Raising Chickens

There are so many good reasons for Raising Chickens these days. Everyone is so dependent on the supermarket that it makes a nice change to produce at least some of your own food. The great thing about chickens is that they can be kept in the most restricted areas. Of course if you live in an apartment it may be a bit difficult but if you have any sort of yard area then chickens will quite happily live there as long as you follow a few common sense tips.

SHELTER: When Raising Chickens a shelter to roost in at night is the first thing you need to think about. The shelter needs to protect the chickens from the weather and also from predators. There are so many chicken coop designs out there but there is no reason for you not to make up your own design to suit your site and circumstances. An old garden shed can be used or you can build a hen house out of any materials that you can salvage or recycle. Let your imagination run wild.

CHICKEN RUN: Secondly your chickens will need an area attached to your hen house to scratch around in. It doesn’t need to be a large area. If you only have a couple square feet to play with then the solution is to only have a couple of chickens. When chickens are laying they will produce an egg each a day so that is usually plenty to keep a couple of people in eggs.

CHICKEN FEED: Chickens of course need to be fed. The great thing about raising chickens is that they will eat practically anything. They will eat all of your food scraps as well as all your green garden waste. This is then turned into manure which is then returned to your garden or you can give it away or sell it as fertilizer. If you supplement this with grain or chicken layer pellets from your local feed store then your chickens will be very healthy and productive.


WATER: Water is hugely important. This may seem obvious but clean water is the most important thing when Raising Chickens. A really good idea is to get an automatic waterer. These come in many designs but it can mean that you can leave in the morning on a hot day and know your chickens will not go without water. Using a water bowl is okay but it gets dirty easily and can be easily contaminated. If you use a container then you need to make sure that it is filled with clean water every day. If you do use an automatic waterer then you need to check that it is working properly fairly regularly.

EGGS: For chickens to lay eggs they will need nesting boxes to lay their eggs in. These can be made out of wooden boxes or anything that the chicken can nest comfortably in. Some straw or shredded paper can then be put in the boxes so that the eggs don’t crack.

Apart from producing your own food, raising chickens can be a rewarding and fun experience. Chickens have their own unique personalities and you can develop quite a relationship with them if you want to. They are very curious animals and can be very entertaining. It is not surprising that they are the most common domesticated animal in the world. They are also the most beneficial to us humans. Maybe its time you thought about Raising Chickens.