Raising Chickens For Beginners: Are These Interesting Birds Right For You?
Learn everything you need to know about raising chickens for beginners. Make an informed decision about whether chickens are right for you!
Are Backyard Chickens For You?
Chickens are pretty low maintenance for a farm animal, and a fresh egg straight from the coop with its rich, orange yolk has no comparison to a store-bought chicken egg! If you are new to animals or homesteading, you won’t want to miss this!
How to Take Care of Chickens
Chickens need a secure, dry place safe from predators. Predators are often with biggest problem with raising chickens for beginners!
They also need access to food and water. Most chicken waterers are automatic and only need to filled every few days or less depending on how many chickens you have. Most chicken feeders are the same; they are large enough that they only need to be filled every few days or once a week.
If you are set up with the right housing and equipment, daily care can be as simple as gathering eggs and filling feed and water once or twice a week. The chicken house should be cleaned out a minimum of every few months.
Overall learning how to take care of chickens is fun and easy!
You can find a complete printable list of supplies you need to get started with chickens right here!
Raising Chickens for Eggs
Good laying breeds that are in their prime, with a good diet, should lay at least 2 eggs per 3 hens every day during the spring and summer. So if you get 12 hens from good laying breeds, you can expect 8 eggs or more a day.
In the fall and winter they will slow down on egg production, often drastically. When raising chickens for eggs, it’s a good idea to keep enough hens so that you’ll have extra eggs in the spring and summer to dry, freeze or water glass for fall and winter.
You can find a list of the best chickens for eggs right here on our CHICKEN BREED FINDER!
Replacing Laying Chickens
Chickens can only lay so many eggs, and usually slow down on laying after about two years. You’ll have to decide whether to keep your chickens permanently as pets, or to butcher your older hens and get new chicks every couple of years to keep up the egg production. This is sometimes the hardest decision to make when it comes to raising chickens for beginners.
Diet does make a difference in how long your chickens will lay eggs. Choosing a soy-free feed for your chickens can actually extend their productivity and their lifespan.
Chicken Coops
While there are many practical and fun chicken coop designs out there, you don’t have to buy a fancy prebuilt chicken coop to have chickens. You can convert an existing shed or an area in your barn into a chicken coop, or if you are handy you can even build one from scratch using scrap wood or pallets!
The Chicken House
Your chickens will need a dry place to sleep that is safe from predators. A chicken coop needs access doors for chickens and people, roosts, and nesting boxes.
Ideally the house portion of a chicken coop should have 3-4 square feet per bird, but most don’t consider that to be a hard and fast number. If they spend all of their waking hours outdoors, they will need less space than if they are going to be cooped up in the chicken coop part of the day. Keeping their feed and/or water outside can give them more space in the chicken coop.
While chickens can survive with less space than the suggested 3-4 square feet, giving them more space can minimize health and behavior problems. Happy, healthy chickens will lay lots of eggs!
The coop should have a small door and ramp for the chickens to go in and out, and a way for you to get in to gather eggs and clean the chicken coop.
The original wild chickens roosted on tree branches, and domestic chickens also like a place to roost up off the ground at night. In the chicken coop, a roost is usually a horizontal bar 1-5′ high and at least 10″ away from the wall it parallels. This is where your chickens will sleep.
The last thing your coop will need are some nesting boxes. Nesting boxes are typically around 12″x12″x12″, and provide a clean place off the ground for your chickens to lay their eggs. Nesting boxes are typically 18-36″ high, with another bar like a roost in front of them and slightly lower to help the chickens get to their boxes. You’ll need around 1 box per 4 hens.
Free Range Chickens
Free ranging chickens (letting your chickens run loose on your property) has many pros, and many cons.
Free range chickens can definitely be happier and healthier. They will also forage for bugs and weed seeds, and fertilize your property as they go. And something about free ranging is beautiful and idealistic when raising chickens for beginners.
The biggest downside to free range chickens is that predators can easily snatch your chickens, whether it’s a hawk, a fox, a family of raccoons, or even a neighbor’s dog.
Free range chickens can also wreak havoc in your garden and flower beds.
You may want to only free range your chickens on days you are home and can watch them. They should be locked up safely in their coop as soon as it is dark (if they know where home is, most chickens will put themselves to bed at dusk, so all you have to do is close the door!).
A safer option for many chicken owners is to give them a large outdoor run attached to their house, so they can enjoy the outdoors and be a little safer at the same time. This is a great set up for raising chickens for beginners!
Chicken Wire Fencing
A fenced chicken run is usually attached to their chicken house so they can go in and out as they please during the day. There is no set size that a chicken run needs to be, but like with their house, the more space you can provide, the happier and healthier they will be!
When raising chickens for beginners, it’s important to remember that chickens are easy prey for a myriad of larger animals. Keeping them safe from predators is often your hardest job as a chicken owner. A chicken run provides a place where the chickens can hang out outdoors, but be safer from predators at the same time.
Chicken wire fencing with small holes is the best at keeping chickens in and predators out, but you can also make a chicken run with 2×4″ woven wire fencing, chain link or picket.
Mature, heavy breed chickens will typically stay in 4′ tall chicken wire fencing, but younger chickens or light breeds can often fly 6′ or more. You can add a roof or netting over your chicken run to make it more secure for these breeds
Heat Lamps and Light for Chickens
Whether your flock needs heat and light is one of the biggest questions about raising chickens for beginners! Adult chickens do not need normally have to have a heat lamp, but if you live in a cold area using a heat lamp in winter can help prevent your roosters’ combs from frostbite.
Chickens naturally slow down or stop laying in the fall as they gow through a molt (shed and grow new feathers).
They will also slow down or stop laying when there is less daylight in the winter. While you can’t do anything about molting, you can add a light bulb in their coop that turns on for a few hours in the morning or evening during the winter months. You can find out more about artificial light for chickens here.
If you prefer not to use a light, Buff Orpingtons are a great breed that will often continue to lay a few eggs in the winter even without extra lighting.
Raising Chicks or Starting With Adult Birds?
Chicks are much cheaper (not to mention cuter!) and you will generally have more breeds to choose from, but raising chicks does require some special care. They will take 5-6 months to begin laying eggs.
Starting with adult chickens, you’ll want to make sure that they are healthy and that you aren’t buying someone’s old hens that are for sale because they have stopped laying. The advantage to starting with mature hens is that you can have fresh eggs as soon as they settle in to their new home – a few days to a few weeks.
Buying young pullets (hens) from a local breeder is a good compromise!
How to Care for Baby Chicks
Most feed stores stock a variety of baby chicks in the spring.
It is hard even for an expert to tell whether a baby chick is male or female. Baby chicks sold as females will often have a few roosters mixed in; 10-20% roosters is not uncommon. Baby chicks sold as “straight run” are a mix of males and females. “Sex-linked” chicks are a cross between two different breeds of different colors. The breeder can tell as soon as the chicks hatch whether they are male or female by their color, so gender predictions are often 100% accurate. Sex-linked baby chicks sold as females should not have any roosters mixed in.
You can also mail-order baby chicks to get a better price and a wider breed selection, or if you want to order at a different time of year when your feed store does not stock chicks. Mail order chicks usually have a minimum order of 15-25 baby chicks. They typically ship Priority Mail on the date you choose. Chicks are not delivered to your mailbox, but you will get a call from the post office early in the morning to come pick them up when they arrive.
My favorite mail order company for chicks is McMurray Hatchery. McMurray has a large selection of healthy baby chicks, with excellent customer service. They will send a refund for any chicks that don’t make it.
Baby chicks need a warm, dry place safe from predators (including your neighborhood cat!). A plastic tote or water trough work well. You can also arrange hay bales in a square to corral your chicks.
Brand new chicks need a heat lamp providing a temperature around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Each week, the heat lamp is raised a little to lower the temperature by 5 degrees until they get down to the temperature it is outdoors.
A safer but more expensive alternative to a heat lamp is a heating platform that mimics the safety of a mother hen.
Starting with Adult Chickens
Hen – adult female chicken
Rooster – adult male chicken
Pullet – young female chicken
Cockerel – young male chicken
When raising chickens for beginners, adults can be a little more forgiving and less labor intensive to start with.
While adult chickens can be purchased online, they are much harder to find and expensive to ship. Most chicken keepers only purchase adults locally. You can look on Craigslist, your feed store’s bulletin board, or local Facebook groups for farmers or chicken keepers.
When purchasing adult birds, make sure you aren’t getting someone’s old hens that are for sale because they are no longer laying well!
Pullets that are 2-5 months old are often the best buy, because you can be reasonably sure you are getting females, and won’t have to deal with caring for chicks. You’ll also have a much shorter wait to get eggs than if you started with baby chicks. Most chicken breeds start laying at 5-6 months of age.
Do You Need a Rooster?
If you live in town, you’ll have to check city ordinances. Many cities allow hens, but not roosters.
Another frequent question I hear when it comes to raising chickens for beginners is whether you have to have a rooster. Your hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs.
The advantages of keeping a rooster are that you can hatch your hen’s eggs if you choose, and a rooster also will help protect your flock from danger.
If you do choose to keep roosters, you’ll want around 1 rooster per 10 hens. Too many roosters will scratch up the hen’s backs from too much breeding.
Best Chickens for Beginners
There are so many fun breeds available, it’s hard to choose. Best this is one of the most exciting parts about raising chickens for beginners. You don’t have to stick to one breed. Pick out a few different chicken breeds to start with and find out for yourself which ones you like best.
Heavy Breed Chickens
In most areas, heavy, or dual-purpose chicken breeds are the most popular for backyard flocks. They are very hardy and tend to be more friendly than lighter breeds. These are some of the best chickens for beginners!
They will eat a little more than lighter breeds, but also do better in the cold. Many heavy breeds will hatch their own chicks in the spring if you allow them (read How to Hatch Eggs With a Broody Hen). This a really fun project when it comes to raising chickens for beginners!
Heavy breeds are also known as “dual-purpose” because they are good layers, but also are large enough that extra roosters can be used as meat birds.
Some popular heavy breeds include Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Wyandottes, Brahmas, Delawares, Rhode Island Reds, Dominiques, Marans, New Hampshires and Welsummers. Most heavy breeds lay brown eggs. Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas lay beautiful blue or turquoise eggs. Olive eggers lay olive-green eggs. All of these are among the best chickens for beginners.
Rhode Island Reds are usually the best dual-purpose layers, while Buff Orpingtons are the most likely to hatch their own chicks.
You can find a list of dual-purpose breeds with stats right here: Chicken Breeds: Dual Purpose
Light Breed Chickens
Often from warm areas in the Mediterranean, light breeds are more heat tolerant, but don’t do as well in the cold. They eat less feed and many light breeds lay more eggs than their heavier cousins.
They are, however, less friendly and more likely to fly the coop than their heavier cousins. When raising chickens for beginners, keep in mind that lighter breeds usually don’t make the best pets. Think of them more as hard working farm animals!
Most light breeds lay white eggs.
The most popular light breed chicken, used commercially for years, is the Leghorn. Other light breeds include the Hamburg, Lakenvelders, Blue Andalusians, Dorkings, Fayoumis and Polish, among many more!
You can find a list of the best laying breed chickens right here: Chicken Breeds: Layers
Hybrid Chicken Breeds
Sex-links and Stars are two examples of hybrid chickens, a cross between two different breeds. Hybrids are some of the best, most efficient layers.
They rarely go broody or try to hatch their own chicks, and will not breed true if they do, so they aren’t a good option if you are wanting to hatch some of your eggs.
They can also be more aggressive and less friendly than purebred heavy chickens.
Meat Chickens
Most modern meat chickens are hybrids. They are artificially bred and designed to grow to maximum size in a short amount of time. Most meat birds cannot survive to adulthood because their weight soon causes leg problems.
If you are wanting to raise a batch of chicks for meat, hybrid meat birds are a great choice. Full size chickens can be harvested in as little as 6 weeks!
If, however, you are wanting birds to lay eggs or for pets, you’ll want to avoid these breeds!
Chicken Food
There are so many options available for chicken food now, you can choose plain old feed store feed, non-GMO chicken food, or even certified organic.
Types of Chicken Food
If you are buying chicks, you’ll want to give them a chick starter, which has around 20% protein and doesn’t have added calcium that could damage a chick’s kidneys. Many chick starters have medication added. If you want to raise your chickens organically, you’ll want to look for one that does not.
Once chicks are around 8 weeks old, they can remain on chick starter, or switch to a grower feed that will have around 18% protein.
When chickens reach laying age (5-6 months), they can be transitioned to regular layer feed, which will have around 16% protein. If their chicken food does not have added calcium, they’ll need access to oyster shell or aragonite. Heavy breeds will often lay better if you add a little more protein to the 16% feed, such as grubs and worms, fish meal, dried peas or sunflower seeds.
In addition to buying chicken food, you can grow your own sunflower seeds, field corn, squash and greens for your chickens right in your backyard!
Are Chickens Vegetarian?
Are chickens vegetarian? When it comes to raising chickens for beginners, this is one of the most frequent questions I hear! Chickens are natural scavengers; the original wild chickens ate bugs, grubs and meat from dead animals.
While many people like the idea of feeding their chickens vegetarian, birds will grow and lay better when they have some form of animal protein, especially fish meal, grubs and worms. Backyard chickens can also have fishing or hunting scraps, or even some beef tallow during the winter. Avoid feeding your birds any form of chicken or other kinds of poultry.
Should Chickens Have Soy?
Soy is popular as a chicken feed because it is cost-efficient and increases both weight gain and egg production.
Many backyard chicken keepers prefer not to feed soy, however. Eating soy fed chicken and eggs can cause health problems in some people and affect human hormones. Soy can also shorten the time of productivity and lifespan of a chicken.
If you decide not to feed your chickens soy, there are many feeds now labeled “soy-free” available in feed stores.
Saving Money on Chicken Feed
Chicken feed can get expensive, especially if you are trying to go the organic route. Here are a few tips to save on the feed bill.
- Give your chickens table scraps – they can have most vegetable and fruit scraps, as well as bread and dairy products. Take it easy on the onions and other spices, as they can flavor your eggs. Chickens do not like citrus fruits, and cannot have avocado pits or any part of the avocado that touched the pit.
- Give your chickens garden scraps and weeds – chickens appreciate some fresh lettuce, spinach, kale, alfalfa, clover, dandelions and any many more plants. When raising chickens for beginner, just do your research to make sure you don’t give them something poisonous!
- Grow some of your chickens’ feed – check out 6 Garden Crops to Grow For Your Chickens
- Look for local farmers that sell feed – I was able to find a local, non-GMO layer feed for even cheaper than the regular feed store brand.
Raising Chickens for Beginners
I hope you found this article about raising chickens for beginners helpful! If you would like to learn more about raising chickens for beginners, I highly recommend the book, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. This is by far the best reference book I have found for chicken keepers, with everything you need to know and the answers to just about any question you could think of!
And finally, you can find a printable list of supplies geared toward raising chickens for beginners right here: What Do You Need to Get Started With Backyard Chickens?
-Kait
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