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Backyard Chickens

Ranked #282 in Healthy Living, #6,582 overall

Yes, you CAN have chickens in the city

They will give you fresh eggs, do pest control, process your compost and give you hours of entertainment. Sometimes they even let you cuddle them! Get info on breeds, coops, what to feed them, promoting good health, predators and legal issues.

Newly added - keeping your hens happy in the winter and growing your own chicken food.

I first compiled this lens to share information that I gathered for a skill sharing workshop way back in 2006. I've been adding and updating ever since. A lot of this was adapted from the Groovy Green blog, as well as The City Chicken. I also have learned much from Jordanne at Path to Freedom, and from my own little fluffernutters: Meg, Hermione, Sunny, Mrs. Which, Mr. Whatsit, Cackletta and Bubbles..

Why do you want to keep backyard chickens?

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Advantages/Disadvantages

Raising backyard chickens is a rewarding experience. They are easy and inexpensive to keep. Like home-grown vegetables, home-raised chickens put us in touch with our farm roots, make us more self-sufficient, and provide delicious healthy food for the table. And chickens are fun!

ADVANTAGES:

You'll get hormone-free/antibiotic-free eggs almost every day - a source of protein that tastes better and is healthier than store bought eggs

You'll have a higher use for food scraps (rather than straight into the compost bin) which generates potent fertilizer (manure) for the garden

They provide organic pest control of insects for your yard.

They are entertaining companions

DISADVANTAGES

Your neighbors may not like it.

You have to feed and house them, protect them from pedators every day, even when it's raining or you are really busy with other things. When you go out of town you need to find a responsible "chicken sitter".

Chicken poop does smell. It can carry diseases. You will get dirty cleaning the coop.

FAQ

AREN'T CHICKENS LOUD?

Male chickens - roosters - are loud. They crow at all hours and will annoy the neighbors. They can be aggressive too. Raising roosters in an urban environment is not recommended. Many cities don't allow it anyway. Female chickens, called hens, don't make much noise. They squawk when they get excited but are quieter than most dogs. After a while you will get to know your hen's verbalizing and be able to tell by her sounds if she is laying an egg, or is annoyed that her sister stole her juicy beetle.

DO I NEED A ROOSTER TO GET EGGS?

Hens lay eggs, whether or not there is a male around to fertilize the egg. Most of the eggs purchased at the store are unfertilized. Without a rooster, none of your eggs will develop into chicks.

IS IT LEGAL TO KEEP CHICKENS IN THE CITY?

It IS legal to keep chickens in many cities around the US and the number is growing by cheeps and squawks. The stipulation is often is that the coops may not be within a certain number of feet of the owner's residence, the property line, or the neighbors dwellings. That may be impossible in some yards however. If this is the case see number 3 below. The City Chicken site (below) has a city-specific list of laws. If it's not allowed in your hometown, there are three approaches to take:
1. Lobby for a change in the law
2. Attempt to acquire a personal zoning variance
3. Respectfully approach your neighbors with your intentions and if there are no objections, quietly go forward. A small flock of hens will probably go unnoticed.

WHAT ABOUT AVIAN FLU?

Do not be overly frightened by the Avian flu. The virus is thought to spread from wild fowl to domestic birds and then to humans through direct contact. There is growing evidence however that it actually originates in the factory farm system and spreads via commercial routes. Either way, it has not shown up in migratory birds or factory farm birds here in the US yet.

It can be easily avoided by not allowing your birds to come into contact with wild birds or factory farm birds. For most urban dwellers this is easy to do. Don't buy your live birds from poultry markets, which usually raise them in factory conditions.

The best precaution is proper handling of your birds. Do not handle them too often, especially if they are sick. Separate sick birds from other hens. Remember to wash your hands thoroughly after contact with healthy or sick birds. Most of what is seen in the mass media concerning Avian flu is fear mongering. There are some helpful links below. Be safe but don't let anyone scare you.

Housing Your Birds

There are many ways to house your feathered friends. The 3 things to remember are :

1. ACCESSIBILITY
Design so you can easily provide food and fresh water to your hens and clean their space. You need to be able to sweep, rake, or hose down the area easily.

2. PROTECTION FROM THE ELEMENTS
Your coop should be cool in summer, warm in winter, dry all the time. Hens will get sick if they are wet for too long. They can tolerate a surprising amount of heat in the summer, but NOT direct sun. Same with cold. People raise chickens in Alaska!

3. PROTECTION FROM PREDATORS
Depending on where you live, you might have a variety of chicken hunters: raccoons, coyotes, foxes, possums, hawks, owls, dogs. We've never had any problem with our cats but we've also never had chicks.

The size of the hen house and coop depends on the number of chickens you intend to keep. More room is better. Chickens need a minimum of 2 square feet of covered area and at least 8 square feet of outdoor area. Technically they can survive completely indoors but you'll have happier chickens if they get a little running room.

Include nearby storage for a bale of straw, food and a rake. The hen house needs a door big enough to accommodate easy cleaning, and enough openings to provide cross ventilation so it doesn't smell.

Hens also want an enclosed, dark nesting area to lay eggs. They may lay out in the open but they appreciate a box. A simple wooden crate in a dark corner that has been filled with fresh straw will do. If you place the nesting boxes up off the floor, you'll be able to collect eggs easily and get to the box for cleaning without unnecessary stooping. Add a couple perches for your hens, too.

Build a fenced enclosure to keep the hens in, but more importantly, to keep other things out. Remember to cover the top if you have hawks and other flying predators. If you have a completely fenced back yard, you can let the hens free range, then pen them up in their house at night (just watch out for the chicken poop when you are walking around!). As it gets dark there's no need to round them up. They make their way back to their coop all on their own ("The chickens always come home to roost").

Chicken Tractors are mobile, bottomless cages. You move them around your yard every few days, giving the birds access to new grass and worms and other delights. Just make sure no predators can dig under them.

See below for some books and links about building coops.

Feeding your Flock

FOOD and WATER

You will need to provide your flock with a supply of fresh water. Chickens will knock over or kick dirt into any open container. I recommend what's called a fount which keeps these problems to a minimum. The container will still need to be cleaned every few days. An old dish scrub brush kept next to an outdoor faucet works well for this purpose.

You will also need to supply your chickens with food. Chickens will eat just about anything from your kitchen. They love table scraps and we found they like almost everything except citrus peels and hard things like bones or peach pits. You may be surprised to hear they like meat and fish.

Along with table scraps you should have some feed on hand. We get either scratch or pellets. The dry food goes in a heavy terra cotta tray that they can't tip over. You can also just spread it on the ground in their outdoor area. We just pour the table scraps right on the ground in their coop. They enjoy scratching for their food.

CALCIUM and GRIT

For strong egg shells, hens need a source of calcium. You can buy a big bag of oyster shell and throw them a scoop every few days. Hens that get too little calcium will lay thin-shelled eggs that will be prone to breaking. Eggshells are made of calcium carbonate, the same as is found in oyster shells. There's lots of calcium in greens too, so if they get to forage all day they may not need the oyster shell. You'll know by how their eggs crack.

Hens that don't get much access to the outdoors also need hard grit. Unlike oyster shell, grit does not dissolve in their digestive system. They use grit in place of "teeth" (did you ever hear that saying "As scarce as hen's teeth" ?). Quartz-based sand can be spread in their coop if they need it.

Grow your own chicken food

In addition to your kitchen scraps, you can provide some portion of your chickens' food in the following ways:

Protein - mealworms: Mealworms are a delicacy in a chicken's eyes. You just need a plastic bin, some chicken feed as bedding/food, newspapers and some veggie scraps. This is a simple explanation with pictures.
Protein - Soldier Fly larvae: Soldier Fly larvae are a big juicy treat for your birds. You'll need a special container (build your own or buy one) and kitchen scraps.
Grains: Most grains found in commercial mixes - corn, legumes, wheat, rye, oats and barley - can be grown at home. Whether you can grow enough to replace the store bought is hard to say. I've read in a couple of places that one chicken needs 1 bushel of grain per year. But does that chicken get table scraps and other goodies as well or just that one bushel? And is it a bantam or a jumbo leghorn....
A bushel is equal to about 35 liters (32 pounds of oats, 56 pounds of shelled corn). So you'll have to experiment to see whta works for your flock.
One forum I read recommended planting birdseed. It's mostly millet, so that would probably work well. It can be pricy though. Last year I bought buckwheat seeds at the health food store and planted them. They grew well.
This article has good info on alternatives to grain at the end.
Veggies and other good stuff: This link is to a discussion on Backyard Chicken forum. Things some chickens like to eat: Comfrey, potatoes, pumpkins, fodder beets, dandelions, yellow dock, chickweed (thus the name!), sunchokes, fallen fruit and nuts (mulberries, chestnuts...). What have you got a lot of that's easy to grow or grows on it's own. It might work if supplemented correctly.

Tip for comfrey " I made some cages in their outdoor run about 2 feet in diameter that I planted Comfrey in. The chickens can reach through the 2"X4" wire and eat but they can't reach in far enough for them to kill off the plant."
Tip for corn on the cob "My husband took a square piece of plywood and drilled 4 screws on the corners and I "twist " an ear of corn down on each screw. It keeps the corn immobile and clean."
Ideal mix: Good guide to the ideal proportions of protein to grains etc.

Happy Hens in the Winter

If you live where it gets cold in the winter, check out the following tips for keeping your girls healthy and happy despite the weather.

Winter Chores for the Hen House: From the Poulty Pages out of the UK. Make your coop draft proof.
Questions about preparing for Winter: Experienced chicken people answer winterizing questions on Backyardchickens.com
Series on winter care: First of a three part series from Coop Thoughts blog
Great reuse of packaging trash to insulate coop: From Hazeltree Farm

Other Things to Consider

BEST BUG CONTROL

Chickens will chase and eat all kinds of insects. I've even seen them catch mice. They love to scratch for grubs and worms. They're a great help to the pest control of a garden as long as you watch them carefully. They will DESTROY a delicate bed of greens in 30 seconds with their scratching. It doesn't take much of a fence to keep them out however, especially if they have other enticing areas to explore.

FLIGHT

Many people don't realize chickens can fly. If they don't have a coop they will often fly up into the safety of nearby trees at night. You can clip their wings to keep them grounded. This is accomplished by spreading one wing and cutting off the very ends of the feathers. You don't cut back far enough to hurt the chicken. This throws off the balance of flight so she can't takeoff.

FERTILIZER

Chickens help compost the organic material coming out of our kitchen by processing it into potent piles of poop! Chicken manure is an excellent fertilizer for the garden but it must be aged or it will burn the plants. This is easily accomplished by using a layer of leaves or straw on the ground of their coop. Every so often rake up all the leaves/straw/poop/loose soil and put it in the compost heap. Then spread more leaves or straw. You can also put the hens right in your bin occasionally and let them feast. I've heard they will eat all the weed seeds while they're at it.

EGGS

Chicken eggs come in a subtle variety of colors and sizes. McMurray hatchery even sells a rainbow egg mix of chicks. Hens will begin laying eggs at about 6 months old. The first 2 years of their lives will be the most prolific. They lay fewer eggs each following year and live from 6 to 10 years years, depending on the breed. If you don't plan to eat your birds, consider getting 1 or 2 new birds per year, instead of several all at once. Then you can spread out your peak egg years.

BREEDS

There are many different types of chickens. They have different temperments and purposes. Some are bred for laying, some for meat, some for looks (the "fancies"), or a combination. Do some investigating to determine which you would like to raise. There are even dwarf chickens, called bantams, that may be more appropriate for small yards.

Bok Bok Bibliography

More Bok Bok Biblio

General Websites

These sites have mucho resources, articles, links, galleries etc. about backyard chickens

The City Chicken: The purpose of this site is to inspire people who have been thinking of keeping some chickens in their backyard, to go for it! Lots of pictures of coops and tractors. Info on legality of backyard flocks in many major US cities.
Path To Freedom: Path to Freedom is a family-operated, urban homesteading project. Their yard has over 350 varieties of edible and useful plants. The homestead's 1/10 acre organic garden grows over 3 tons (!) of organic produce annually, providing fresh vegetables and fruit for the family along with a viable income.
In addition they have chickens, ducks. rabbits and goats, brew their own biodiesel from waste oil, and use solar panels. Their website is a portal to all kinds of great homesteading and sustainability related links and articles, including good stuff on backyard chickens. I love these guys and keep their blog as my homepage.
Backyard Chickens: A friendly, family-run site with message boards, info on breeds, coop designs, diseases, anatomy, even poultry related events.
The Feather Site: Gigantic site full of pictures of all kinds of poultry and game birds, books, articles, clubs, and links galore.

Message Boards and Other Resources

For advice, tips, comraderie from experienced people on everything chicken, peruse these message boards and check out the other media resources.

Backyard Chickens message boards: Topics range from incubating eggs and raising chicks to ads selling equipment and rare breeds. Find other local chicken people, find answers to your leg mite question, find recipes and advice on coop building. Over 7000 registered users.
A Chickens Tribe: For folks with "the pet that lays you breakfast!" This is a much smaller group, located on Tribe.net, of people sharing info and pictures of their feathered friends. If those big lists are too overwhelming, check this one out.
Mad City Chickens - documentary film: Mad City Chickens is a sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical look at the people who keep urban chickens in their backyards. From chicken experts and authors to a rescued landfill hen or an inexperienced family that decides to take the poultry plunge-and even a mad scientist and giant hen taking to the streets-it's a humorous and heartfelt trip through the world of backyard chickendom.
Urban Chicken fans on Facebook: 2000+ fans and growing! From the people at urbanchickens.net