If you are like many people you may be looking at keeping chickens in your backyard.
There are many factors to think about when you decide to keep backyard chickens, before you go out and buy your chickens you need to consider some practical factors…such as: have you got the space, where are you going to keep them, housing and shelter – the supplies you need.
Having chickens is great fun for the whole family and the best thing is that nowadays you don’t need a large area to keep them – which means it doesn’t matter if you live in town or country.
Firstly let’s talk about the many benefits of keeping backyard chickens, which can be great fun for everyone.
- Delicious and healthy eggs: freshly laid eggs are delicious and also really good for you. As you will know exactly what you feed your chicken. You can also sell your fresh eggs. Depending on the breed of chicken you can expect an egg every day or every other day.
- Many people don’t realise that chickens also can make great pets. That’s because all chickens have their own personalities – such as some are really sweet, others shy, grouchy, or playful and they can be very affectionate toward humans.
- Chickens can really help clean out your garden or backyard. Chickens are hard-working birds and will help you clear out your garden beds of weeds, they will also help clear up and eat fallen fruit from trees as this will then stop the fruit from rotting and attract bugs.
- Also chickens can eat lots of foods that usually great thrown out such as; food scraps, salads, vegetable peelings, rice, fruits, nuts, and seeds. They also help with controlling bugs in your garden by eating these pests…and it’s all done naturally…without having to use chemicals and insecticides.
- Chicken fertilizer: chickens love to poop! And chicken manure is great for the garden as it’s full of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, you can use it to feed your vegetables or shrub plants, this homemade fertilizer will save you money in the garden.
Looking after your chickens:
- Chickens don’t need a large area but they do need to be able to shelter in a chicken coop. Which you can make yourself.
- Chickens are social animals, so it’s much better to have more than several chickens, as they love companionship. A chicken can die out of loneliness.
- Chickens are fairly easy to look after and tend to just need basic maintenance. They need to have: water, feeding, and a secure coop to keep them safe. Every day you need to make sure that your chickens have enough chicken feed, water, and grit (small fine stones that help the chicken to digest their food).
- Chickens do have predators. Such as; foxes, possums, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, or other animals who could pose a threat to your chickens. So it’s important to bring the chickens in each night for their safety.
- Just like other animals, chickens also require health care. Chickens can get sick or even injured. Some of the most common chicken illnesses include: worms, mites, respiratory problems, prolapsed vent, and bumblefoot.
- Chickens can be dirty and their coop needs cleaning out on a regular basis. Inside the coop, you can use bedding material such as straw, hay, or pine shavings
- Chickens can be noisy when they want…but… especially when they have laid an egg, which goes something like this: “buck, buck, buck, bugawk.” Then they have their happy sound of: cooing and clucking and that can be pretty therapeutic. But you will find that chickens are like humans and some chickens are noisier…than others!!
- Chickens love to scratch and dig, either for bugs or mud baths, but if they aren’t fenced in, then they can really mess your garden up.
- Generally, chickens start laying around 1 year old. And a lifespan of a chicken can be around 8 to 10 years old, but as they get older egg-laying won’t be as productive or will stop completely.
- Sometimes chickens can bullying each other by pecking each other, so do keep an eye out for this.
Having chickens is fun and rewarding and full of benefits for you and the family.
