What You Need To Know About Raising Chickens

More and more people are finding that raising chickens…

It can be a great way to save major money on both eggs and meat. It is relatively inexpensive to raise hens, especially in the country. As people are rightfully becoming more wary of unnecessary chemicals or unnatural treatments to our food, they are looking for solutions. While raising chickens can be a great way to accomplish this, there are a few things you need to know.

chickensGetting Started

One of the first things to understand is whether or not it is legal for you to have a chicken coop in your yard. If you live out in a rural area or in the country, chances are it’s just fine. Property restrictions tend to be much looser out in the back woods. There’s currently a lot of news and updates in legislation regarding owning and raising backyard chickens. If you live in a township there might be strict rules on whether you can or can’t raise chickens, how many, and what type of buildings can be set up for them. Even though in many towns it’s okay to have a backyard chicken coop, often having roosters is illegal because of the nuisance of their dawn or predawn wake-up calls.

Next step is to make sure you don’t convince yourself you’re capable of building the chicken coop from scratch. Building a chicken coop requires some serious carpentry skills. You’ll either want to buy a preset built coop, having an experienced farmer build one for you, or order a chicken coop assembly kit. This comes with all the parts and specific instructions on building a chicken coop. It saves a lot of headaches and guarantees you will have a more stable building to house your chickens. Happy hens are going to lay more eggs. You might also find other helpful resources and guides online for your chicken pen plans.

Finally, be aware that they won’t lay eggs every day. Some people get lucky and see eggs for most of their hens almost every day. There are many other people, however, who experience strange stop and go spurts. A hen may lay eggs for 20 straight days then stop for a week.

Understanding all of these issues right off the bat will make the entire process easier and far less frustrating for you to handle.