEWSPAPER!!!!! It is too slick, and the chicks might develop 'straddle legs' from trying to maintain balance on the slippery surface. Some folks use kitchen hand towels, but I am lazy; I would rather throw away than wash. Chickies poo a lot.
Next, they will need water. Basics. For newly hatched chicks, a small bowl will work for a week or so. Just find a small bowl, fill it about 3/4 full of small rocks or marbles, then add water. The chicks will drink, but not be able to fall in and drown. Which they will, babies are bright but not overly so. Tip a chick's head so its beak touches the water. They will get the idea, and the others will learn from them.
Chick food. Here is where puritans and practical folks might disagree. I do not use medicated feed. Others do. It is a personal choice, do some reading on the web. I sprinkle the chick food sparingly on the paper towels, they will peck at everything. They get the idea real quick.
The new babies need heat, and the best source is an infra-red heat lamp in one of those clamp on lamps. Just clamp it (safely) onto the side of your container, and turn it on. You need a little thermometer to get the temp just right. The temp is regulated by raising or lowering the heat lamp. 95 to 100 degrees for the first three or four weeks, then go down by 5 degrees per week. By the time you get to around 70 to 75 degrees, they are getting feathers and will keep warm by themselves. Spring is the best time to get chicks, as the weather will co-operate more and not have cold snaps and such.
Observe your new babies. They will cheep loud and long if they are cold, wandering all over the floor. In this case, lower the heat. If they are huddled in the corner nearest the light, they are cold. Lower the light. If they are huddled in the corner away from the light, they are too hot. Raise the light. I like to keep the light closest to the end away from food and water. Not everyone likes warm food and water.
After the first week or so, graduate to feeder and waterer bases that screw into pint canning jars. As they get older, and you are refilling feeders too much to be fun, graduate to the quart size jars. It is also time to get rid of the paper towels, and move to pine shavings. The shavings are safe for the chicks, and will help with the smell of chick poo. I use a pretty thick layer, and add as needed. Others just love to change a shallow bed of shavings twice a week or so. Not me, as I said before, I am lazy.
One other note, if they chicks are fouling their food and water with shavings, use a couple of boards to put the feeder/waterer on. It raises them, and makes it harder for the chicks to kick shavings into them.
Play with your chickies, take pictures, teach your real kids how to handle safely. Or just ignore them, raise them for the egg/meat machines that they are, no socializing. I challenge you, go ahead and try. Even the most grumpy, grouchy, antisocial folks smile at chickies. Have fun, and enjoy.
TEENAGERS AND BEYOND
So now the cute chickies are in the teenager stage. Ughh. They are not cute anymore, kind of scraggly looking, wearing their 'in-between' feathers. 2 or 3 months old, and they need more room. Probably should have been in a bigger space before now anyway, and maybe you have put them in a bigger box, or even separated them into several boxes. That's good, good for you. And their diet is changing. First, the food, then the coop......
It is time to change to grower feed, which is basically chick food on steroids. It is nutritionally enhanced for growing chickens. It is more expensive, and around where I live, hard to find. So when I need to, I keep using chick feed, with 'treats'. Fruits, veggies, worms and bugs, leftovers, popcorn, you get the idea. The treats are just that, treats. Don't try to feed them from the kitchen exclusively, they will not get the nutrients they need. Unless you have no other choice, I advise you to keep feeding good, basic chick feed.
And since they are going to be eating food that is not just crumbly and easily digestible, now is the time to introduce 'chick grit'. This is tiny rock/sand that chicks eat, and it rests in the gizzard to grind up any food that is not soft enough to be digested directly. So if the chicks are getting chick feed, or egg yolks, or yoghurt, or other soft food, they don't need grit. But I have yet to hear of a chicken lover that does not want to feed treats, so you need grit.
Grit is 'offered freely', meaning that if you leave a dish of grit out, the chicks will eat what the need to digest their food. My ding-a-ling chicks will eat the whole dish like it is food. So I give them a dish of grit a couple of times a week. Grit can be purchased, or you can sift out tiny rocks and sand instead. I like the store bought, it is cheap and lasts a long time. When they get bigger, they will pick up small pebbles and rocks outside, on their own. If they are 'cooped up', you have to make it available.
So, what kind of treats? Clover leaves, chopped up grass, veggies (raw or cooked), leftovers, almost anything. Backyard Chickens is one of the best site to research, and they actually have a treat chart. Cut up grapes (I cut them up 'cause they eat everything whole) are a favorite, as are boiled eggs. If you can eat it, more than likely they can too.
Here is what I DON'T feed them. Onions, garlic, seafood, or plants I will not eat. Like I said before, with a twist, if you can't eat it, don't feed it to the chickens. My all time favorite is popcorn. And specifically, Lady Finger popcorn. It pops to half the size of regular popcorn, just the right size. And, spaghetti! This is dinner and a show, cook up a mess of it and toss into the yard. Let the games begin!
So, now they are going to move into a brooder. This is basically a wire cage. Basically. Use the basic '2x2 per bird', but no smaller than this, because NOW YOU NEED A COOP. The brooder box is a temporary place to keep them til you get the coop built. And you should have been planning this from the beginning, their permanent home. I guess I should have warned you.....
Have food, water, roost, and curious chickens watching from the brooder while you build their coop. The brooders can be cleaned and re-used as little quarantine areas, hospital room, overflow area, etc. They can be kept for emergencies, like, 'oh look. pullets on craigslist need a home'.
Now for the coop. The best way to think of a coop is a shed with nest boxes and a perch. Room for them to scratch around for the treats you toss them, singles bar to meet and greet, fast food restaurant, and nighty-night bedroom. It is their home, a dormitory really, and it needs to be dry, ventilated, warm/cool depending on the season, and SAFE. The coop can be fairly small, it there is a 'chicken run' attached for them to run around in, or you are going to pasture your birds. The coop should be large if you are going to only let your chickens out for short periods on time. It all depends on how much time they are stuck in it.
Google is your friend. Also, go to http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html to see all kinds of coops. I am not going into detail on purpose. A coop is a personal thing, you need to build to the specs you can afford. Some folks buy ready made, some use quality material to make chick-mansions, and some use scrap wood and pallets. As long as they are safe, they will be happy.
I have pastured birds, which means they are let out in the morning, and come into the coop to sleep at night. For 16 birds, including the 2 roos, my coop is 6x12, which is small. But all they do there is roost for the night.
I will give you the plans for my segregated coops. There is the coop, which is 4x4 with a sloping roof 3' at one end and 4' at the high end. This coop houses 4 hens and their roo-daddy. There is an attached run 4x12x4. This is where they spend most of their day. Their food and water is in the run, and nesting boxes and roost are in the coop.
Like I said, you build what you can afford. I suggest you use hanging waterers and feeders, only because it will minimize waste and wet. Or design your own.
One more thing about coops and runs. The wild world is your friend, but it is also your worst enemy. You are responsible for protecting your feathered friends. And you have to be serious about it. The coop needs to be predator proof. Opossums, racoons, rats, snakes, the friendly neighborhood dogs and cats, these are now your enemies. 'Chicken wire' is a misnomer. It will keep chickens in. It won't keep predators out. You need to use hardware cloth anywhere that you are separating your birds from the outside world. There are several sizes, just make sure the squares are small. And in the run, bury it at least 6" deep, bending it towards the inside of the run underground is even better.
These are the basics of feeding and coop construction. Research will make you smarter.
Cheri
