Chicken Keeping Start Guide
Here are a few things to consider before getting your first chickens. Stay tuned for early spring 2025 when I release my fully comprehensive homesteading guide as well- with even more info & tips to consider.
Things to consider now:
- The first thing to consider is if it is even legal in your area to have chickens. Although I think this is wrong, some areas you are not allowed to own livestock OR you may only be limited to a certain amount. Some places do not allow you to own roosters because of their noise level. Give a quick call to your town before you go spending money & time.
- Where will the chickens go? Will you keep them in a fully enclosed run all day, a chicken tractor (fancy word for a huge cage that you can move around your yard/land) or will they be able to free range? Things to think about are predators in your area, how close you are to the street or neighbors, etc.
- Will you have enough time to care for them? We check on our chickens every single day. Although you can purchase or make food & watering set ups that hold enough food/water for weeks (depending on the size of your flock), it is good practice to check in on your chickens every day to make sure things are working properly.
- What breeds will you get? Not all chicken breeds can do well in every climate. Some you will see are "cold hardy" or "heat tolerant", etc. Research chicken breeds that do best in your climate. If you reach freezing temperatures during the winter you are going to want birds that can tolerate that well.
- If you are "chasing the egg rainbow" meaning you want all of the beautiful colors of eggs chickens lay, you are going to need to figure out which breeds lay those specific colors. This can be done by a quick google search. Odds are your local tractor supply won't have the very rare breeds, so call around to your local Farm & Feed stores or farmers in your area to see if they will be selling their chicks.
-Another option is to purchase chicks through the mail. In my opinion, best case scenario is to purchase chicks that were hatched on premisis somewhere. Shipping chicks through the mail is just not sustainable (in my opinion), but it is very common practice right now in the "chicken world" and to find certain breeds you want, you would probably have to do this. Some places take their orders starting now, or even in the Fall. So if you are looking for very specific breeds, now is the time to order.
- What litter method will you do? I don't believe there is a "best" litter method. I think it depends on your climate, the size of your flock, the time you are willing to spend each day cleaning the coop, etc.
We use the deep litter method currently (and have also used other litter methods in the past) and find this works best for us with over 50 chickens.
- What coop/run will you get? A pre-fab small coop (from Tractor Supply or Amazon) is cute, but honestly will only house 4-6 chickens safely. You do not want to cram too many chickens into a small space as this will lead to respiratory issues for them, and can get them very ill/aggressive with eachother.
I suggest looking into building your own, there are some inexpensive plans available online, or old sheds/barns can be turned into coops (what we did).
I hope this list gave you a jumping off point on what to start thinking about. If you are serious about chickens stay tuned for my fully comprehensive list coming out, and in the meantime do as much research as you can about the above points. Good luck & happy chicken keeping.