Chicken FAQ
Q: Why Raise Chickens?
A lot of “Chicken Intros” that I’ve read start out with a “Why Raise Chickens” monologue. Invariably, some of the reasons listed are competition showing and as pets. Now, I’m new to the whole farm thing, but it seems like there are three reasons to raise chickens:
- Eggs
- Meat
- Annoying the piss out of late sleeping neighbors
As pets, chickens don’t make it. I’m sure I’ll get a nasty letter from someone who once had a great pet chicken as a kid, but really. Of all the choices available to you, chickens ought to be down near the bottom of the list. Near spider or boa constrictor.
“Showing your chickens” sounds like a euphemism; something you’d hear about on a “Girls Gone Wild: County Fair Edition” video. Seriously though, I suspect that this is a dying hobby – like tabletop roleplaying or using correct spelling. As I commit this to print I know in my heart that one day I will get up at 4AM on a Saturday to drive my daughter to a FFA or 4H Poultry competition halfway across the state. I know this because paybacks are hell.
It might make a great Disney film though: curmudgeon widower farmer -sorry, Cath. It’s a Disney film. You have to die. Maybe in some sort of chicken related accident, thereby setting up dramatic tension later in the film, but I digress. Curmudgeon widower farmer reconnects with his daughter and meets an attractive USDA inspector through the magic of competition poultry. Paul Giamatti could play the wacky over the top bad guy from Perdue, assuming he was at a low point in his career.
That said, let’s assume that you want to raise chickens and don’t need any further convincing.
Q: What Breed Should I Start With?
There are 8 zillion breeds of chicken. Go to Ideal Poultry’s web site and browse through the listings. Some of the commercial meat breeds are problematic for non-commercial use. They have leg/joint problems due to their rapid weight gain. Often, these breeds are hybrids and don’t reproduce well, either. Sometimes they cause their owners to end questions in prepositions.
There are many varieties with different characteristics. All breeds will produce eggs. All breeds can be eaten. The best layers are thin birds that convert all their energy into eggs, not body weight. Also, good layers don’t go broody, so it’ll be hard to reproduce your own chicks if you want. Here are the ones I would recommend for a small farm:
Javas – old school. Rare breed. Good for meat or eggs. I have these and Chanticlers. The Javas aren’t quite as good as meat birds or as egg layers. The upside is that you’d be doing a good thing by preserving an old and rapidly disappearing breed.
Buckeyes – another rare breed. Good for meat or eggs. Supposedly make interesting sounds and are good mousers. My next batch.
Chanticlers – Bred in Canada, they are good for meat or eggs and have small combs – good for avoiding frostbite. They lay good sized brown eggs. Nice meat, but smaller than a big broiler bird.
Plymouth Barred Rock – Another old line breed good for meat or eggs. More common than the others, though.
Rare doesn’t mean hard to find. Really. There are a zillion varieties of chickens. Find one you like. Some breeds are known to be calmer than others. Some look really cool.
Q: How many chickens do I need?
If you are starting small, start out with 5-10 hens and maybe a rooster. If buying unsexed chicks (insert own lewd joke here) allow for the fact that half may be roosters. You don’t need roosters unless you want fertile eggs. Too many roosters will result in fights and frayed hens. 5-10 hens per rooster is supposedly a good ratio. Franky, you could even start with just 1 chicken. You can’t order live chicks online that way, but you might be able to buy one from a local farmer that way. Still, there’s alot of stuff about rural life that recommends you “ask a local farmer”. The guy is up to his eyeballs in hock to ADM and worried because it hasn’t rained since Clinton was president and you wander up to his house looking for one single chicken? Best of luck. Sorry. That was uncalled for. We’ve found that there are tons of helpful folks out here. You can, too.
Also, start out with live chicks or pullets. Learn the incubator stuff later. I’ve seen in several books that you should order something like twice as many chicks as you think you’ll want since only half of them will make it to maturity. Double again if ordering eggs. You can buy small 3 egg incubators if you like, but they’re more for kid’s projects than long term use.
Q: Is it economical?
No.
Q: Could you elaborate?
Yes. Let’s assume that you start with 5 chickens. You’ll need a coop ($100-$200 of wire and lumber), chickens ($2 apiece), feed ($10), warming light ($6) and an understanding wife (priceless). That’s a lot of eggs. Even assuming you bought a breed that is good for eggs and meat and that you never have to buy eggs again AND that you bought a breed that will reproduce well, you have a 2+ year Return On Investment. I’m not including the free chicken poop you could use as fertilizer, but that’s still alot of assumptions. I suppose you could train them to do tricks and start an entertaining novelty act, but probably not. The actual returns are less quantifiable. You gain valuable knowledge about raising chickens. You know exactly what’s in your food. You have a food source if the local 7-11 runs out of jerky sticks.
Q: What about avian flu?
Currently, you have a better chance of marrying Britney Spears or contracting Dutch Elm disease than getting bird flu from a chicken. That said, be aware of any health risks from your animals. Chickens are not particularly clean. Always wash hands when finished handling them and their accessories. If/when bird flu makes the jump to people, chances are it will not happen to you and your chickens first. Watch the news.
Q: Can I raise other birds with my chickens?
Yes. I raised guineas, turkeys and chickens all together. They share the same coop and get along fine. They all tend to ignore the guineas because the guineas are really loud and annoying, but other than that, they do fine. The turkeys should get a high protein starter feed, but I ended up alternating between the turkey starter and the broiler starter and all the birds turned out just fine. Just remember that domesticated turkeys really are that stupid. Mine often forgot how to get back under the fence in the evening.
Q: What equipment do I need to start with?
A 100watt light bulb, a thermometer, some wood shavings, a waterer and a big box. You can get fancier, and you’ll need a coop by week 6, but the basic brooder is it. Don’t start with eggs for your first batch. Incubating isn’t a mad science project, but its a different art than caring for chicks. Too, they’re expensive. You’ll be into it $100 for one with an automatic egg turner. (Aside: The cheapskates out there are going, “But I don’t want some fancy automatic egg turner!” To which I say, “If you think you’re going to turn 50 eggs by hand every 8 hours, you’re bloody well insane!”). I recommend a 2′ x 4′ x 2′ wood box as a good brooder for up to 20 chicks. I started with a cardboard John Deere spreader box, but that got STANKY in short order. Its not a bad idea to line the floor with 1/4″ hardware cloth to help prevent leg problems. Note to cityfolk: hardware cloth is actually a wire screen with 1/4″ squares. Do not look for it at JoAnn Fabrics.
Q: So…what do they taste like?
Like chicken, you maroon! Actually, they taste darn good. They don’t have breasts the size of Ethiopia like commercial chickens, but the meat has more texture and dare I say, more flavor. The turkeys we raised were commercial birds (and they had breasts the size of Ethiopia and Kenya to boot) and even they had a better texture than store bought birds. The skin isn’t self basting though, since I don’t know any fowl that naturally secretes butter flavored vegetable oil. Keep that in mind.
Q: I meant the eggs.
Oh. Sorry. The eggs are usually darker in color than store bought eggs and have a rounder yolk. They don’t have that wrinkly top you often see in store bought eggs as well. The shells are often a bit thicker, too. The flavor is slightly richer. The Java eggs are a bit smaller, but very flavorful.
Q: So… when can I start eating?
So far, I can count on an egg a day in season and one every other day or so during winter. The birds will start laying in about 5-7 months. Prolific egg laying breeds might start sooner. Meat birds supposedly mature around week 6. That sounds early to me, but I don’t have commercial meat birds. I culled my flock when the extra roosters started getting annoying – around 8-10 weeks.
Q: How do you slaughter them?
You take them to the nice man in the next town over who processes deer, turkeys and hogs. He does them for about $1.50/bird. I’m not squeamish, but I’ve put off learning this part of the craft. Frankly, I’d like to see it done once before I start swinging meat cleavers. I can justify this utter laziness because I have kids. Its one thing for them to know the name of the bird on the dinner table. Its another thing entirely for Dad to carry it in the house all covered in chicken blood, like he’s just completed some Voodoo ritual.
Q: What about predators?
Supposedly, If you stand very still they can’t see you.
Q: I meant about the chickens.
Oh. Most places you won’t have many problems with daylight predators. Wherever you are, you will eventually have nocturnal predators nosing around. We had a serious bout with raccoons earlier this summer. They found 5 different ways to get to my chickens that I hadn’t thought of. Make sure your coop is secure enough that these guys can’t get in. I ended up putting chicken wire over a lot of corners/joints where the wood didn’t meet tightly.
I am so glad to hear someone say you can raise chickens and turkeys togather. I have chickens, turkeys, peacocks, geese all togather and have no problems. But I have had a lot of poeple tell me “OH YOU CAN’T DO THAT THEY WILL ALL DIE” I was beginning to dout myself. They are all doing fine. So many poeple were telling me i was making a big mistake. It is just really reassuring to know I am not doing the wrong thing. Thank you for the peace of mind.
I’m not an expert yet, but I haven’t had any problems in the two years I’ve been doing it. I have neighbors who also raise turkeys and chickens together and seem to do fine as well. The ducks seem especially “clannish”, but the turkeys and chickens and guinea fowl intermingle alot. They all return to the same coop every night. I haven’t added geese to the mix yet, but wouldn’t see any problems doing so. That said, our ducks and turkeys will all be gone before we have a problem with males.
can anyone tell me why 2 of my bantam chicks have 5 toes on only one foot please
Rosa-
Not a clue. I’m still working through the basics of backyard poultry. My guess would be “bad genes” though. Most banties are raised for showing which might mean that they were inbred to reinforce a particular trait, I’d check with your breeder/supplier. I’ve read that inbreeding a regular farm flock can really affect production and quality after only a couple of generations.
I hope that helps!
thanx ben thats is helpful i’ll look it up on the net cheers
Thanks for the info, Ben – Love your writing style! After slogging through quite a few out-back chicken forums for pointers on starting my own home flock, this was both an insightful and funny primer.
My hat off to you Ben, well if I had a hat that is. I really enjoyed the info you’ve provided and the humour was a nice treat! I’ve been looking for others that raise chicken, turkeys and ducks together as we plan to have a multi-species grazing operation – once we finally get the farm. It looks like we’ll be trying a few things out that don’t seem to be the norm so it should be an interesting ride. Thanks!
This is the first time I have ever responded and I am new to the computer thing. I don’t know what MAIL or WEBSITE means. What kind of information do you want?
I enjoyed reading your Q&A. I got 25 day old chicks end of June last year. I only lost the one that was dead in the box so I don’t understand why you are supposed to get twice what you want. I read one of the Chicken Tractor books and decided to give it a try. I wanted all the benefits for my gardens. Actually I was suppose to keep the chickens in the tractor, but they had so much fun outside of it I didn’t. Let me tell you how bad it was… Saturday night and I am having a late evening picnic with the chickens. Just watching them and sharing my dinner. I’m a 61 yr old single lady and I’m having diner with the chickens. That’s bad. LOL
Now I have 7 hens and 1 rooster left and I am getting 5-7 eggs everyday. Even with the temp below zero. I built them a straw coop and they seem quite happy. It is so dark inside though that I leave a energy efficient light on so we can see each other and where we are stepping. I am some what independent as I am off the grid and make my own power.
Reason I found your site is because I wanted to add ducks (just dug a little pond last fall) and quineas. Now I might try adding a couple of turkeys too just through the summer for Thanksgiving dinner next year. I’m wondering how old the turkeys and ducks need to be before I can put them in with the chickens? And the quineas too?
You are right about the expense. I think my eggs are made out of gold! But it has been fun and I look forward to learning more and reusing some of the stuff I have already purchased. Do you know anything about how to set up rain barrels from the coop roof to a dish inside of the coop so I don’t have to worry about water all the time? At least for the summer. Being in Michigan winter will still be a problem. Thanks for all you do to help others, Bonnie
Hey ive been wanting chickens for a few months now and after reading your faq i decided i want them for sure. Any ideas how to convince my mom she thinks they smell horrible and can get us sick and will draw pests but yet she want the fresh eggs. My dads pretty well convinced but i need an idea to get him to let us get them plz help
Dear manager
we just wanted to know if you have chicken incubators
on stock?
Regards
kato ronnie paul
Aaron-
I’m not sure how to sell this to your Mom. Your best bet is to start small – with just a couple hens. This is because some of what she says is true. If you don’t clean the coop frequently and the chicken guano builds up, yes, it will stink. Chickens themselves don’t smell like much of anything (unlike cattle, which tend to permanently smell like wet dog). I’m not sure what kind of pests they attract. Keep the coop clean and put in a couple fly strips and you’re good to go. I trap a lot of raccoons and possums in my barn, but they come for the cat food, not the chickens.
And they won’t make you sick unless you don’t wash your hands! I’m sure that you know to wash your hands after touching chicken crud. Point out to your Mom that you’re pretty sure you know how to wash your hands.
BTW, chickens aren’t really picky about where they “go”. Keep them off the porch or the walkway or your Mom will holler!
Kato-
Um…We don’t sell anything. We do have an egg incubator that we never use. It’s easier to order live chicks. This summer though, we had a couple hens go broody, so we got a few chicks the old fashioned way!
I’m raising guineas and hens together, and I’ve not had any problems. EXCEPT–my hens haven’t laid any eggs! I have 10 guineas (4 males, 6 females, I think), 2 buff orpington hens, 4 ameraucana hens, and four white leghorn hens. When we got the buff orpingtons, one of them laid a single egg, but we’ve not had any eggs at all since then. The guineas are all around and hens are all around 3-1/2 months old, the hens are all 6 months old or older. They’re all eating layer crumbles with oyster shell. They free range for a few hours each day (course, some days they don’t get to free range much, when the hawks are around). I give them millet seed as a treat in the evening, to coax them all back to the coop. The coop is around 5 x 11 with three nesting boxes, the fenced chicken yard is around 11 x 12. Any idea why the chickens aren’t laying?
Leslie- My guess is that your chickens are just about to start laying. I can’t speak to the Orpingtons and the Leghorns, but our Ameraucancas started laying fairly late. Check the area they free range in for soft shelled eggs or anything else that looks like they may be starting to lay. In Michigan, its already getting colder. Our chickens have already started laying less eggs. The cold weather may delay the start time for your birds.
Okay this may be a dumb question, but I’m a new chicken owner. I have 1 chicken. I don’t even know yet if it’s a hen or a rooster, but I’m thinking hen. Anyway, my question is about how to handle the winter months. We’re in the San Francisco bay area, where the weather is pretty mild, but do I have to be concerned about winter rain, wind, etc? What kind protection should I provide her? Please help this chicken newbie!
Taylor- I’d recommend that you have something with a roof and walls on at least 3 sides. This doesn’t mean you need to build a giant wooden chicken palace, but you do want to keep your hen/rooster (and their food) out of the rain and wind. Also, even in the city, there will be predators like raccoons, so having something that is secure all the way around is a good idea. Arm yourself with some 1×2s, some chicken wire, and some 2×4 sections of plywood and go to town!
Ben – I’m so relieved to hear that chickens and turkeys can live together. I’ve had chickens since March (adult) and then raised some chicks in July. I have students who got me interested in turkeys and I understand that the market for turkey and duck eggs is growing, so I just placed my order for turkeys and ducks for May. Then I started reading about how turkeys will get some black head disease if they’re kept in the same county where a chicken lived three years ago…I’m so glad to hear my turkeys may at least have a chance…oh the drama of poultry! I also ordered ducks. What do you know about them? I was thinking I’d put in a small pond for them. I have a creek in my backyard, but it might be a bit much for them, more like a small river. Any ideas? Thanks so much!
Kimberly-I won’t swear on my grave that chickens and turkeys will live together in harmony forever, but I had raised turkeys for two seasons (I skipped this year – too busy!) and they did fine together. I would not be too surprised if keeping adult toms around for multiple seasons produced some friction with the roosters, but I raised my new batches of turkeys each year without issue. They all followed the existing lead rooster.
I also had a small group of ducks both years and in with the chickens and turkeys. The ducks are crazy messy, but having a pond or water area of their own should help you a lot on that score.
hi! My mom wont let me get a chicken. She’s convinced that they will stink and since we have a dog she thinks we already have too much to care for. I’m willing to take complete care of a chicken. I’m only asking for one and my teacher said she’ll give me a free egg too! Why wont my mom let me? What can i say to convince her?
Ash-
I’m not sure you’ll be able to convince your Mom, but I’ll be happy to put some thoughts out there for you.
1) Chickens only stink if you don’t change out the litter in their coop – just like cats. That said, ours tend to only poop on the sidewalk coming into the house, which is really annoying! We have a huge yard for them! Just one chicken, probably won’t stink though.
2) The odds of one egg hatching are probably less than 50%. Even if you get an egg, there is a very good chance it won’t hatch. I’ve given up trying to hatch chicks from eggs. You can usually buy chicks in the Spring from your local feed store for a few dollars, however. The other issue here is that you can’t tell what gender of chicken you’ll get. You probably will not want a pet rooster. They are noisy and get ornery as they get older. You want a hen. They are much easier to deal with.
3) Chickens and dogs do NOT play well together. If you have a very well trained dog, or can keep the chicken penned up and out of reach of your dog, then it might work. Cats and chickens are ok, once the chickens are older (chicks, not so much), but dogs and chickens take some work to get along.
4) Chickens aren’t too much work, but they do require daily feeding. Also, you need to open and close their coop every day if you are letting them walk around.
Good luck with your Mom! Remember though, she’s the one paying for chicken feed and dog food, so she gets the last word!