Although low maintenance, chickens require a small amount of daily care, as well as some monthly and biannual maintenance. First, you'll need a chicken coop. You can build your own chicken coop or buy one, there are many available on the market, such as the Deluxe chicken coop. The chicken coop should be large enough for the amount of chickens you want.
We found that 2 chickens per person in the household is a good number. And two square feet per chicken is the minimum space they need. Also, make sure the chicken coop is suitable for your climate and has plenty of amenities to minimize long-term work. Having chickens in the backyard for the first time can be an exciting and stressful experience.
What happens if I forget to close my chicken coop at night? How can I prevent predators from attacking my chickens? These questions went through my mind repeatedly when I got my first chickens in the backyard. Each hen should have four square feet of space inside the chicken coop and eight square feet in the corridor. This means that they are able to move without being harassed or pecked by the most dominant members of the herd. At the end of each day, the chickens instinctively retreat to the chicken coop to sleep at night.
It's best to have a chicken coop connected to your chicken coop that provides them with enough space for them to perform innate chicken behavior. I have had no problem escaping the chickens since I decided that it didn't matter what the fence looked like, as long as it was as big as possible and kept my flock safe. Cherie N. There are also programs on local farms for you to leave dirty bedding from the chicken coop for its fertilization potential and get credit toward fresh produce, saving you even more money.
However, when you raise your own chickens, you get the benefit of knowing that your chickens are treated humanely. With this in mind, some of the key pleasures of raising chickens include delicious eggs, creating a more sustainable environment, as well as being a source of peace and serenity in your life. As long as your chickens don't sleep in their nest boxes at night and get them dirty, there's no need to change bedding more than once a week. So far I'm having a lot of fun with chickens and learning something new every day: Shelley (3).
The only thing I wish I had known before I started raising backyard chickens is that preparing them requires a lot of skills and DIY work. To help both new and experienced chicken farmers, we decided to contact 47 backyard chicken farmers to find out exactly what they would like to know before raising backyard chickens. The only thing I wish I had known before I started raising chickens in the backyard is the joy they have. All it takes is a night without locking your chickens in the chicken coop at night and you can lose your entire herd due to the attack of a predator.
