A Guide To Start Raising Chickens
I wanted to make a follow-up post for those who might want to get into raising animals, but might not know where to start. As I said before, I highly recommend chickens as the first farm animal one should get. They are easy to raise and require minimal maintenance.
The first step is to identify what type of chicken will provide you with what you need. There are three main categories of chickens to choose from and they are layers, meat chickens, and dual breeds. The layers are generally really good at consistently laying an egg just about every day, but the down side is that they are really only good for egg production. Some common layer breeds include ISA brown and Cinnamon Queens. Then there are the meat birds. They are really efficient at converting their feed into weight gain, but they are not good at egg production. A common meat chicken is the Cornish Cross. Finally, the dual breeds are average egg layers and put on an average amount of weight. Some dual breeds would be Buff Orpington and Black Jersey Giant. All of these have their benefits, it just depends on what best suits your needs.
The next thing required to raise a chicken is to have a place for your birds to roost. Some people will build small sheds and others will use what are called chicken tractors. Both are adequate solutions. The main thing is to provide the chickens with a place to go in at night to keep potential predators from getting to them. The choice of housing for your chickens will also depend on how much space you have to let your chickens roam.
The last big thing that you need to consider is what kind of feed to use. This all depends on what type of chicken you want. The meat birds require a feed with higher protein (around 22% protein), so that they can grow fast. The layers do not need the high protein for egg production (16% protein will be fine) and the dual breeds need something in between.
I hope this helps anyone who was interested in raising some chickens. The best thing one can do is to conduct their own research to see which type of chicken is best. If you have any other questions, I will try my best to answer them for you. Thanks.
Picture came from:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/329325791472864918/
I am considering getting some chicks next week so this is very helpful, thank you. upvoted and followed.
We've had chickens for almost two years and really love them! One of our girls lays a gigantic egg every 4-5 days - it makes me cringe just to see it. The others are all healthy and laying mostly daily. Any thoughts?
Thank you for the nice comments and I am glad you enjoyed it! As for your chicken, we have had layers how would occasionally lay an egg that we always called a double yoker. These were just large eggs that would have two yokes in them and when you see them you wonder how such a big egg could come out of such a small chicken. I guess I would have to know the age of your chicken to give a better answer, but if the chicken is only laying about once a week it could be age related, breed-related, or it could be that it is molting. Molting is something that chickens go through when they get older. They will stop laying eggs for a period of time and will slowly start laying fewer and fewer eggs and will eventually they will stop laying. Sorry for such a long answer, but I hope this helps! If I can help with anything else please let me know.
Also - loved the piece. Really appreciate when people put thoughtful content together.