So, you’ve been convinced (by me?) that your child will start a small backyard flock of chickens. What a great decision!
Chickens are live animals! There are many things to consider before you bring home your first fluffy chicks! Part 1 of this 2-part series centers on steps to take before you get your child all enthused about chicken keeping.
1. Check ordinances and HOA rules.
- Make sure that you are allowed by the powers that be to keep chickens on your property. If not, consider storming city hall with a petition. 🤔 This battle has been won in recent years in countless municipalities across America.
- A second important question to ask is whether or not you can keep a rooster. Many ordinances allow a certain number of hens to be kept for eggs, but not roosters (because of their crowing).
2. Join an online community.
I can recommend Backyard Chickens as a warm, supportive, active, welcoming group, but there are others as well.
From their forums you will get immediate, experienced help from people who have no dog in the fight: they are not salespeople. They are chicken lovers just like you. But make no mistake: these are folks who are knowledgeable and serious about chicken keeping! You can learn about coops, diseases, feeds, breeds, hatching — in short, this is your go-to support as you learn to raise chickens with your child. Your child can/should even have his/her own account on this forum!
3. Peruse chicken breeds while considering your goals
There are hundreds to choose from, and the newcomer can be easily overwhelmed, so here are some questions to help you narrow the search before you involve your child (who probably should have the ultimate choice among those you suggest to him or her) 😉 :
- How much space can you devote to chickens?
- Many breeds come in bantam (miniature) sizes and/or large fowl (sizes that you think of when you think of most chickens you’ve seen). Bantams can be kept kindly in about half the space of large fowl.
- General guidelines suggest that each large fowl chicken needs 4 square feet (so 2′ x 2′) of floor space inside your coop, and 10 square feet of run space outside the coop (which can include space under the coop if it’s elevated).
- Large fowl need 1 foot/chicken of roosting space, and a 1 foot cubed nesting box (provide 1 box for every 2 hens). Nesting boxes can be very simple: you can do a Google search and see them made out of everything from dish pans to crates to wood to metal to 5-gallon buckets. There’s no lack of creativity among chicken keepers–that’s what keeps it fun!
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Our colorful eggs What are your goals for eggs?
- Large fowl birds are the better choice for large or jumbo eggs, and there are breeds that lay up to 280-350 eggs per year. Eggs from these hens can be green, blue, brown, tan, dark brown, and white.
- Bantam hens are also used as laying hens, with some breeds laying up to 150 eggs per year. However, Bantam eggs are only about one-half to one-third the size of a regular hen egg.
- In general, some breeds are reputed to “go broody” easily. This means that they will lay a clutch of eggs and sit on them until some hatch–three weeks, minimum. Then, they will care for these young for months. They will not lay during this period. So, in terms of egg production, broody hens are not a plus. (However, read more about broodies below before deciding on this factor!)
- There are champion egg layers among the breeds (topped by the white Leghorns). These birds tend to be small and streamlined. There are also the “dual purpose” breeds (so called because they both lay a decent number of eggs yearly and have enough size that they are good for meat as well). The latter are also often termed “heritage breeds.” The story is too long to tell here, but suffice it to say that today’s commercial breeders raise hybrid birds in conditions similar to veal calves. (You won’t want your child to even know about conditions in such operations.) Many backyard chicken keepers choose to breeds that are beautiful, docile, and have a long heritage among poultry keepers because they were prized for their meat and eggs in bygone days on smaller, family farms. (These are the breeds that we have chosen to raise, and sell as day-old peeps and hatching eggs.)
- Do your goals include raising chickens for meat?
- With the growing movement towards organic foods, many backyard chicken keepers raise and process their own meat. If you are not so much oriented towards having your child raise chickens as pets, but want him to learn the cycle that brings food to our table, you may be interested in a heritage breed that is known as a good table bird and a good layer (called a dual purpose breed).
- There are great resources in the online communities that can teach you to process your birds if you decide to go this route.
Would your child be interested in hatching chickens to raise, or breed, or possibly show or sell?
- In this case, you want to know which breeds are somewhat unusual, and in higher demand. Simple searches on the Internet will open your eyes to the possible markets for day-old chicks or hatching eggs. (Check out Greenfire Farms as an example of a breeder who started small but has made an entire livelihood out of selling rare and exotic breeds for high dollar amounts.)
- I highly recommend that your child hatch chicks at some point in your chicken-keeping adventure. It is such a great experience, and again, the online community at Backyard Chickens can hold your hand every step of the way. A small, but decent, incubator can be had, new, for something between $60 and $150. (Check out our favorite online store for incubators, and/or check Craig’s List for used ones near you.) To gain vision, check out this lovely guide.
- Please note that, if you incubate chickens, you will end up with roosters. What will you do with them? It is quite unreasonable to plan to rehome them as pets. Most people will not feed a bird that gives nothing back, no matter how beloved a pet it has become in your household. Most of the time, you’ll need to plan (and prepare your child) to give it away to a farmer who will eat it, or sell it for meat. That’s just a reality in hatching chickens, and if it bothers you greatly, please read this post. It may help.
- Finally, what kind of housing will you provide for these birds? You absolutely need to have a coop built, down to the shavings and heat lamp in place, and feed ready, when you bring your first chicks home. So, consider (and price) the housing that your chickens will need (using allowances in chicken math offered above) before you purchase your first hatching eggs or peeps! This is another great project for you and your child to do jointly! (See more on this below.)
Next post in this series: First Steps to Take With Your Child