You and your new feather freinds!
So you want to have chickens. Most of us out there have no idea what a responsibility it is having chickens. Now if your in it to raise chickens for eggs or raise them for meat, It still takes a little effort on your part to make sure that these feathery little friends are protected from predators and the weather.
First off before deciding how large your coop needs to be you must ask yourself a couple questions. #1 how many chickens or Roosters are you going to be raising? Do you have sufficient room to be raising these chickens. Are you or your family going to be able to make the time necessary to devote your time to these animals.
Must people start out getting to many chickens to begin with, and that leaves those that are responsible for the care of these animals a lot of work ahead of them. This is how I determine how many chickens I am going to have. If it is just me i will only get as many as 10 hens and 2 roosters, that is the most at any time i would have because when you start getting More than that it becomes much more work.
Now the reason for having less Roosters than hens is simple. I have found that if you have more roosters than hens they tend to pick on each other, esspecially the hens. They will start to make your hens loose the feathers on the backs. Reason for that is the breeding prosess that roosters and hens go through.
The most important thing to think about is the room. Asking yourself this question can be very easy. If you look around and see that having more than just a few would or might cause problems don't raise more than your property or your time will allow. This will help you in the long run, and it will make sure that the Chickens that you do have get the right care that they need to survive.
Time is a big factor for raising chickens. If you dont think that you have time for these animals than don't raise them at all. Chickens need you more than you think! there is alot of work involved when raising these animals. It is better to not raise them then have animals that will not be taken care of.
These animals will need a Chicken coop. Why you ask well it's simple they need a place to get out of the weather. Just like you probably would not like to stand outside during a snow storm! These animals need a place to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. A chicken coop built right can make the difference between healthy chickens and dead chickens.
The care required is very simple. They need fresh water all the time. Chickens although you might not notice or see it, they love water, if you have free range chickens they almost always spend there time around water or at least close by. Keeping the water clean is very important. Now chickens can carry many diseases, but you can help by keeping there water clean and fresh.
Food for these critters can be bought in a feed store almost anywhere. I have found that chicken scratch is great for healthy chickens. These Chickens also will feed on the ground looking for nuts twig's and Berry's or even worms. you may also use table scraps from your dinner like,veggies,lettuce,carrots, to go along with there main food source.
Clean chicken coops are very important because they are very dirty animals that can carry diseases. So making sure that they have clean bedding and that the coop is clean on a regular basis is very important to the life spanned of your chickens.
Breeding of chickens needs to be done by someone that has at least a little knowledge of what they are doing. Most of you will probably be raising these chickens for the eggs.
Now that you have a little knowledge about these chickens, like what they eat, and what kind of care it takes to keep healthy chickens we are going to talk about there Chicken coop. Now there are allot of ways to build your chicken coop. I found that having a chicken coop building guide is probably the most easiest way to build a chicken coop. Unless you are among those that have that woodworking craft that can build anything! I myself was not among that group. I had to find someone that really know's what it takes to build a great coop that would withstand the weather and predators. I found I site that does all of that and then some! buildingachickencoop.com Had everything i was looking for on a how to guide to build a chicken coop that would stand the test of time and your chickens would love you for it! If you are looking to learn how to build a quality chicken coop than I recommend that you click here!
