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| Our Araucana |
About a year ago we started researching the foods that we
eat. We learned that many of the foods
that we were eating had pesticides in them, steroids and antibiotics stuffed into them or
contained petroleum. We started trying
to think about ways we could control the food that goes on our plate, making
sure that it is as healthy as possible.
At that time we were eating a lot of eggs and my husband (smart man that
he is) suggested raising our own chickens.
He had friends that did it and explained it wouldn’t be that
difficult. We had plenty of room and I
eventually warmed up to the idea. Don’t
do like my husband did though and go buy the chickens and come home with them and say,
well we need to build a coop before dark. He and his brother went to Lowe’s and bought
all the required materials to build a coop for our new birds. We used a large chain link dog kennel to put
the coop in. It worked out really great
and we have now expanded the kennel and even added another coop for our ever
expanding flock. Here is my advice if
you are thinking of starting your own backyard chicken flock.
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| The coops that husband built. |
1. Check the laws in your city to determine if you
are allowed to keep them and what the laws are concerning chickens.
2. Determine if you have enough space to keep them.
3. Learn all you can about chickens, BEFORE you get
them. How to care for them, what to feed them, etc.
4. Make sure that it is not more than you can
handle and be sure that the whole family is on board with taking care of them. Kids love chickens and it is important for them to be a part of taking care of them.
5. Determine how many chickens you would like to
have. It would depend on how many eggs
you would like to have. Newly laying
hens will lay about 1 egg a day, depending on the weather. So if
your family eats 6 eggs a week, you would be fine with one bird, 10-12 eggs a
week you would need two and so forth.
6.
Have your coop built and ready for them to live
in before you purchase them. You can
build one from scratch with your own ideas, but there are lots of websites with
plans to guide you through. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate or fancy. Shelter, nesting boxes and somewhere to roost are what is important.
7. Chickens can be purchased through local Chicken
Keeping groups and through online hatcheries like http://www.mthealthy.com/ and
www.meyerhatchery.com. If you are close to Cincinnati, OH you can go
to Mt. Healthy and pick them up instead of having them delivered by mail. With the hatcheries you can buy eggs to
incubate yourself or day old chickens.
You can also buy young birds (pullets), your prices are cheaper the
younger the stage of their lives.
If
you live in the Central Kentucky Area, CLUCK! "Coop"erative of
Lexington Urban Chicken Keepers is a great group to friend on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/#!/clucklex. They are a great resource for learning about
chickens and asking questions when you need some help.
Hopefully this will get you started thinking about whether chicken
keeping is for you!
Melissa
