Raising Chickens | EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET STARTED

 

One of the most treasured gifts of Homesteading is waking up in the morning to fresh eggs, fresh milk, and delicious homegrown fruit for breakfast. This is a taste that you won't find in any corporate product. It's been proven that homegrown is not only healthier, but it is also more sustainable. There are several uses for chickens. Chickens can be used for meat, egg production, chick farming, and the manure makes a wonderful fertilizer for the lawn and garden. The feathers can be used for down and you can make pillows, comforters, or warm jackets. The bones can be made into a hearty broth in the chilly winter.

Chickens are easy to care for, and it's a fun and rewarding experience. You'll find that chickens are loving creatures. There is a rewarding feeling when you enter into the doors of the coop and find your first eggs.

Chickens can be purchased through community classifieds. There's some people who need to relocate and willing to give away perfectly healthy chickens away through Freeshare. If you would like to raise them from chicks, they can be purchased from mail order catalogues.

You can choose to build your own coop, or find one for sale in the classified or catalogues. If you're looking for a specific breed, be sure to check with a hatchery.

GET STARTED

CHECKLIST

• Chicken Coop
• Small Pen For Chicks
• Heat Lamp (250 Watt Heat Lamp Bulb) Red or Clear 
  
• Thermometer Tool
• Rod or Stick To Hang Light
• Waterer
• Marbles Or Gravel For The Waterer (So They Do Not Drown)
• Feeder
• Feed With Antibiotics
• Heating Pad
• Bedding
  

    
Make Sure The Temperature Of The Heat Generating From The Lamp Between 85 - 100 Degrees
Leave It On All Night & Day
Birds are unable to regulate their temperature.


Teach the baby chicks to drink by dipping their beaks into the water, and then they will teach the other chicks to drink.

Ones the birds feathers are grown out, you can start hardening them off outdoors. If it's 65 to 70 degrees, and the lower temperatures get down to about 60, they are able to be left out overnight. Once the birds feathers start fully growing in, you won't need to take them in unless it is 20 degrees and below. It's a good idea to put a heat lamp outside to keep them comfortable and safe if they need it. Try to harden them off without the heat lamp as much as you can because they will try and seek it if you use it often.

Birds are able to be outside in stormy weather. They might get hot in the coop without any reflective cover. So ensure airflow and circulation in the coop.




Make sure your birds are warm, dry, fed well, and have plenty of water and they will flourish.


Sometimes chicks will have poopy butt when the birds are stressed, so just simply take a clean wet cloth and clean their butts.