How I raise chickens in my back yard

To raise chickens in your back yard, you need to check in with your town hall to know your property is zoned to own and raise chickens.

Raising chickens from little chicks is amusing, and depending on the breed of chicken you’ll have fresh eggs in approximately 4 months. You can also look to purchase laying hens.  Hens are a social animal and they rely on each other for companionship, warmth and safety.  Always keep three or more hens together.

I started raising my 8 chicks in April, in a very large plastic tub under a heat lamp.  The feeders I bought were too large for the space.  I used plastic boxes, glued to cardboard, so the chicks wouldn’t flip over and spill their food & water.  I covered the bottom of the tub with newsprint. 

I bought a roll of 1” chicken wire, and made a small run area for the little chicks to come outside on nice days.  I put them back into their tub and inside the house at night.  I raised my chickens to their next phase, and they needed a bigger home. 

I bought a small pet cage for them, and covered it with tarp, and put their heat lamp over them, and they spent their nights out when they out grew their tub.  The feeder and water that I had bought, fit into their new cage, with them.  I also stretched cage material around the perimeter of their cage to protect them from predators.  Raising chickens from chicks went quickly.  My chicks were looking more like chickens.

Looking forward to raising my chickens to their next phase, I wrapped chicken wire around an old swing set, and about 1 foot along the ground surrounding the cage, again to slow down a digging predator.  I stuck a couple of old broken broom handles through the wire mesh, and made the perfect perch for my awkward chickens.  I’ve raised the chickens to their next phase, and was looking forward to having fresh farm eggs, soon. 

Raising chickens to this point, I needed nesting boxes.  I was at a total loss, what to do.  After hours of research, I decided, to use 5 gallon pails as nesting boxes for my growing chickens.  I raised them to happy healthy hens.  I found several eggs in the lawn; my dog would come out of the brush with an egg in her mouth.  A lot like an Easter egg hunt when the chickens started laying eggs.  I had seven adult hens laying eggs, all in the same bucket.  I thought four nesting boxes were more than enough.  I don’t know what is special about the one bucket, maybe the color? 

Raising the chickens to adult hens went well.  I covered their large cage with insulation board and several old tarps.  We added a wooden door, and gravity feeder, and water pipes.  The snow slides down the coop, burying the bottom of the coop in snow and ice.  The “A” frame gets winter sun on it most of the day, helping to keep the hens warm through -30 degree wind chill nights.  My chickens produced six to eight eggs every day for me through the darkest days of the year. 

Raising chickens isn’t hard.  They are actually very easy to keep. Keep them safe, watered and fed, and they’ll reward you with plenty of eggs.  At times, it seems like I have too many eggs.  I have less learning about raising hens and more about how to cook to use all the eggs we have, now.