Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliated links but they are all things I purchased myself for my chicks.
Happy Thursday friends! If you have been following me on Instagram you saw that back in April we introduced four little chicks to our family. Dot, Sophia, Rose and Blanche- named after the Golden Girls! We have quickly fallen in love with these not-so-little chicks and want to share our journey with you!
A question we get a lot is why chickens? It’s a little bit of a random and funny story. Last New Years Eve my husband and I were sitting on the couch discussing our 2019 goals. In that very moment we decided, why not get some chickens? My Dad had chickens when I was in college so I had some experience with them but had never tried raising them on my own. After doing some quick google research and having a glass of wine (or two!) we decided to go for it! That evening we ordered four little chicks to arrive in April. Boy did we have a lot of learning to do!
I hope this blog post gives you a little guidance or maybe helps you decide if chickens are right for you. Please keep in mind that I am not a chicken expert and this is simply a few pointers I have learned along the way.
First, Is It Legal?
Congratulations on deciding to get chickens! Now what? Well before you decide to buy chickens, make sure your town or zoning board allows you to keep chickens. Many cities have guidelines for how many chickens you can have, how much space they need, rooster or no rooster, waste disposal and how far your coop must be from property lines.
Where to Buy?
Now comes the fun part- chicken shopping! After we confirmed we could have chickens, we started to research where to buy them. We decided to go with a hatchery and purchase hatched chicks. One of my friends My friend highly recommended we purchase our chicks from a website she had great experience with, Meyer Hatchery.
Keep in mind you can also search for local hatcheries in your area or buy from farm/feed stores. You can also check your local chicken Facebook groups or Craigslist.
What Type of Chicken?
The next step is deciding what breed of chicken you want to raise. That’s right- chickens have hundreds of breeds! I recommend reading up on breeds to figure out which ones will thrive where you live. Some chickens are big egg layers; some are calm and friendly; some do well in harsh climates.
How I narrowed it down was by color of egg and friendliness. I knew I wanted chickens that would produce beautiful eggs (duh!) but would also be very social. Since I have a 2 year old, I wanted chickens that wouldn’t be afraid of him and would also not attack him. We narrowed it down to a Easter Egger (Dot), Cream Legbar (Sophia) and Lakeshore Eggers (Rose and Blanche). If I could do it all over again I would have also added a Bantam Silkie because they are SO cute and also known to be very friendly!
We went with the minimum recommended, 3-4 hens due to limited space and wanting to raise a small flock. We also did not want a rooster because they are loud and can be aggressive (and not allowed in our county!).
Prepping for Chickens
Now that you ordered your chicks, it’s time to start prepping for their arrival! We started purchasing everything for our chicks about three weeks before they were scheduled to arrive. Here is the skinny on what you will need-
Essentials
- Plastic Ben– or somewhere safe to keep them
- Pine or Hemp Shavings – to sleep on
- Brooder– this takes the place of a mother hen to keep them warm
- Starter Feed– we purchased medicated
- Water Dispenser– something safe so they won’t drown or get wet
This is all you will need for the first few weeks. Once your chicks are big enough (about 6-8 weeks), you will transfer them outside to a coop. Also, you have to make sure it’s warm enough before you start leaving them outside. Since we got ours in April, we had to wait about 2 months before we could leave them outside full-time.
Chicken Coop
This is probably the question I get the most about my chickens. I did a lot of research on what coop to get the ladies. Unfortunately this is one you might want to drop a little money on. We bought ours first coop from Amazon and it was okay. I say okay because it definitely held up but it wasn’t the best quality. After a few months of having the first coop, I decided to reach out to a local carpenter and get him to build me my dream coop. You can read all about it by click here.
If you are on a tight budget or are super crafty, here are a few tips to create your own-
Chickens must have:
- protection from predators
- a place to roost
- nesting boxes (for layers)
- room to move around
- a run
You can easily meet these needs by modifying an existing building (small barn, shed, or even a doghouse) or building a small chicken tractor. I’m not gifted in the DIY department so that’s why I hired a carpenter!
A Few Tips
Rodents: Something we have learned the hard way is don’t leave food out overnight- they attract rodents. You’ll need a fence around the coop to keep predators at bay. Fencing should extend at least one food into the ground so burrowing animals (like rats!) cannot get through.
An Obligation: Being a chicken owner does come with daily obligations, including, feeding, cleaning up waste, collecting eggs and making sure the chickens are safe from predators. If you leave on vacation, you will need someone to check in on them.
Treats: I had no idea chickens would love fresh fruit as much as my 2 year old son does! Our girls love blueberries, watermelon and peaches the most. They will also eat most of our compost which is pretty neat! Anytime I run outside with some fruit they come running over to me. It’s so much fun, especially for Robinson who feeds them directly from his hand!
No Cedar: Pine chips and hemp bedding is completely safe to use but just remember- NO CEDAR! That is because birds can have respiratory issues with cedar. Also, pine straw is a cheaper but it can attract fleas and mites. Yuck!
Support Group: I highly recommend joining a Facebook Backyard Chicken Group! I have learned a lot being part of this group and have even asked questions on it! It’s been very helpful!
I hope this post helps you with your chicken adventure! If you have any questions I did not cover in this post, please leave it in the comments below!
Xo,
That’s a good idea to make sure you get things like feed and water dispensers. I would think that it would be important for them to eat and drink when they need to, so some dispensers would hopefully let them do that. My kids want to get some chickens, so if I end up getting someone them, I’ll have to get some feed dispensers as well.
great article and blog! my husband and i are very close to building our chicken coop. THanks for the advise!