From more nutrients to better taste to protecting your vegetable gardens, backyard chickens pose many benefits. With all the benefits that a chicken coop offers, you must have considered getting one for your backyard.
Before you buy a chicken coop, you need to know what you’re getting into. First, start with some research on how to take care of your own chickens. Here are five tips you should know about raising backyard chickens.
- Choose the Right Chicken Breed
There are multiple backyard chicken breeds, and some are better for being raised in a backyard. There are some breeds that are especially easy for beginners to raise.
The Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte, Ameraucana, and Orpington are ideal for backyard coops. The Rhode Island Red fits well into flocks if you already have adult chickens.
Wyandotte chickens are especially great for anyone living in more rugged conditions. The Ameraucana tolerates many climates, and the Orpington chicken is an ideal breed for cold paces.
- How to Feed Backyard Chickens
Chickens are omnivores that can eat fruits, vegetables, grains, and insects. But their diet directly affects the taste of the eggs they lay, so you can choose to manage their diet.
Provide them with balanced meals that have the vitamins and minerals to be healthy and lay more eggs. You can feed chickens by hand or use ground feeders. Have a look at some feeder options for your backyard chickens.
- Caring for Backyard Chickens
When caring for your chickens, you want to establish a routine. Backyard chickens can actually be quite low maintenance, so you don’t need to dote on them the way you do other animals.
For daily care, you’ll want to fill the feeders and give them fresh water. You’ll also want to freshen the bedding and clean the coop. Lastly, collect any eggs your hens might have laid.
Beyond this daily care, your chickens don’t need much maintenance.
- Chicks or Adults?
Before you start looking for backyard chickens for sale, decide whether you want to start raising chickens as chicks or as adults. Neither is better than the other, and the choice is mainly preference.
Adults cost more upon purchase, but you’ll have fresh eggs quicker, nearly as soon as you put them in the coop. Buying chicks is cheaper, but you’ll have to put in more care to raise them into adulthood.
- Protect Your Chickens from Predators
It’s a good idea to know what predators you have in your area. Large birds like hawks, owls, and eagles pose a risk from the air. While coyotes, wolves, foxes, weasels, and even raccoons are a threat from the land.
Chickens for backyards need much more protection because they’re low on the food chain. There are many threats during the day and night you need to protect them from.
That’s why you need to protect chickens from the sides and top. The combination of a backyard coop and a wire fence will keep them protected.
Beginner’s Guide to Raising Backyard Chickens
A backyard chicken coop can provide you and your family many benefits. From better tasting eggs to more nutrients in healthier eggs, your own chickens will pay off in a better lifestyle.
But before you buy a bunch of chickens and a chicken coop, you should understand how to raise them. This beginner’s guide to raising backyard chickens will help you know where to start and how to take care of them.
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