Backyard Poultry – How To Raise Chickens

Learning how to raise backyard poultry is a relatively simple task. One you have a their coop and yard area set up, they don’t require a lot of maintenance to stay healthy and content.

The biggest responsibility with backyard poultry is making sure they are protected from predators. It is the only thing you don’t want to forget to do on a daily basis. In my case, I let my chickens out in the morning, and shut the door behind them at night (chickens will naturally make their way at dusk to roost, but sadly they won’t shut the coop door behind them). Even in an urban setting where you don’t expect a lot of predators, raccoons and sometimes can be a problem. And if that is too much, you don’t even have to let your backyard poultry out of their coop and run area – it’s just an option to give them more room to range freely.

The next biggest responsibility with backyard poultry is making sure they have water and food, and that you collect their eggs. Each chicken will lay about 5-6 eggs per week, so expect to collect them daily or every other day. I’ve gone several days and it was never an issue. If you have food and water containers they only need to be filled when they’re empty, which will probably be on a weekly basis. I also throw them a handful of chicken scratch as a treat every day, which just supplements their diet, but it’s more of a treat than a requirement.

Other responsibilities for backyard poultry include cleaning out the coop and providing a source of heat in the winter. The coop only needs to get cleaned every month or two, which is easy enough with a few shovel loads (which can be added to a compost or garden as fertilizer), and adding back a shovel or two of wood shavings or straw. And, as far as heat goes, I set a heat lamp up on a timer during the winter that not only keeps their water from freezing, but tricks the chickens into thinking the days are longer, which keeps them laying eggs all winter long (normally they would stop for a few months).

All in all, that is about all it takes to learn how to raise chickens. My chickens spend the better part of their days just pecking around the yard looking for things to eat, and don’t get into a lot of trouble (ok, sometimes they get into my garden and dig up plants…but I forgive them).

If you are looking for some fun, low maintenance pets that give back a little bit in the form of eggs, backyard poultry is something worth looking into.  More and more cities are allowing them, as it’s as easy as checking with your local zoning department. 

Backyard Poultry – Getting Starting Building Chicken Coops

Backyard Poultry - Nesting

It would be hard to tell you everything about backyard poultry coops without actually showing you some of it, but I can certainly details some basics to help get your mind rolling.

If you don’t know where you start, think about a dog house, but for chickens. Now through a little fenced in run around it so your backyard poultry can, well, step foot into your backyard. I have a coop for three chickens that is roughly three feet by five feet, with a run that is about four feet by five feet. All of it is enclosed with a gate on the run so that I can shut it at night to keep the predators out. The run isn’t huge, but it’s big enough that the chickens have a place to hang out during the play and look for bugs. On top of that, I usually let them out into the yard so that my backyard poultry really is “free range” and can spend their time eating grass and scratching for worms.

Lots of backyard poultry have smaller coops and smaller runs and don’t get let out to roam, and do just fine. This is still a huge upgrade from factory farms that pack multiple chickens into little cages – so consider any kind of space for your backyard poultry as sufficient.

When building a coop for backyard poultry, you really are just thinking about the same steps that would go into a dog house. You can use two-by-fours and plywood for materials, and chicken wire for the run with a two-by-four frame. Remember that you want the coop to protect the chickens from the weather, so the door should just be big enough for them to get in, and you may want additional access for yourself to clean the coop and remove eggs.

Backyard poultry need a nesting area, and up to four chickens can share the same area. A next is a half-box made out of wood that is clean with shavings, that the chickens use to lay their eggs in. My chickens have just figured what to do once the box was there.

Lastly, your backyard poultry coop needs a roost for your chickens to perch on at night. This is a simple rod or board on its side that is attached across the coop a foot or two off the ground. I actually have a branch that is attacked to the walls and sits off the floor that works just fine.

And that’s pretty much it. Backyard poultry need a place to be protected from predators and harsh weather, a place to range, a place to nest and perch, and that’s it. Anyone can put that all together and come up with a plan for building chicken coops that is feasible for their backyard poultry project.

Backyard Poultry – Why Owning Chickens as Pets Is A Good Thing

Backyard poultry is all about raising chickens in an urban setting. I’ve had chickens now for about a year and a half, and I find them truly inspiring pets to own, and I hope I can share some of that with you now.

I’ll explain in another post about some of the ways to get started raising backyard poultry, but for right now I just wanted to talk about the benefits of having backyard poultry as pets.

For starters, let’s talk about the obvious. Chickens lay eggs. Eggs are good. Backyard poultry lay eggs everyday, which is good. Any questions?

Ha, but seriously, it’s hard to beat a pet that feeds you every day. And to top that, your backyard poultry is going to give you much better eggs than you can find at the store. I have literally compared them side by side and there is no comparison. Store eggs (even the organic ones) are runny with yellow yokes, and backyard poultry eggs are firm and bright orange from all of the extra nutrients. Studies show they are better for you, and I think they taste a lot better too.

So if you like eggs, backyard poultry is your new best friend.

And if you don’t like eggs, you can probably find a friend that does and just enjoy backyard poultry because chickens are fun to have around. I totally get a kick out of mine and spend a lot of time just watching them run around or peck at random stuff in the yard. Chickens are timid, but they can also be curious and wait around while you dig for worms for them as a treat, or follow you around the yard just to see what you’re up to.

My chickens’ latest fascination has been to watch me from a ground level window while I work at my computer in the basement. If they weren’t there as company, I would have moved my computer up into another room a while ago, but they really are fun pets to watch and spend time around.

And, in case you are wondering, backyard poultry is both relatively easy to get into (if it’s allowed in your area) and easy to take care of. I’ll go into that next, but I really wanted to emphasis just how cool having backyard poultry can be and why anyone should seriously consider chickens as pets. I didn’t realize how great they were until I got them, and now it would be hard to get me to give them up. So give backyard poultry a shot, and make some new friends that always bring food when they come to visit!