To bring a little of the farm to your home, raising chickens in your backyard not only offer fresh eggs daily, it gives children great pets and little fluffy chicks are absolutely the most adorable to play with and watch as they grow.
It sounds easy but before you set out to buy your new egg laying friends there are a few things to plan first, starting with plans for a coop and you can build one yourself or purchase a ready-made one. Building one will be exciting and can be made from scrap wood although purchasing one could save about 60 hours of labor.
It is very exciting to start off on this venture but it is important to also take into consideration other pets you have or neighborhood pets like cat and dogs that wander into your property as no one want to see one of their new pets getting killed.
To select your chickens and get them the correct food is much easier if you find a local chicken expert as they could direct you towards the best breed for your area, give great tips about feed and other general information that you might not think about straight away.
Selecting your chickens will also involve deciding on hens or roosters and while the rooster could wake you up with a great cock-a-doodle-doo early in the morning, getting too many will lead to fights as they love to show off in front of the hens, but then it is a good thing to have at least one to protect the hens, they needed for egg fertilization and then they do have the most stunning feathers.
You might have to do some research on chicken breeds to find out their egg producing and once you found them eggs can be fetched daily or even twice a day, depending on a number of chickens you start off with. They could be a bit smellier than you thought at first but throwing down straw keeps the odor down plus fly traps could keep flies under control.
In exchange for taking care of the smelly side, you will enjoy supremely good eggs, much darker yolks and have fresh eggs for breakfast is an unbeatable experience. Watching the chickens play in your own backyard is a priceless experience and brings comfort to those who dream of living on a farm.
Hens lay eggs for around two years before their production declines and the cost of feed is greater than the money you save in eggs and benefits of having chickens is the love you have for pets, plus you can experience the cycle of new chick to full grown chickens over and over again.
At first the road might be rocky but as you learn all about breed, size, colour, best feed and get to know each chickens identity it becomes a backyard adventure, teaches your kids about farm animal, to take care of animals and the joy of being a bit closer to country living, which generally escape city or town kids.
Backyard chickens give you a new Zen television experience and it’s the ultimate reason to spend more time outside, rather than feeling frustrated indoors. What could be better than sitting on your porch watching each of your chickens and getting to know their different personalities?