I have been getting a lot of questions about having chickens in your backyard. This post is an attempt to answer them. I should mention that I am by no means an expert on chickens but I have learned some valuable lessons in the past year.
Q: Is it a lot of work to have chickens?
A: No. But that answer is dependent on the set-up you use for your chickens. I have also found raising baby chickens to be considerably more work then getting laying pullets.
The work that is involved with having chickens includes feeding them, making sure they have fresh water, cleaning up their poop, and keeping them safe. For the record, chickens poop a lot. You need to have a chicken poop plan prior to getting your chickens. Chicken poop is very rich in nitrogen, making it a great fertilizer, but it *should* be composted first. We chose a coop design that makes feeding, watering, cleaning poop and keeping chickens safe very easy. Chicken "tractors" are portable chicken coops that you move around every day or so. You can build your own (just google coop designs and you will get a load of responses, or get a chicken coop design book from your library) or you can purchase one. We chose to purchase one because we did not have the time to build one. Our chicken coop is the Henspa and we have been very happy with it. There is an automatic feeder and waterer. It had taken our 3 - 5 hens about 6-8 weeks to go through a 25lb bag of chicken feed. The feeder holds almost the entire bag and has a seperate compartment for a calcium supplement (like oyster shells - necessary to maintain thickness of egg shells). There is also a waterer that attaches to the coop. The only problem with the waterer is that you have to train your chickens to drink from it. This was very easy with our hens last year (which we raised from chicks) but our hens this year (which we purchased already laying) have not been as easy to train. So for now I just keep a bowl of water in there for them that I change everyday. Really, not that much work.
In terms of the poop, the great thing about the chicken tractor is that it has an upstairs and a downstairs. The "downstairs" is the ground and the upstairs floor is chicken wire allowing all the poop to fall through to the bottom and therefore land on the grass. Move the tractor everyday and the poop gets nicely distributed on the ground, fertilizing the grass.
However, if you have only a small area for the chickens I would suggest a system where you can easily collect the poop and put it into a composter. For this I would recommend an Eglu which is a coop with a removable bottom that collects the waste.
Both the Eglu and the Henspa have a secure chicken run which keeps the chickens safe from predators but since you are moving them to fresh ground everday they are still "free ranging" (sort of).
With this coop design the next thing to think about is what you will do in the winter. Snow and ice piling up make it hard to move coops around in the winter. There are a few options - we actually choose to have chickens seasonally (although this winter we might keep them through the winter), therefore avoiding the problem of the winter. The Henspa can house the chickens in the winter but you would need to give them a larger area to go outside, have power close by to provide a heat lamp (if necessary) and for the water (or you could bring fresh water out every morning).
Q: Can chickens be kept in a backyard with something other than grass?
A: As far as I know chickens can be kept on any type of ground. Their primary source of nutrition is their feed, not grass, which can be supplemented with kitchen scraps. I have noticed that chickens are not really in it for the grass, they prefer the grubs, worms and weeds. Coincidentally they are one of the best natural means of tick control.
Q: Is it really cost effective to have hens for eggs?
A: This is a loaded question. The cost involved in keeping chickens are primarily their coop and feed. The coop can be built inexpensively if you have the time and materials. Chicken feed varies in price depending on what you want. Regular chicken feed is very cheap (around $8 for 25 lbs). Organic chicken feed is more than double the price. You can also look for local sources for chicken feed - maybe a farmer nearby makes feed. Of course you know exactly where your eggs come from and in my mind it is hard to put a price on that.
Q: Do I need a rooster?
A: No. Laying eggs is ovulation for a chicken. It is a natural hormonal process. If you want fertilized eggs you do need a rooster. A rooster is also helpful in maintaining pecking order in a flock, and can keep hens safe from danger. However, with just one or two hens it is entirely not necessary to have a rooster.
Q: Can I legally have hens in my backyard?
A: You need to check local ordinaces for this one. Keep in mind, if you have an enclosed backyard it is unlikely that your neighbors will know you have a hen or two.
Q: What type of hens should I get?
A: This is completely a preference thing. I prefer brown egg layers, which tend to be heavier breeds that can survive a winter. Google can provide you with a lot of information and pictures of different breeds. Our hens right now are a Red Sex Link, a Partridge Rock and a Black Australoupe. We also have 4 baby chicks that are Rhode Island Reds.
If you have any questions please post. I am happy to answer or at least find an answer for you.
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