How To Start Your Flock 101

Kitties watching the chickie and the chickie watching the kitties, pardon my muck boots: )

Spring is here and a lot of people have been asking me for advice starting their very own chicken adventure in their backyard. It can be quite scary going to a local chicken farmer or a store like Tractor Supply to pick up a bunch of baby chicks, but raising chickens does not have to be complicated and is quite enjoyable and easy to do.

This is a very quick and basic chicken tutorial that I wanted to share in case anyone wants to start their own flock this year: )

Baby Chicks

Chicks have to eat food crumbles called Chick Starter for the first five months of their life or until they lay their first egg. There are two different kinds of Chick Grower: Medicated and NonMedicated. What's the difference? Medicated food is much more expensive, but it's available for people who do not want to vaccinate their chickens but still want protection against some diseases that chicks carry.

Kelly's Opinion: I like the cheaper chick starter, and I don't vaccinate my chicks. I've only had two die out of the 30 chicks I've raised, and that is because they were deformed after hatching.

Chicks have to be kept in a box called a brooder for the first month of their lives. When you purchase babies, most places ask that you buy at least four or more at a time. Chicks do NOT do well in a brooder by themselves, they need a flock.

They must have a heat lamp placed over their brooder that is around 90-95 degree. The heat lamp should be placed on one side of the brooder, so if the chicks get too warm, they can cool off on the other side. I keep the heat lamp on them until they loose their first set of feathers. My brooder is located in the basement of my house, but if my brooder was located outside, I might keep the heat lamp on the chicks until they have their final set of feathers.

Pullets

Pullets are the "teenager" stage for chickens. They have their final feathers but are not laying eggs yet. Once my chickens reach this stage, they go outside in the coop, because they are stinky, loud, and dusty! I separate my coop into two sections, one section for my established, older flock and the other section for my pullets. Pullets should NOT be mixed with Layers until they lay eggs. The older chickens kill chicks and pullets....one of the things I DO NOT like about chickens.

Layers

Hens lay eggs at around five to eight months. They will eat Layer Feed which consists of oyster shells. This makes their eggshells hard and not thin. Layers need to be exposed to around 14 hours of sunlight everyday in order to be able to lay eggs. This is why a lot of Layers struggle to lay eggs in the winter time, there isn't a lot of sunlight.

Layers also needs several nesting boxes accessible to them to lay their eggs. Chickens tend to use the same boxes to lay their eggs, but there should be several choices for the chickens to choose from instead of laying in one nesting box.

Chicken Basics

Chickens need access to food and water all the time. Like other livestock, their entire life consists of eating. There are tons of different feeding bins and watering bins to choose from. Every coop has a different set-up, so the feeding and watering areas will need to fit in the space the coop has.

The ticket to chicken love....feed them treats! My chickens' number one treat of choice is dried up, dead mealworms....but they are expensive!!! I normally use mealworms when I'm trying to get the pullets to warm up to my affections, haha. My chickens also like corn, watermelon, grapes, popped corn, tomatoes (only red), macoroni and cheese, any pasta, berries, and anything that the kids don't eat off their plates at dinner time. They are like garbage disposals. If you want a "cheap" way of growing mealworms, please message me....it's not for the faint of heart!

Note: Corn should only be given to chickens in the winter time, it raises their body temperature.

Chickens poop ALL THE TIME! I've gotten used to the smell, but they do stink. It's important to add pine pellets, pine shavings, and straw to their bedding every week and remove as much poop as possible. This prevents a fly infestation inside the coop, makes the eggs a bit cleaner to collect, and helps stop a condition called "Bumblefoot" with the chickens. Bumblefoot happens when they have an open sore on their foot and they get it infected by stepping on poop and bacteria.

Free Range Chickens

I love not keeping my chickens in their coop everyday. BUT, it comes at a cost. I've lost four birds to predators these past three years. Four out of thirty birds doesn't seem that bad to me, but the answer to my success is simple, to free range successfully without too many casualties....ROOSTERS! Roosters are loud, most of them are mean, but they keep their girls alive. They protect their hens before they protect themselves. The roosters alert the girls when they need to go into hiding from a hawk in the sky or an unusual sound in the woods. Free ranging birds need to be locked away in their coop at night, or the nocturnal predators will completely wipe out your flock in one swoop. I always lock my girls up by 7 or 8 at night, whether they like it or not, so all the bad guys can't get to them.

Chickens That Stay In A Coop

Chickens that do not free range, need lots of attention inside their coop. Their coop needs to be kept cleaner, to prevent Bumblefoot, they need more toys to keep them occupied like swings and perches, and they need space to move around.

Chicken Coops

Coops need to be fool proof around predators that can break in with their pointy claws like raccoons, badgers, and possums. Small grid line chicken wire is the best. Putting chicken wire around the coop and UNDER the coop is the best strategy towards blocking any predators that can crawl underground. I've also added solar paneled nightlights around the coop to keep nocturnal animals away from my precious flock.

I know this is a ton of information, but I would love to help. If you need help setting up a coop or have any questions about a specific thing, feel free to message me!

Thanks for reading my Country Squawk,

Kelly

P.S. If you are reading from Sleeping Bear Press, welcome!!!!