4 Tips Backyard Chicken Absolute Basics
Keeping backyard chickens is a rewarding and beneficial experience. Backyard chickens are domesticated livestock animals, not wild animals, and they need to have their basic needs met in order to perform at their best. In just a few short weeks, 8-10 weeks (approximately 2 months) once your young chicks have a full set of feathers they will be ready to move from their brooder to their chicken area outside.
Backyard chickens need shelter.
The infrastructure you build for your chickens can be customized in many ways to suit your available space. Especially if your chickens won’t have the option or limited option to free range, it’s advisable to include a run in your plans as well in addition to your chicken coop. Your chicken coop is your flock’s primary housing where they will roost and perch at night for safety. Many designs also include nesting boxes inside the coop. A chicken run is a safe enclosed exercise area where your flock can exhibit natural behaviors like perching, scratching, and exploring. You can line your coop and run with a livestock safe ground cover litter (like pine flake shavings or coarse sand) to combat muddy conditions which can perpetuate pests, disease, and ailments. A coop and run helps to protect your backyard flock from predators. Chicken infrastructure also helps protect your flock from harsh weather conditions. Provide your flock with as much space as your feasibly can. Your flock will benefit in multiple ways from adequate space like having improved health and behavior. You may also want to expand your flock in the future.
Your backyard chickens need access to food and water.
The needs of an egg laying flock and meat flock are different. The intended purpose and the breeds within your flock will determine many nuances of their care. Regardless of their breed or type, your backyard chickens will require feed of some time. Your chickens are omnivores, meaning they need both protein and vegetable matter to develop properly and be healthy animals. While forage can a be a portion of their diet, they can’t survive on forage alone. There are multiple ways to feed your flock including premade chicken feed, feed from your local feed store, blending your own chicken feed, fermenting feed, supplementing with food scraps, growing your own fly larvae, and others. Eggs are made from protein and calcium and without sufficient nutrients in their own diet, the chicken’s body will deprive itself to produce eggs, eventually resulting in the death of the chicken. Without precise nutrition short lived meat chickens can’t develop properly. If you plan to butcher at home for the first time, please do adequate research and obtain the proper equipment before attempting this. Organizations like the American Pastured Poultry Association provide free resources to guide you in this process. I’m not associated with this organization; I’m mentioning them here because they have great free resources for families interested in keeping meat chicken flocks. No matter what kind of flock you are keeping, you will need to feed them. Chickens also need access to fresh clean water daily. If you’re keeping chickens in a climate with harsh winters, invest in a heated poultry waterer.
If your flock will be living partially or in full-time confinement, they will need low-cost supplements: grit and calcium.
Chickens don’t chew their food and instead rely on grit in their gizzard to properly break down food and absorb nutrients. Without sufficient grit your flock will suffer from things like impacted crop and sour crop. Calcium makes it possible for your flock to have strong eggs shells and healthy feathers. Without sufficient calcium you’ll see things like soft shells, poor feather coverage, egg binding, and even death in your flock. If your flock moves daily on fresh open pasture these supplements may not be necessary. If your backyard flock lives partially or in fulltime confinement or they can only graze one stationary area, these inexpensive supplements are essential to their health.
You will need to clean and maintain your chicken area.
Chickens are living animals and living animals produce droppings. An excess accumulation of droppings in your chicken area causes and exacerbates a host of health ailments, pest infestations, and poor behavioral outcomes including aggression and feather pecking. In order to have a healthy flock you will need to develop a cleaning routine to maintain your chicken area. Use a mild natural cleaner like a castile soap mixture as harsh chemical cleaners intended for indoor use are not safe for livestock. Whether you’re using spot clean and scoop method or deep bedding method, it is necessary to clean and maintain your chicken area.
I hope you enjoyed these basic tips for absolute beginners to backyard chickens. If you would like to see even more backyard chicken and homesteading content, be sure to check out Chuck’s others social media linked below. Chuck’s YouTube channel includes many more detailed tip videos!
Chuck and the Chicks 