BACKYARD CHICKENS AREN'T A LOT OF WORK (A quick note on the subject)

Phoenix is judging you

Raising backyard chickens is a great way to get high-quality protein right from your own home.

Admit it. You’ve been tempted to get chickens. They’re cute, you get fresh eggs—what’s not to like? But there’s a major intimidation factor, since it’s not like you can just swing by your neighborhood pet store to pick up chicks and supplies. No problem.  It's not as scary as all that. Here's a great little how to guide for those starting out. Backyard Chickens is another great place to go.  It's a site entirely dedicated to, you guessed it, backyard chickens.

Raising backyard chickens isn't very difficult once you get everything set up. Essentially, you need to provide them with a place to live in your yard, which includes a coop and a run. Both will  provide protection from predators—the run from daytime predators, and the coop from nighttime predators. And it’s where they’ll go to sleep and lay their eggs. The coop can be mobile, like ours or it can be a permanent structure.  Go online and you'll see all the different types.  

Our chicken tractor

The typical flock is three chickens, I have four—they are social animals; you can’t just have one—and the minimum space for three chickens is a coop that would be about a three-foot cube, with a four-foot by eight-foot run. Now that’s a very small run; I would much rather see something on the order of 10 feet by 10 feet for a run. But that coop size would be ample, as they’re just going in there to sleep and lay their eggs. But anything smaller than that and you’ll be cleaning it out all the time.

Really the day-to-day chores are pretty minimal. I liken it to being about as difficult as a cat. You’re putting out food for them each morning, you’re checking their water and then just letting them out of their coop. They’re pretty much on their own all day; they don’t need a lot of supervision as long as everything is safe for them. Then in the afternoon or evening you come back and collect the eggs and make sure they’re in their coop. The most work needed is cleaning the coop.  On about a weekly basis, I just clean mine out entirely. All the shavings come out and new stuff goes in. No different than cat litter, really.

I recommend different breeds to start. 

It’s a fun hobby; kids certainly seem to enjoy it a lot. There’s a lot to learn. From a sustainability point of view it cuts down food miles significantly. And the eggs are a great source of high-quality protein. It provides a type of food from your own yard that normally you can’t get. You may be growing a vegetable garden and you’ve got some carbs and some greens taken care of, and some amount of protein perhaps. But it’s really unique in its ability to produce a source of high-quality protein for your diet, without having to kill anything. Raising backyard chickens also ties into all of the other systems; the composting, the vegetable growing, the egg production become integrated with chickens at the center of it. Plus they make great pets.

 Basically (if you didn't read the link)

notice the tires for flipping

- Figure out if you’ve got the space: a minimum coop size is three feet, but you’ll need an additional enclosed run of at least four feet by eight feet—although 10X10 is better!

-    Choose your chickens: Three birds is an ideal starter flock size. They’re social and need to have company. Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, and the Americana are great for beginners.

- Keep your pets away! Cats are only really a threat to baby chicks, but dogs are likely to be aggressive no matter how old your chickens get. So far so good with my little pup but it's best to be cautious.

- If you’re starting with chicks, set up their space to brood: Baby chicks need a heat source of about 95 degrees, and will be inside for about six to eight weeks.

- Fully grown chickens can stay outdoors year round, but will need additional heat if the temperature drops below about -20 degrees.  Some say this isn't necessary but I feel bad for the ladies and being I only have four, I don't feel there is enough of them to create the body heat necessary.

- Mature chickens will start laying eggs at about six months—but laying is impacted by the seasons. Chickens that mature as the days are getting shorter may not start laying until early the following spring.

- Day-to-day chores are minimal, but you’ll need to clean out the coop about once every two weeks, keep the chickens stocked with food and water every day.  I clean mine weekly during the summer months.

- Always use hand sanitizers after handling chickens, and avoid bringing them near your mouth or face.

- Never visit another coop and then walk back into yours—especially wearing the same shoes. You could spread diseases to your flock.

Visit my Facebook page "They Call Me Mighty Mouse"  click like.