beginner's backyard chickens

Beginner's Backyard Chickens

The Right Way to Choose the Best Chicken Breeds, Coops and Feeds. Start Raising and Caring for Chickens LEGALLY in City or

Suburbs Today! [Illustrated]

By Jim Kilpatrick


Published by Traditional Modern PublishingAtlanta, Georgia USA

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted for resale or use by any party other than the individual purchaser who is the sole authorized user of this information. Purchaser is authorized to use any of the information in this publication for his or her own use only. All other reproduction or transmission, or any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any informational storage or retrieval system, is prohibited without express written permission from the author.DISCLAIMER:While all attempts have been made to provide effective, verifiable information in this Book, neither the Author nor Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. Any slights of people or organizations are unintentional.This Book is not a source of medical information, and it should not be regarded as such. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering a medical service. As with any medical advice, the reader is strongly encouraged to seek professional medical advice before taking action.


Books by This Author

• Beginner's Backyard Chickens


http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Backyard-Chickens-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B00D4IVSBU/

Table Of Contents Before You Start1. Getting up and running in 21 days2. Why raise chickens?3. Make a plan4. Breeds5. The coop6. Your first chickens7. Feeding and Pasturing8. Health and safety9. Common issues10. Dealing with challenges11. Resources- Exclusive Bonus Download: Bonus Chicken Coop Plans


Before You Start


I haven't always been a health and environmentally conscious person. I don't buy only organic food, and I drive a car instead of riding my bike everywhere, but I like to do what I can to eat healthy and do my part in sustaining a livable planet. I think this is why I first got interested in backyard chicken farming, but ever since I started, it's become one of my favorite hobbies. Raising birds from when they’re a day old (or even still in the egg) to full-grown adults is a satisfying and rewarding experience that few things can match, and no one can argue with fresh eggs every day! I had started doing a bit of research on raising my own chickens shortly after college, but didn't actually start until many years later, when I bought my first home—now, I wish I had gotten into it even earlier! Anyone can raise chickens in their backyard—you don't need to have farm experience, or a green thumb, or even all that much extra time (though, of course, it does take some free time). And when it comes to being health and environmentally conscious, there are few better ways to really make a positive difference in your life and, often, the lives of others than starting a small backyard farm. Mine currently includes chickens as well as a decently large garden, where we grow our own vegetables and herbs.

The complete book is available on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Backyard-Chickens-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B00D4IVSBU/


1. Getting up and running in 21 days


Starting and running a small backyard chicken farm is actually pretty easy, and you can get up and running—from scratch—in about three weeks (this is, of course, assuming you don't have to get some sort of legal permission to raise chickens; see chapter 10). Of course, it's possible that you'll run into some kind of complication, but this schedule should give you plenty of time to form a plan, buy or build the equipment you need, and prepare your yard. Then you'll get your first chickens, and you'll officially be a backyard chicken farmer! That’s when the fun really begins.

The schedule below will get you from zero to five chickens or so in 21 days. Keep in mind that the more chickens you're aiming for, the more work and time it will take. This plan should get you up to ten birds or so pretty easily, but once you're talking about a flock bigger than that, you'll need more space, a bigger coop, and more equipment, so it might take a bit longer. However, a small flock is pretty easy to prepare for, and you shouldn't have a problem using this schedule.



2. Why raise chickens?


Let’s take a step back for a moment. If you're thinking about raising chickens in your backyard, by far, the most common question you will be asked is "Why?" While you may get awfully tired of answering this question over and over (I certainly am), it does make a certain kind of sense. Not very many people raise chickens (though it has gotten much more popular over the past several years), so people are bound to wonder why you chose to. There are a lot of reasons that people provide for wanting to raise chickens; a few of them are listed here.



3. Make a plan


Starting a backyard flock, while generally pretty easy, is best carried out with a good plan. As with most things, you may find yourself facing unexpected problems, but having a solid plan before you start will go a long way toward making this a low-stress process. Everyone's situation is different, but I'll be providing some guidance here that was very helpful when I started my own backyard flock. So grab a few sheets of paper, a pen, and sit down at your kitchen table. It's time to plan.



4. Breeds


When you're thinking about getting into raising chickens, you're going to want to put some thought into which breeds you're going to have in your flock. None of the breeds are necessarily better than any of the others, but they all have their advantages and disadvantages. Once you've determined exactly what you're hoping to get from your chickens (such as if you want eggs, meat, or both), you can start thinking about which breeds you'd like to raise. There are many resources online that you can look over to get very detailed comparisons of breeds, but I'll stick to the basics here.



5. The coop


After you've created your plan, you need to start thinking about exactly how you're going to house your chickens. I wish I could say that once you decide how big the coop is going to be, you're set, but there's quite a bit more to be done on this front! There are many different kinds of coops, a wide range of designs, and a whole bunch of different things that you can include within the coop for your chickens. As I mentioned before, you can either buy a coop or build one yourself. If you're going to buy one, I recommend searching online and doing some comparison shopping. Be sure to check out the size of each coop and compare it to the cost. Don't forget to include shipping! Sending something as big as a chicken coop across the country can get expensive very quickly. There's plenty of information out there on how to buy a chicken coop, so I'll focus here on the basics of building your own.



6. Your first chickens


One of the first things you’ll do after you decide to become a backyard chicken farmer is to get some chickens. You’ll have to decide at what stage in their lives you want your first chickens. You usually have three options: eggs (for hatching), chicks, or pullets (adolescent chickens).

On one hand, hatching eggs and raising the chickens from the moment they come out of the shell is very rewarding, and a lot of fun. You get to see the chickens through their lives literally from the moment they’re born. However, incubating and hatching eggs requires time, money, and some special care. You can find out a bit more about this in the section on incubating and hatching below. Starting with chicks is much easier, and you still get to raise them for very nearly their entire lives; usually when you receive the chicks, they’re only a few days old. And starting with pullets can be good because you won’t have to wait very long (if at all) for them to start laying eggs. They’re still pretty young, but they’re not quite as fragile as chicks.



7. Feeding and Pasturing


As mentioned before, it's good to start your chicks on a medicated starter, which is chick feed that has been supplemented with some beneficial additions. This can be used for the first eight weeks or so of the chicks' lives. You should also introduce a small amount of chick grit into their feed to help them begin adapting to more adult-like feed. Make sure to always have food available, as chicks will feed on and off throughout the day. The same goes for water—always make sure that there is a water supply available. After about eight weeks, you can switch to what's called "developer" or "grower" feed, which will help your birds transition to adult food.



8. Health and safety


Whether your chickens are going to be layers, meat birds, or pets, it’s good to keep them safe and in good health, both for their happiness and yours. Happy chickens lay more and better eggs, are generally healthier, and have better personalities. Not only that, but they’re giving you all of their eggs . . . shouldn’t you be giving them something in return? Fortunately, keeping chickens safe and healthy is pretty easy, especially compared to larger and more active pets. Of course, this is only an introductory guide to keeping your chickens healthy, so if you have any problems that aren’t mentioned here, seek the advice of an experienced chicken raiser or a veterinarian.



9. Common issues


Chickens are pretty low-maintenance animals, and raising them is really quite easy, but occasionally you'll have some issues. Most of these issues will be minor ones, but sometimes they can be a bit of a hassle. I'll only cover some of the most common questions here, so if you find yourself dealing with something that's not listed in this section, do some research online and you should be able to find the answers to your questions without much trouble.



10. Dealing with challenges


There are two types of challenges that come up often with raising chickens in an urban or suburban setting: neighbors and regulations.

If you live in an urban or suburban area, it's likely that you have neighbors that live very close to you, and might even have a backyard that's adjacent to yours, and this might cause some concern. In my experience, neighbors are generally pretty accepting of your raising chickens in your backyard, especially once you discuss it with them. Their concerns generally fall into three areas, and I will address each one in turn.



11. Resources


Now that I've shared my knowledge on raising a backyard flock with you, you should be well-prepared to join the world of urban farmers. However, everyone is in a different situation, and everyone faces different issues, problems, and obstacles. Because of that, I'm providing a short list of websites that you might find helpful in your chicken-raising adventures. You should be able to find any information that you need on these sites, but if you have additional questions, you can always just use a search engine and type in your problem. Before searching online, however, I always recommend asking around at your local poultry store, if you're lucky enough to have one nearby. The combined experience and knowledge of the store employees should help you through any problem that you might have.



Exclusive Bonus Download: Bonus Chicken Coop Plans


beginner's backyard chickens

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