Raising Backyard Chickens
Notes by Ann Naffziger
Ann has taught a couple of "introduction to raising backyard chickens" workshops at our house. This is the handout for the class.
First considerations
Are chickens legal in your city? How many? How far from a neighbor's residence? What about roosters? Check your city's codes before beginning.
What space is necessary?
Coop requirements
Coop designs: Two Options
Acquiring chickens
Cost of Raising Chickens
Raising baby chicks
Prepare for baby chicks to live inside with you for the first 4-6 weeks until they grow in their adult feathers. A cardboard box with a heat lamp works fine at first, but they may need more space (i.e. a spare bathtub) for the last couple of weeks. Note that this is the most time intensive, and smelly, period of raising chicks. Once they are living outside, things get much easier. See further resources for details about raising chicks indoors.
Egg Laying Habits
The most common question I get about our chickens... Don't they need a rooster to lay eggs?
No, hens do not need a rooster in order to lay eggs (think about humans: women "lay" eggs every month whether or not there is a man in the picture)!! However, for the eggs to be fertilized, a rooster is required, just as with humans. There is no nutritional difference between fertile and non-fertilized eggs, so supermarkets that charge more for fertile eggs are making a bigger profit.
Random Chicken Facts
Further Resources
Books/Magazines
Ann has taught a couple of "introduction to raising backyard chickens" workshops at our house. This is the handout for the class.
First considerations
Are chickens legal in your city? How many? How far from a neighbor's residence? What about roosters? Check your city's codes before beginning.
What space is necessary?
- Coop space – 4-10 square feet/bird (on the lower end if they are allowed out during the day)
- A "run" – enclosed space where birds can take dust baths, have access to sun, stay dry, be contained during non-supervised waking hours, fence 4-6 feet high, doesn't necessarily have to be covered, but it can be if hawks or other aerial predators might be an issue.
- Free-range space - chickens will quickly eat down any green & growing thing in their run, so it's ideal to have space in the yard or garden where they can free-range when supervised. If left unsupervised, they will eat all your precious fruits and vegetables and/or dig up your garden beds.
Coop requirements
- Rodent proof (must be locked at night)
- Ventilated
- Easy to clean – you won't clean it often if it is a difficult task!
- Perch for the birds to roost on (think curtain rod sized in diameter)
- Nesting box, about 12in x 12in x 12in, need one box per 3-4 birds
- Poultry feeder
- Waterer
- Bedding (sawdust, wood shavings, straw, peat moss, dried leaves, dry lawn clippings). This is usually recommended, but we've found it unnecessary if the birds are perching above a piece of mesh that collects their manure and they don't have to walk or wallow in their own excrement.
Coop designs: Two Options
- Build your own: There are many designs available on the internet, ex: www.backyardchickens.com or in intro books about raising chickens. You might also ask to see the coops of others who are raising backyard chickens. They can be built on a low budget using recycled materials.
- You can also buy coops, either pre-assembled and delivered to your home (via internet), or to assemble yourself. Ex: we bought ours at Mike's Feed and Pets in San Leandro and it took about 2 hours to assemble it. Coops can range in price from $200 – $1,000s. Make sure to acquire a coop that will allow your flock to increase in size later on if you so choose.
Acquiring chickens
- Local feed stores:
- Mike's Feed & Pet, San Leandro, 510-638-2005
- Alamo Hay & Grain, Alamo, 925-837-4994
- Concord Feed, Pleasant Hill, 925-940-1200
- Mail order via the internet, although such suppliers usually require a minimum order of 20 or more chickens
- Grade school teachers who hatch 20+ eggs in the classroom for Easter. The problem – these chicks aren't sexed so you don't know if you're getting hens or roosters. Other suppliers have the chicks sexed at 1 day old with about 90% accuracy.
Cost of Raising Chickens
- Price of the coop
- Chicks themselves: $2-$4 each
- Feeder/Waterer: $10-$20
- Chicken Feed: $15-$17 per 50 pound bag for conventional, $20-$25 per 50 pound bag for organic. (Our 4 chickens go through a 50 pound bag in 2-3 months). Feed costs will vary significantly depending on how much access the chickens have to other food: i.e. table scraps, grass clippings, carrot tops, wilted greens, corn cobs, fallen fruit, worms, snails, insects and bugs they can dig up themselves, etc. Ask neighbors to share any and all of these with you!
- Possible supplements: oyster shells to add calcium to their diets if they are laying soft-shelled eggs ($2/lb), chicken scratch $12/50 lb bag
Raising baby chicks
Prepare for baby chicks to live inside with you for the first 4-6 weeks until they grow in their adult feathers. A cardboard box with a heat lamp works fine at first, but they may need more space (i.e. a spare bathtub) for the last couple of weeks. Note that this is the most time intensive, and smelly, period of raising chicks. Once they are living outside, things get much easier. See further resources for details about raising chicks indoors.
Egg Laying Habits
The most common question I get about our chickens... Don't they need a rooster to lay eggs?
No, hens do not need a rooster in order to lay eggs (think about humans: women "lay" eggs every month whether or not there is a man in the picture)!! However, for the eggs to be fertilized, a rooster is required, just as with humans. There is no nutritional difference between fertile and non-fertilized eggs, so supermarkets that charge more for fertile eggs are making a bigger profit.
- Normally begin laying when they are about 6 months old, but this varies a lot, depending on the breed, the individual chicken, number of daylight hours and outside temperature.
- Can lay one egg a day in the prime of their lives (first 3-4 years or so).
- In general, hens lay more regularly during the summer (longer daylight hours/more heat) and less regularly or not at all in the winter.
- Factory farms keep their lights on 24 hours a day and regulate the temperature to encourage regular production, but those chickens will "burn out" in fewer years than chickens whose natural cycle gives them a break from laying.
- Some breeds are better layers than others: Leghorns, Rhode Island and New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons, and Barred Plymouth Rocks are good backyard layers. In our experience, Aracaunas, though they lay beautiful eggs, only lay 4-5 times/week during the summer.
- Hens stop laying when they are "molting" - losing their old feathers to be replaced with new ones. This usually happens in the fall.
- Egg color – most backyard chicken breeds lay brown eggs, while Aracaunas lay pale blue/pale greenish eggs. Nutritional content is not affected by the color of the eggs.
- Most factory farms raise a single breed of white chickens that lay white eggs.
- When hens begin laying, their eggs are significantly smaller (sometimes they don't even have a shell at first) and they gradually increase in size over the next few weeks. After that, they may vary in size from day to day, but they will be "normal" sized.
- Hens will usually lay in the same place everyday unless they are getting "broody" and want more privacy, at which point they will try to hide their eggs.
- Eggs should not be washed until immediately before use. They have a natural "bloom" on them that acts as a barrier to retard moisture loss and prevent bacteria from entering the shell. Commercially washed eggs will not last as long as unwashed eggs.
Random Chicken Facts
- Chickens don't pee, they only poop.
- Yes, the eggs come out of the same hole (called the "vent") that the poop comes out of, which is why they sometimes look like they have, well, poop on them.
- Chickens are NOT smart animals. There brains are the size of peas. You will marvel at how dumb they are at times.
- Only a few vets in the East Bay see chickens in their practice (one is in Montclair). In terms of the price for an office visit, they are considered "exotic birds."
- They can be "herded" using a rake, a large stick, or a two year old walking behind them.
- They will be less skittish and easier to handle if they are handled frequently as chicks.
Further Resources
Books/Magazines
- Chickens In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide, by Rick and Gail Luttmann
- Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and other Small Spaces, by Barbara Kilarski
- Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care, Feeding, Facilities, by Gail Damerow.
- Backyard Poultry Magazine
- East Bay Area: http://groups.google.com/group/eastbaybackyardchickens
- City of Alameda: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/alamedabackyardchickens/
- www.backyardchickens.com
- Our site: http://www.paulandann.org/chickens (for, among other things, an "egg calendar" – an example of how many eggs our flock has laid in the past few years)
- Simply look for books on raising backyard chickens