Raising Chickens 101: How to Get Started (2024)

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Raising chicks is exciting! Knowing how is just as important. This beginner’s guide to raising chickens is the first article in our Raising Chickens series. Let us help you “start from scratch,” so tospeak!

Why Should You RaiseChickens?

There’s a lot to like about raisingchickens in yourbackyard. The eggs are a real temptation—tastier and fresher than any store-bought eggs, and better for baking, too. The shells, along with the chicken poop, can be tossed right into the compost pile.

Most of the day, the birds entertain themselves, picking at grass, worms, beetles, and all the good things that go into making those yummy farm eggs. Plus, with their keen eyefor insect pests, chickens make for great gardening companions.

First, checklocal town ordinances to ensure that keeping chickens is even allowed in your neighborhood or if there is a limit to the number of chickens you can keep at once. The last thing you want is to invest time and money into preparing for chickens and then find out that you can’t even keepthem!
Make sure you have the space for a henhouse or a full-size chickencoop. It has to hold a feeder andwater containers, a roosting area, and a nest box for every three hens.
A proper coopshould be large enough that you can stand in it to gather eggs and shovel manure comfortably, but a simple henhouse can be quite a bit smaller. Plus, any housing mustbe sturdy enough to keep your chickens safe from all the predators out there!Here’s how to build a chicken coop in your backyard.
Chickens need food (and water) daily. Feed is about $20 per 50-pound bag at my co-op, but prices vary depending on your location and the quality of the feed. How long a bag lasts depends on the number of chickens that youhave.
Hens will lay eggs through spring and summer and into the fall, as long as they have 12 to 14 hours of daylight. Expect to collect eggs daily, or even twice aday.
All year ‘round, you’ll have to shovel manure.Yippee!
If you go away on vacation, you’ll need a reliable chicken-sitter—and they can be scarcer than hens’teeth!

How to Raise Chickens: Flock Size, Spacing, and Start-UpCost

How Many Chickens Should IKeep?

Chickens are sociable creatures, so plan to keep three to six birds. With this amount, you’ll always have a steady supply of eggs, since an adult hen lays about two eggs every three days, onaverage.

Chickens are most productive in the first two years of their lives; after that,egg production will slow, so you’ll need to think about replacing your flock with younger birds eventually. Young chicks can be bought from suppliers quite easily, or you can hatch your own if you have a rooster (which we do NOT recommend). Read more about raising baby chicks here!

How Much Space Do ChickensNeed?

Ultimately, it depends on which breed of chicken you’re raising. According to the University of Missouri Extension, onemedium-sized chickenneeds at least 3 square feet of floor space inside the coop and 8-10 square feet outdoors. The more space, the happier and healthier the chickens will be; overcrowding contributes to disease and featherpicking.

The birds will need a place to spread their wings, so to speak: a sizeablechicken run, for example, or a whole backyard. (Our hens havelots of outdoor time. They haveplaces to take a dust bath and catch a fewrays.)

Either way, the space must be fenced in order to keep the chickens in and predatorsout. (Predators include your own Fido and Fluffy, too!) Add chicken-wire fencing to your list ofequipment.

How Much Does Keeping ChickensCost?

All of this costs money, of course. The materials to build and furnish a coop and a 20x5-foot run—including wood, fencing, and hardware—are going to set you back at least $300. If you can’t do this work yourself, you’ll also be buying skilledlabor.

Overall, expect to spend between $500 and $700 when just getting started, depending on the size of your flock, coop, andrun.

Gardening withChickens

Most folks who keep chickens do so largely for the constant supply of fresh eggs, but did you know that keeping chickens can be also be beneficial for thegarden?

When the gardening season has finished for the year, let the chickens into your gardening space and watch them go crazy!They’ll uproot the stems and stalks of weeds and gobble up any damaged or overripe vegetables that remain. They’ll eat any weed seeds or insects they find in the soil,and will peck apart and digest vegetable remnants, especially broccoli stems, carrot tops, chard, andkale.

After that, they’ll scratch the ground and peck out hidden worms orinsects, mixing up the soil in the process—all with endless enthusiasm andcuriosity.

Chickens don’t only provide a constant supply of fresh eggs—they produce an endless amount of manure, too. Luckily, chicken poo can be composted, aged,and eventually added to the garden. In about 6 months’ time, you will accumulate about 1 cubic foot of manure perchicken.

During your daily cleaning of the coop, collect and pile up the chicken poop and used bedding materials. The best decomposition occurs when the pile is2 parts poop to 1 part bedding materials. Lawn clippings and fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps, as well asleaves, twigs, and shredded paper, can also be added into the mix. Soak the pile and, over the next year or so, wet and stir it regularly to add air. A temperature of 130°F to 150°F is recommended to eliminatebacteria.

More of Raising Chickens101

Still interested in raising chickens? See more of our beginner’s guidebelow:

Choosing the RightChickenBreeds
How to Build a ChickenCoop
Raising BabyChicks
When Do Chickens Start LayingEggs?
Collecting, Cleaning, and Storing ChickenEggs
When Chickens Stop LayingEggs
5 Common Chicken HealthProblems