Keeping Backyard Chickens
Keeping backyard chickens is a lot of fun and you can't beat fresh eggs. Here are the ins and outs of how we keep chickens (and learn even more by checking out the link below)
Chicks
The two times we have purchased chicks, we've bought them in person from a feed store. Since we have only ever bought four at a time this is completely doable. I look forward to the day that I have to go pick them up from the post office because this will mean two things: 1. I finally have a large flock 2. We are living on a large piece of land in the country. These are two of my dreams.
Brooder
Our brooder started out as a cardboard box in our laundry room but the chicks quickly outgrew that. Luckily my husband is incredibly handy and transformed a large plastic bin into a wonderful indoor brooder for our little babes. With a heat lamp attached to the bookcase beside it, we are able to keep our chicks warm and happy.
Coop
Being the small scale, urban homesteaders that we are, we have kept the coop situation very simple. We were given our first coop for free, which was awesome and we purchased an almost identical one for our second group of hens. Now my husband is in the process of building a chicken tractor to house our oldest ladies so that we can move our three new little ones into the original coop.
It's a little like changing bedrooms.
As an aside, our second group of chickens (of which there are four) quickly grew too large for the coop, so I created a cheap and simple run to attach. The ladies love it.
Breed and Flock Size
We currently have nine chickens. We own (in no particular order);
2 Rhode Island Reds 2 Ameraucana3 Barred Rocks2 LeghornsSo far the Barred Rock are my favorite. They are so personable and easy to manage. I love my Rhode Island Reds, too. They are really hardy birds. My leghorns are still young, so it's hard to tell what they will be like but the Ameraucanas..... well, I love their blue eggs but SHEESH if they aren't scared of everything and certainly NOT personable.
Feed/Water
Right now we have two feeders and one waterer like the ones pictured. The other waterer that we have is simply a self filling dog bowl. The feeders are great but I MUCH prefer the dog bowl to the chicken waterer. Go figure.
I currently feed my girls store bought layer feed and scratch. I also make them homemade boredom buster bricks and give them kitchen scraps whenever I have them.
Long Term Goals
Some of my long term goals for chicken keeping include:
Getting the nerve up to cull the old chickens that stop laying.Upping my flock size to twenty, which is the city max for my lot size.Making my own organic chicken feed.Selling eggs to friends and neighbors.
Chicks
The two times we have purchased chicks, we've bought them in person from a feed store. Since we have only ever bought four at a time this is completely doable. I look forward to the day that I have to go pick them up from the post office because this will mean two things: 1. I finally have a large flock 2. We are living on a large piece of land in the country. These are two of my dreams.
Brooder
Our brooder started out as a cardboard box in our laundry room but the chicks quickly outgrew that. Luckily my husband is incredibly handy and transformed a large plastic bin into a wonderful indoor brooder for our little babes. With a heat lamp attached to the bookcase beside it, we are able to keep our chicks warm and happy.
Coop
Being the small scale, urban homesteaders that we are, we have kept the coop situation very simple. We were given our first coop for free, which was awesome and we purchased an almost identical one for our second group of hens. Now my husband is in the process of building a chicken tractor to house our oldest ladies so that we can move our three new little ones into the original coop.
It's a little like changing bedrooms.
As an aside, our second group of chickens (of which there are four) quickly grew too large for the coop, so I created a cheap and simple run to attach. The ladies love it.
Breed and Flock Size
We currently have nine chickens. We own (in no particular order);
2 Rhode Island Reds 2 Ameraucana3 Barred Rocks2 LeghornsSo far the Barred Rock are my favorite. They are so personable and easy to manage. I love my Rhode Island Reds, too. They are really hardy birds. My leghorns are still young, so it's hard to tell what they will be like but the Ameraucanas..... well, I love their blue eggs but SHEESH if they aren't scared of everything and certainly NOT personable.
Feed/Water
Right now we have two feeders and one waterer like the ones pictured. The other waterer that we have is simply a self filling dog bowl. The feeders are great but I MUCH prefer the dog bowl to the chicken waterer. Go figure.
I currently feed my girls store bought layer feed and scratch. I also make them homemade boredom buster bricks and give them kitchen scraps whenever I have them.
Long Term Goals
Some of my long term goals for chicken keeping include:
Getting the nerve up to cull the old chickens that stop laying.Upping my flock size to twenty, which is the city max for my lot size.Making my own organic chicken feed.Selling eggs to friends and neighbors.
My sweet baby chicken :)
Our homemade brooder.
Our homemade chicken run for the older girls.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?