Keeping chickens has been a very common theme on a homestead for a long time.
And for good reason. Chickens provide pest control in the garden, share nitrogen rich poop for healthy compost and turn the compost themselves as a, “hey thanks for having me here on the homestead!” Chickens will supply your family with an abundance of fresh eggs that have rich colored yolks. They will also provide you and your family delicious meat, when and if the time comes. But do not get chickens if you do not want other animals on the homestead or in a city setting, because they are well known as the gateway drug to more animals.
BUT! Where do I start?
Where do I begin with, keeping chickens? When can I begin keeping chickens? Is it A LOT more complicated than you think? No not really! Keeping chickens is a lot easier than you may think. Once you learn the ins and outs of keeping and caring for chickens you may ask yourself, why have I been living this life for so long without the company of these small dinosaurs. First thing is first, figure out if you want to raise chickens from hatchlings, store bought chicks, or if you would rather search for older hens that are already laying.
This choice is up to you.
In our experience, we have raised chickens from store bought chics and also recently experienced incubating our own eggs. If you are looking for the cheapest and easiest route and if this is your first time raising chickens, you may want to consider buying young chics at a nearby farm or breeder or from your local Tractor Supply or other feed store. But we do not recommend buying chics from big box stores.
First off, buying chickens from a local farm or breeder, you are not only supporting local farmers, but they tend to be healthier and better taken care of.
This is not to say, that we have never purchased chics from Tractor Supply. Our weakness begins to surface when we walk into a Tractor Supply for kitty litter in the springtime. As we casually walk by the fresh chics and the weather begins to get warmer, and the trees are awakening from dormancy, we try our best to not even take a peak into the water troughs the chics are kept in. Some days we remain strong, but others we end up driving home with more chics and a feeling of not supporting a local farmer.
A SLICE OF LIFE. Incubating Your Own Fertilized Chicken Eggs.
We recently experienced hatching our own chics. This was out of mere luck, that we ever considered incubating fertilized eggs. We had zero interest, no knowledge, and figured it was way too difficult to actually hatch eggs ourselves. We Grew and Flew from the city and had only bought chics from Tractor Supply in the past. Moving out of the city and into the country opened up a whole new window for us. We happened to meet a new friend that had some eggs, offered to loan us a cheap incubator and the rest is history.
This felt like a huge learning curve, but it’s actually a very simple process.
Keep the temperature and humidity right, turn them if your incubator does not offer the service, and peek your googling eyes through the plastic from time to time awaiting their arrival. This experience was not only an amazing experience, but a very fun and educational one for you and your young-ens. This approach of acquiring chics does require a one time investment of a good incubator.
However, we used a borrowed cheap one and we got by. There are some luxuries more expensive models offer. Some may have more space, if you think it may be needed in the future. Some will keep a more accurate temperature and humidity level, have a timer, turn the eggs slowly throughout the day, and may even come with bitchen disco lights that change colors. After our first couple of experiences with a cheapy made out of thick bulky styrofoam, we decided to take the plunge for a better one.
We went with the Nurture Right 360.
This unit felt like a huge step up for us without breaking the bank. There are a lot better more expensive models out there that have all the bells and whistles, but for our purposes, the Nurture Right 360 hit the sweet spot. Less maintenance, more accurate control of temperature and humidity, and way less bulky. Plus the disco lights were an added bonus for the us. I mean they were an added bonus for the children.
STILL FUN! Purchasing Chics.
This is the way to go for people who are just starting out coexisting with chickens. It is rather cheap and easily obtainable. Get yourself a plastic tub, a heat light, a feeder, and a waterer. Chics do require some sort of bedding material. Some folks use newspaper, sand, or wood shavings. We typically use wood shavings, as we have found this to be the easiest for us. However, if you decide to use pine shavings do not use the Cedar Shavings. But why not? Cedar repels bad stuff! Cedar could propose an ill effect to the health of your chics.
There are many schools of thought as to what the perfect environment is for your fresh chics.
We stick to the basics, and keep things simple and remain sane in the process. We do not monitor the exact temperature. We do not change the bedding daily. We do not cover the whole thing in safety plastic surrounded with barb wire so that the chics remain safe. We keep it simple and have fun doing it.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Lets get Rockin!
Get yourself a plastic tote from Target or your local Dollar Store.
While it is hard to get one that is Too Big, you do not want to put your chics into something too small, as they need space to escape from the heat lamp. So, get one that seems like it just may be a bit too big. Especially since you can count on wanting more chics shortly after getting your first batch and you see just how easy the whole process is.
Get some wood shavings or other bedding material.
Remember, NO CEDAR. Only pine shavings.
Get a waterer.
You want to start out with something small waterer at first when it comes to water, as your chics are capable of drowning at such a young age. We use a big waterer to save from having to buy multiple sizes for different life stages of the chics. However, we do make sure to put small rocks in so that the chics will not drown. That being said, if you can get a larger one out of the gate and find yourself not overthinking or experiencing needless worry in the process, then we would suggest doing so.
This will save you time from having to constantly fill the water and end up having to get a larger one in the future. It is important to slosh around the water daily and pour out any debris that has been kicked in by the chicks. As a good practice, I check the water multiple times a day to make sure the chics have water free of any debris. But, should I scrub the waterer daily? I feel like its dirty! You can, but this extra step is not necessary in our daily life. However, having a pristine clean waterer for your new chics could not hurt.
Get a feeder.
We started out using the smallest round feeder, but soon learned that the Plastic Flip-Top Poultry Feeder works better for us, in the long run, as the chics mature.
You will also need a heat lamp.
If you decided to go big with the tote size, you may have to get two lamps. You will soon learn that if the chicks are constantly huddled together directly under the heat lamp, they are too cold and there is not enough heat provided. Clamp the heat lamp off to one side of the container so your chics have a cool area and a hot area in their enclosure.
Now add your bedding of choice.
Fill the water and non-medicated chic starter feed.
Congratulations! You just made yourself a damn Chic Brooder! A Chic Brooder? What the hell is a Chic Brooder? Who Cares WHAT a Damn Chic Brooder is! You just made a cozy home for your chics, giving them all the necessities they need to mature. So quit worrying about all the terms and conditions and the abundance of word vomit surrounding the subject. You just took a major step in your journey of chickenhood and ACCOMPLISHED IT! So move on!
BUT WHAT IF I DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO RAISE CHICS FROM A YOUNG AGE? Or even care to be bothered with all the steps of making a home for them! After all, I just want some eggs NOW!
It is definitely not out of your reach to just simply find some laying hens and get this thing rolling. However, there are some things that need to be considered. Do you already have a chicken coop, where can your flock can go for protection and to sleep at night? Is it adequate to house your hens and able to coop them up at night where they can be comfortable and safe from potential predators?
If the answer to any of these circumstances is no, We would encourage to cut your loses and unnecessary stress and either wait to acquire laying hens or stick to the program and get them as young chics. Besides, the learning process is much more valuable and fun, as a first timer, to get them young and raise them yourself. You also will, more quickly, establish an important bond with them if you raise them as chics.
CARRY ON!
Listen, you can make this as simple or as difficult as you want. You can live your life according to your own design. Just know that if you are a first timer and you do decide to make this difficult, you may have a harder time learning the ins and outs and may end up having less fun and less time with all of your other hobbies and responsibilities. If you can take the time to observe nature and listen to her, the rest is easy peasy.
One final and important thought is to get the whole setup ready before purchasing chicks.
We still have not learned this important step, but it appears to be getting better for us. We are learning that if we just run out and buy chics without the proper infrastructure in place before hand, we end up living through unnecessary stress. Now if you are the type to one morning decide to dye your hair pink, get a tattoo of a cats paw, and go out and buy a brand new Harley without consulting your bank account, then have at it! Because, ROCK N ROLL IS HERE TO STAY!
If you are stuck with not knowing which breed is right for you…head on over here for a breakdown of some very popular breeds.
Until next time…
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