How to Raise Chickens Successfully
Learn About Simple Tips for Raising Chickens
The first thing you would need to check, is whether they are legal to keep in your city. There are several places where you can buy young chicks. If you have feed stores in your town, you can usually buy young chicks, during the spring for about $4.50 each. Online hatcheries will ship you live chicks right through the mail.
The preferred method for raising chickens, is with all females (hens) that are still young chicks, being only a few days old. Roosters (males) are disruptive to the hens and make noise all day long. Roosters are not necessary to get the hens to lay eggs.
Next you will need to make a nursery to keep them in. A simple box will do the trick, but a plastic box is even more desirable, for easy clean up. Fill the box with some bedding materials that can be made of dried leaves or straw. Mount a light bulb above the box to keep the young chicks warm. Supply them with starter feed that you can buy from a feed store and a water dish.
As the chicks age and develop more feathers, you will periodically need to raise the bulb higher above the box, to support a proper temperature. For healthy chicks, keep the water fresh and replace their bedding material often.
After the temperature warms to a mild 50 degrees or more at night the young chicks can be moved outside to the chicken coop. The primary concern is for the safety of the chicks that are on the top of the dinner plans for foxes, dogs, raccoons and skunks, to name a few.
When laying out your plans for the chicken coop, keep in mind that adult birds need about four feet of space each, inside the chicken coop and ten square feet in their yard. The hens need to have access to sandy soil or crushed shell supplements to help them digest their food properly. Feed them mash, grass clippings, corn on the cobs, apples and just about any kind of left overs from the kitchen.
Pullets (young hens) in the age range of 20 to 24 months are strong egg layers and will produce about six eggs each per week. Chickens five years or older will not produce eggs with much consistency.
Published by happy6
I am a writer always looking for something new and interesting to learn about. Hobbies and interests include animals, wildlife, pets, plants, tropical fish, flowers, health and any variety of gardening. View profile
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