My wife wrote this paper for the state extension service.  Should answer many of your beginning chicken questions.



Chickens can be wonderful pets, incredibly entertaining and they can even make your breakfast   However, some common concerns people have about raising chickens include them running wild in the street, being smelly, noisy and attracting predators.  The City of Boulder has allowed chickens for a while now, and I’ve never seen one running down Pearl Street Mall.  Smelly? Not necessarily.  Noisy?  They are much quieter than a barking dog.  Attracting predators?  Well those predators are already here and in any city.  With proper and responsible management most of the concerns raised can be avoided and anyone can raise chickens.  However, chickens aren’t appropriate for everybody.  Not everybody is going to want them or be able to care for them.

Most cities permit up to 6 chickens and in Boulder County, 50 chickens are the equivalent of one Animal Unit (AU).  Most cities have differing laws on how many chickens are allowed in a backyard, and you should check with your appropriate city agency for you to see if they are allowed and if so what conditions are placed upon them.  

Egg production –So how many chickens do you need to feed your family? First, chickens are flock animals so don’t ever get only one chicken.  Chickens can lay 1 egg a day once they reach adulthood at approximately 18-22 weeks old.  Their egg cycle is approximately 25 hours.  They are born with approximately 1000 ovum, meaning that they have the potential of laying only about 1000 eggs in their lifetime.  As they get older they also decrease in productivity. So you can expect good production from a chicken for only about 2 to 2.5 years.  They will for longer but a lot few eggs making them less economical to keep because their food ration is still the same.

Some chickens are bred to be high producing layers like the Leghorn, and the Red and Black Star breeds and you will get nearly an egg a day from them.  Some of the more traditional dual purpose breeds like the Orpingtons lay fewer, 3-5 eggs a week on average.  If you have an average mixed breed flock, plan on a 75% lay rate everyday; so if you want 4 eggs a day you should have approximately 6 laying chickens.  

Just like us, chickens do not produce well when they are too hot or too cold.  They can also slow down or completely stop production in the winter because they require about 14 hours of light a day.  Some people supplement their light by adding a small light to their coop that comes on early in the morning to extend their day.  Others choose to let their chickens have their natural rest over the winter.  Other things can affect their rate of lay such as stress, molting, health, age, weather, lack of water, etc.  

Note that you do not need a rooster for the chickens to lay eggs.  Chickens will lay just fine without a rooster and most cities don’t allow roosters anyway.   The only difference is that without a rooster, the egg is not fertilized and will not hatch.

Space - How much space a chicken requires depends on the breed of chicken you choose; heavy breeds like Orpingtons, Rocks, Australorps, and Jersey Giants require 4 sq ft. of coop space per bird while regular size breeds like Leghorns, Red Stars or Araucanas require only about 3 sq ft per bird and Bantam breeds only require 2 sq. ft.  

The rule of thumb for run space (the fenced area that chickens can play in) should be about 10 sq feet per bird.  This gives them room to dust bathe, play and stretch their wings a bit.   The more they are out in the run the less they are inside soiling their coop so it’s a good idea to have a nice run for them to spend their day in.  

You might think you can get away with a smaller area per bird, but that’s when trouble starts.  Cramped chickens are not happy chickens.  If chickens are overcrowded in a small space they start picking at each other causing bleeding and possibly even death.  The coop will start to smell bad as litter management is difficult if there are too many birds in a small space.  


Safety - Protecting your chickens from harm is an important responsibility.  Coops should be good solid predator-safe houses.  They need to be safe from dogs, foxes, snakes, skunks and coyotes (yes, there are coyotes even in the city).  Many people have lost most their flock due to flimsily built coops and runs.  Chickens will naturally return to the roost at dusk. So all you need to do is shut and lock the door after the sun goes down.  It’s important that you lock them safely in their coops at dusk.  No exceptions here, it only takes leaving the door open once to lose your entire flock.  

The runs also need to be secure and need to be safe from flying and climbing predators such as hawks and owls.  The modern day chicken wire has become too flimsy to keep out most predators.  I’d suggest that you use welded wire and bury about a foot of wire into the ground or fold it out about a foot along the ground around the run to deter digging predators.

Feed - A good quality feed is critical for chickens.  Chicks need a different feed than laying chickens.  Baby chicks need to be eating starter feed until about 18 weeks of age.  This feed is low in calcium which they don’t currently need and feeding them the layer ration will give them too much calcium that could endanger their kidneys.  

Laying chickens need a good quality layer ration; this will give them the added necessary nutrients needed for egg production.  Even with the added nutrients they will probably need additional calcium for shell strength.  Most people feed crushed oyster shells in a separate feeder so they can eat what they need when they need it

Water is a critical part of chicken feeding.  It’s important that they always have plenty of clean fresh water available.  Never let them run out as it could take a week or more to recover after only a very short time without water.  Laying eggs uses a lot of water, letting a chicken run out of water can easily and quickly lead to death.

Scratch is the chicken equivalent of candy to humans.  Feeding just scratch grains is not a sufficient source of nutrients for chickens.   It’s also not good to feed too much scratch in the summer as it may cause them to overheat.  Chickens love scratch and if you need to move them around, just throw a little scratch wherever you want them to go.

Chickens love treats, they eat a lot of the leftovers and scraps from the kitchen and they LOVE green grass.  Letting them out to play in the backyard or pasture is good for them and hugely entertaining to watch.  Free ranging may not be allowed by city ordinance so giving them handfuls of green grass will do.

Litter management - With proper management, you shouldn’t have to change the litter more than just a few times a year.  Many people use pine shavings, they absorb the moisture and have the fresh pine smell.  The chickens keep the littler fluffed up and you can aid in that by throwing a handful of scratch in the litter and they’ll search for seeds.  Pine shavings also work well in the nesting boxes and you get much cleaner eggs from using shavings in the nesting boxes.  

Other people like to use straw.  The problem with straw is it gets smashed down and with the chicken droppings adding to it constantly you end up with something close to adobe. It’s very hard to clean up once it gets to this state.

With shavings you just put down about 4” or so, and as they soil the bedding, just mix it up and add a few inches of fresh shavings.  This is actually a very beneficial way of handling the litter.  It’s called the Deep Litter Method and I’d recommend you research it more as you decide how you want to handle the litter issue.

Noise- Chickens are not very noisy.  They do bawk and squawk when they lay an egg, and I don’t blame them.  But that’s about all you hear out of them.  They are much quieter than barking dogs for sure and because they don’t lay at night, they make no noise after dark.  There are however, some breeds that are noisier than others or the rare chicken who just can’t stop talking but those are exception rather than the rule.   Roosters, of course, like to crow, whenever it is light out.  They are very proud of being roosters and want the whole world to know it.  But since most city ordinances don’t allow Roosters, this usually isn’t a problem.

Weather- Temperature can play havoc on chickens. There are some breeds that are better suited for cold winter weather than others.  Your major concern here (Colorado front range) is keeping the water from freezing; adding a red heat lamp over the water supply to keep it thawed and also helps keep the coop a little warmer.  You can also purchase heated waterers or heat pans that go under them.

Heat can be more of a problem than cold; after all they do have feathers to stay warm.  Make sure they have a shaded area to get out of the sun, plenty of fresh water and well ventilated coop.  Avoid feeding them scratch in the summer.  

How to choose a chicken? There is a lot of information on choosing the right Chicken breed to meet your objective.  Once you decide what your goal is, whether is be just for fun, egg production, or meat or both, then you can find many sources that will outline some of the basic breeds that meet that criteria.  The best chart I’ve found that outlines most of these traits is the Henderson Chicken Chart and it is available online at:  http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html .

There is much to learn and know about raising chickens.  More than can be covered in this short article.  I recommend that you take the time to research chickens to decide if they are a good fit for you or not.  It took me about 2 years of research before I managed to beat my husband over the head with all my knowledge so he would let me start my chicken venture.  

Chickens don’t have to be as difficult as some people think.  For those who have the minimal time and energy to put into raising them it can be very rewarding.  They do require proper management to avoid the pit falls but their eggs are wonderful and fresh and you don’t have to go to the store to get them.  

Resources:
Storey’s Guide to Rising Chickens by Gail Damarow
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/Avian/pfs36.pdf
http://www.poultry.uga.edu/extension/tips/index.htm

Thank You

Pretty good!  OK, very good!

The only thing I would add is do not get the idea that chickens are as hard to raise and keep as some books might make you think...  if they were that tough they would have become extinct long ago!  Give chicks a good heat lamp, plenty of water and mash, and enough room to get away from the heat lamp, and they will regulate themselves.

Great article! If we can raise chickens, anyone can. We have 3 that we got last April and each one is a reliable egg layer. We have 2 Golden Comets and 1 Araucana, so we get 2 brown eggs and 1 blue egg each day pretty much. We are looking at getting maybe 3 or 4 more birds this spring, I think that's about all we will have room for. It's  nice to have egg source in the backyard from a self-reliance standpoint . Also it provides some responsibilities for my sons, they are pretty motivated about taking care of them.

I have 6 hens and got my first two eggs yesterday and today. They are a little over 5 months old.

I'm really enjoying it, the eggs have just become an added treat to watching those clowns The only thing that concerns me is extremely cold weather and the fear of putting a heat lamp in the coop. Something about a heat lamp in a coop full of pine shavings and dust just doesn't trip my trigger.[>:/]

I'll be switching them to layer feed after this bag of chick scratch runs out. They will eat anything. I even threw a turkey carcus in there after Thanksgiving and they stripped it to the bone

Outstanding post !

We had chickens when the kids were young...They were great entertainment and provided great eggs.

The best part was letting them out into the yard...catching bugs, snakes and rodents...and then the damn

rooster...well that's another story.

Us too, not an issue.  When it gets down below 10, the water freezes up, and that's a pain, cheaper to run some heat lamps.  



Actually, I know the answer to this.  Roosters are the ultimate alpha males.  If you aren't the head dog, they are.  If it attacks you, kick the shit out of it.  Not really, but make it know who is boss, who is the head cock.  It has to be you.  Every once in a while Tyrone (our big black orphington rooster) comes after me, and he gets flying lessons across the run.  He'll either back down or he'll get more.

NEVER back down against a rooster, they then know they are head cock.  And that is their job after all, to be head cock.  YOU have to be the head cock and they can do it when you aren't there.

Also, NEVER let them mate with you standing there, if they start to mate (and holy crap roosters mate a lot, I know what I want to be reincarnated as) with you standing there, break it up.  You have to be alpha male.  Another rooster would never allow a lesser cock to mate with it standing there.

Some, a few, roosters never learn, and they have to go, but most will do fine with this.  Roosters are just being roosters, you just need to be a bigger meaner rooster until they learn who is boss.

I have a light bulb on a timer for the requisite daylight...  but I use a heater base for the water and that is all the heat they get overnight, plus the water does not freeze.

tagscribe

I was planning on waiting about a year until I move out of the burbs to raise cickens but I might just start this year.  Now, if someone posts a link for a good and hopefully easy to build chicken coop that would really inspire me.

check out backyardchickens.com, the arfcom of the chicken world.
They have a whole forum dedicated to coops.

Learn something new everyday.  I picked up a half a dozen hens at a local aution, but the haven't laid one egg since I got them.  I knew they didn't produced as many during the winter, but they must be played out.  

Might just end up in the stew pot

There is a local family farm here that has chickens. They have a "eggs for sale" sign out front, and every now and then they have a "used chickens for sale" sign.

I always get a chuckle when I drive by and see that.

Did you read the part about 14 hrs of light/day?

I've been running 1 20W floursescent tube for 14 hrs/day for YEARS.
And it was FREE!

Speaking of free, don't get too worked up about building teh "perfect" chicken coop.
And old car will work.
Truck cap.
ANYTHING, be creative.
Just secure it.
I made mine out of scrap wood (mostly the packing crate that a 1,000 fuel tank came in).
Door is a guillotine style, so I can close them in at night.
All salvaged/scrap.
Had it for at least 11-12 years now, and it's holding up fine.

My first 3 boilers are in the freezer and crockpot right now.. dinner here we come

I picked up a set of solar sidewalk lights a couple years ago that had 3 lights with a little solar panel and rechargable batteries. I installed one of the lights in the coop and it stays on pretty much all night. It has 3 small LED bulbs in it and doesn't put out a lot of light, pretty much just enough to see. It comes on at dusk and the batteries pull down enough so that it doesn't have any light around 4 in the morning. Since it isn't very bright I figure it doesn't hurt to be on as long as it is.

It took her two years to convince you to get chickens.  What kind of supportive husband are you .  Great job on the article.  I've been talking to my wife about some chickens in the spring.  Might take two years for that to happen too.

Had almost 40 on our property at one point. They can be a lot of work to look after sometimes (mites and the like).

Once the predators went to town on us one year, the entire flock was wiped out in a matter of a couple of months, no matter what we did to try to protect them..

We'll be starting over again soon I'm sure.. I really miss the fresh eggs, and even more the lack of insects..

c0
____________________________
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thanks for every one above posting. great info in theses post. we live in north west AR it gets in the 20s and some times lower but not for very long. would we need some kind of heat to keep them warm in the winter?

thanks for the great posts

stuck

No
when it's only down in the 20's we don't bother.
They are feathered after all
and a properly sized coop lets them stay warm inside.

Weve been cold here,  in the 20's no heat in the coop and as long as its not a downpoor there pretty much runnning around rain or not.  They seem to think its all good.  They seem to drink less when its cold, but they do eat a bit more.  I belive the eggs i collected this morning were frozen at least they felt like it,  The hens were in the run, hell with the eggs they thought.  There was one broken one that was slushy that might have been laid late yesterday and froze in the nest box.  They seem to lay in the boxes at the bottem and roost overnight in the top boxes or the purches in the coop.

We currently have approximately 75 layers on deep litter.  I only provide a lamp for light.  We had a low temperature of -30 and the hens showed no signs of the cold bothering them.  Currently we get about 40 eggs a day.  

Deep litter is the best way to house chickens in the winter.  We start with about 12" of wood chips and add as needed throughout the winter.  There is no ammonia smell.

In the summer we raise several hundred broilers free range.  We are adding turkeys to the mix this summer.

I've been trying to talk my dad into getting a couple chickens, thanks for sharing the wife's write up. The email is on it's way.

Excellent post- Thanks!

Thank you for the excellent post, and all of the good responses. I would really like to see some pictures.

We had meat chickens when I was about 6 or 7 years old. The raccoons ate more of them than we did. I don't ever remember seeing any eggs.

We live on 2.5 acres and I think I could build a small coup and a run. The only thing that I worry about is the ticks, we have more than our fair share. Is there any way to spray them or maybe a "frontline" type product for chickens?

I believe chickens find ticks quite tasty, I know Guineas do

I just received loaner incubator and 24 Auracana (green) fertilized eggs.  I also have 5 Delaware pullets and 5 Rhode Island Red pullets reserved for me at local feed store.

I plan on building a large chicken ark/tractor to house what I hope will end up being about 15 laying hens (and maybe another 10+ four to five month old chickens in the freezer).

My daughter and I are the only egg eaters in the home so I guess I'll have lot's of fresh eggs to sell to coworkers (and give to neighbors to keep them quiet).

This is probably much larger than I should attempt my first time out, but then again that's how I roll!

Excellent source of info.  Answers a lot of questions I had.

Same here. Thanks for the post.

tag

Thanks for this post.  It answered a lot of questions I had.

Had a casualty.  One of our chicks died suddenly WHILE WE WATCHED.  Wondering if any of you can shed some light.

They are three weeks old.  Two Auraucana, two Barred PR, and two Golden Comets.  Had company over and took them in to  show the chickens.  My wife picked up one of the Auracanas and it had a seizure and fell over dead!  Is this common?  Could it have been scared to death?  It appeared healthy, as do the other birds.  Any insight appreciated.

Thanks!

I would like blueprints for a really good coop.  I've looked on several websites and  can't really find what I'm looking for without spending money for the plans.
R/Gary

Thanks for the bump - I hadn't seen this yet.

And thanks to Mrs. BozemanMT for sharing the info.

Thank you, lots of very useful info here.

thanks for the info

To keep this going and add a pic as requested above...

I am a rookie chicken farmer and purchased four Rhode Island Red pullets and four Ideal 236 strain pullets (leghorn variant).  In addition, I hatched 13 Ameraucana chicks and kept six of them (gave away seven).

Here are a couple pics of my little flock (clutch?)

Here is one of the Ameraucana roosters at six weeks old:



Here is is at eight weeks old (today):



Here are a couple pictures of 'Blondie" - as a chick this one was all blonde but has turned out to be all white - we think he is a rooster also:





The Ameraucanas are really very pretty - here are a couple shots of the remaining four we kept:

Here are a couple pictures of our Rhode Island Reds; they are between 7-8 weeks old here:

And lastly, some pictures of our Ideal 236 strain cross layers (leghorn variants):

I started out two years ago when a buddy gave me 5 laying hens.

Today, I have approximately 340 here.

Cool pics, thanks for those...

And thanks to the OP's wife for the info.
Now its time for coop construction.

Feral,

Did you ever screen the vents between the rafters?  
Some pulleys and weights might be nice to assist with holding the flaps open, vs propping them open.
Did you scatter some kind of bedding on the floor?  Have you needed to clean it out yet?
Having the bottom up off the ground should help keep critters from denning underneath but does it make it harder to heat?
Can you just raise a door and reach in to collect eggs?  The chickens won't jump out?
How did your flock fare over the winter I noticed you get fresh eggs)?
Have you got some young ones going for the pot at this time?