Are You Ready for Raising Chickens?

Chickens are often considered the gateway animal to homesteading. However, just because they are one of the smallest livestock animals to start raising doesn’t mean they are the easiest! Your modern pioneer journey can start even without any livestock animals, but maybe this year you are considering adding a flock of chickens to your homestead. Is your homestead ready for chickens? Are you ready for raising chickens? Before you rush off to the feed store or start browsing the online hatchery pages, consider the following factors and apply them to your homestead to see if you are truly ready to start the fun and exciting experience of raising a flock of chickens!

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#1. Are Chickens Legal?

If you live within or even near city limits you will want to consider if raising chickens is legal for where you live. Make sure you check out the local and city laws before planning for your future flock. Look for zoning regulations (know your property’s zone) and municipal codes that apply to your property. Here are some common restrictions you may need to look into:

• flock size
• are roosters allowed
• building permits & coop regulations or inspections
• property boundaries
• livestock permits or fees
• waste management regulations

If you do not see anything that says you can’t have chickens, don’t assume that you can have chickens. Many times local zoning document contain ‘permissive use codes’. If a permissive use code doesn’t specifically state that you can own chickens, they you should assume that you can’t legally own chickens in your zone. The presence of a ‘Land Use Table’ often indicates that the document contains permissive use codes.

What zone you live in will often dictate what kind of restrictions apply to owning a flock. Land that is zoned as agricultural usually has few restrictions on raising chickens. Land that is zoned as commercial or residential usually has more restrictions when it comes to raising livestock.

#2. How to Build a Chicken Coop

Do you have the time, money, and equipment to construct proper housing for your flock? There are many pre-built coops out there that you can buy and have delivered to your house or you can choose to build your own chicken coop.

Consider the following necessities when planning to construct a chicken coop:

• Space– allow a minimum of 1.5-2 square feet per standard laying hen
• Feeders– make sure the feeder can accommodate the number of birds that will be eating from it and the amount of food they will need for at least a day and a half
• Waters– easy to clean waters are always a must and also be sure to have the proper amount of waterers for the number of birds you get
• Roosts– provide enough roosting space (usually 8-12 inches per bird) so that they can safely roost at night
• Nests– nests, or nesting boxes, are essential for raising a laying flock (allow 1 nest for every 5 hens)
• Light and Ventilation– a coop should have good ventilation for proper air flow and plenty of windows to let in natural light
• Litter– litter that can easily be cleaned or removed is a great asset for keeping your coop clean
• Predator Proof– the chicken coop should keep your flock safe from predators

#3. What do Chickens Eat? How Much do Chickens Eat?

Make sure you have access to the proper rations for raising your homestead flock. Check a local mill or feed store and see if they sell starter/grower ration, layer ration, and crushed oyster grit. Also make sure you have proper funds set aside for purchasing feed for your birds.

A 40lb bag of good quality, organic layer ration usually costs between $30-$45. Non-organic feed typically costs less, more like $18-$25 per 50lb bag. My flock of 24 chickens go through 100lbs of feed in roughly 1 month. Chickens are going to eat more during the cold months and less during the warm months.

Another thing to consider is if you are going to free-range or pasture your flock. Free-ranging your chickens allows them free access to your yard so that they can forage for plants and bugs. Pasturing your chickens means you have a large fenced in area that has grass or grains growing in it for your chickens to roam through. Both pasturing and free-ranging comes with challenges, such as:

• Predators– free roaming birds make an easy snack for a hungry predator
• Wandering– chickens can learn boundaries, but be prepared for the occasional trespasser or wanderer
• Coop Training– you will need to teach your chickens to come back to their coop at dusk or teach them to go in when you shake a cup of seeds or mealworms

Free-ranging your flock or pasture raising your birds does help reduce feed costs since your chickens will forage for part of their diet. If you want to get a rough estimate for how much it would cost to raise baby chicks, check out my post on Raising Chicks Expenses.

#4. How Long Does it Take to Care for Chickens?

Raising baby chicks to adulthood takes time, as does raising any baby animal. Be sure you are willing to spend time each morning and evening to give your chicks food and water and to clean their brooder. Even when your chicks are old enough to move out to their coop, you will still have to clean the litter, fill their feeder, and provide fresh water for them at least once every day.

Taking care of your flock does not have to be time consuming however. I do some chores in the morning (cleaning up droppings, letting them out into their enclosure, tidying the coop) and some chores in the evening (refilling food and water, closing doors). Both evening and morning chores takes me no longer than 10-15 minutes each.

I do a few weekly chores as well, such as cleaning up their enclosure and emptying the poop bucket. At least once or twice a year the whole coop should be completely cleaned out, sanitized, and reorganized.

You will also need to invest time into your flock when a bird gets sick or has an injury. Researching, treating, and healing all take time and patience. Chickens can get sick or injured at the drop of a hat, and other chickens are not necessarily nice to sick or injured flock mates. You should be ready and prepared to treat and quarantine any sick or injured birds.

#5. How Long do Chickens Live?

Although there has been many a brood of chicks raised without fatalities, at some point in your chicken raising hobby you will face the cycle of life. Baby chicks are especially fragile, but even full grown birds succumb to either mystery deaths or one of the many poultry diseases. Do not be dis-heartened though! With the proper care and housing chickens can live for over 10 years, some even to 20 years!

The average lifespan of a laying hen is between 3-6 years. Chicken breeds developed for production purposes will have shorter lifespans than heritage chicken breeds.

Good biosecurity practices are essential for keeping a healthy flock. There are many poultry diseases that chickens can get, so it is a good idea to do some research on the various illnesses. I highly recommend have The Chicken Health Handbook in your homestead library for easily referencing a variety of chicken ailments. If you at least have some knowledge of how to identify an illness and treat a sick chicken, then you may be able to prevent some casualties from happening.

#6. How Much Work is Caring for Chickens?

Caring for and raising any kind of animal requires work, and a homestead flock is no exception. Be prepared to get up every morning to let them out, clean their coop, and feed and water them. As well as making sure to close them all in the coop at night to keep them safe from predators.

Having an automatic chicken coop door installed helps with not having to manually open and close the chicken door, but they do cost a pretty penny. Consider if you are physically able to haul water for your flock or carry feed bags to storage bins. Of course, you can always use a wheelbarrow and other equipment to make the task easier!

Plan on cleaning out the chicken coop completely at least once year. This will require you to haul out all the litter, dust the coop, scrub the feeders and waterers, scrape the roosts and/or droppings boards, and vacuum out cracks and crevices.

Seasonal chores will need to be done as well. Some seasonal chores include:

• Winter: winterizing the enclosure and setting up a water heater system (for northern homesteaders)
• Spring: taking down winter preparations and cleaning the coop
• Summer: hauling lots of water
• Fall: winter preparations and cleaning the coop

Raising a homestead flock will be a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly commitment!

#7. Are You Commited to Your Flock?

Caring for your flock will take commitment. Think about your work hours or current schedule and make sure you have enough time to care for your flock before rushing off to an activity. If you like going on vacations, have someone who would be a reliable chicken sitter for your flock while you are away. 

Chicks require quite a bit of commitment and will need close attention for the first few weeks of their life. Plan on being home daily to care for your baby chicks. Being committed to keeping a clean coop and healthy hens will ensure that you have a happy homestead flock that is productive for you.

Try to get other family members on board too. Having somebody else who knows how to care for chickens is very helpful when it comes to daily chores, a busy life, and keeping chickens! There are many chicken chores that kids can do to help. Raising chickens can be an educational, beneficial, and a fun experience for everyone!

Think about how many times you get home late, have to leave early, have a booked weekend, or a packed day when factoring in time to care for your homestead flock.

#8. How Many Eggs do Chickens Lay?

Are you planning to get chickens so you can a source of home-raised, fresh eggs? Fresh eggs are a great benefit of raising your own homestead flock! However, how well a hen lays depends on a variety of factors. Here are some factors that will affect the laying ability of a hen:

• Breed– chicken breeds developed for egg production will be the best layers
• Age– hens lay the best between 1-2 years of age, after which their production rate declines
• Health– a decline in health will immediately halt egg laying
• Weather– sudden changes in the weather can affect how well a hen lays
• Light– hens need between 12-16 hours of light per day to lay
• Molting– all hens over 1 year of age will stop laying during the fall molt
• Broodiness– if a hen decides to go broody, she will stop laying

Most chicken breeds that are considered excellent egg layers will lay between 250-300 eggs per year. Chicken breeds that are known to be good egg layers will produce an average of 200-250 eggs per year.

You should also know that eggs should be considered a seasonal food. Hens lay the best during the spring and summer, as nature intended them to do. Don’t plan on getting a constant supply of fresh eggs all year round from your homestead flock.

During times of high egg production, make sure you preserve extra eggs for when production starts to decline during the fall and winter!

Are You Ready?

Now, after you have analyzed all those considerations and if you find yourself thinking ‘I can problem solve and be committed to my flock’, then you are ready to add chickens to your homestead! They will provide you with endless hours of entertainment and hopefully lots of eggs! Adding a flock to your homestead is a great next step in your modern pioneer journey. You will certainly learn a ton about raising chickens and living a more sustainable lifestyle. Once you have decided that raising chickens is right for your homestead, your next step will be to plan….

• what chicken breeds you want to get
• where and how to build a chicken coop
• how to set up a brooder and raise chicks

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! You will also want to be sure to join our modern pioneer newsletter so you can get resources that will help you raise a successful homestead flock!

by Alexa