Chicken coops plans

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Chicken House Plans: What You Should Take Into Consideration

You want to have chickens, don’t you? Of course, you want to have happy chickens and you know what they say – a happy chicken is a healthy chicken. In order to have this, you will need to have the right chicken house plans. Have you ever thought of building your own house for the chickens? Really, it is not going to take much time. With the right plans, it should only take you a couple of days. However, we know some individuals that have finished there’s all in one day. That’s right, they started on it during the morning hours and by the next morning, birds were ready to be put in it. Below, we are going to give you a brief rundown of some of our favorite plans, so pay close attention to what we are going to tell you.

First on our list, we have the farm style chicken house. If you do not care much about the aesthetics of the house and you just care about the safety of your chickens, then the basic box design is going to work. Sure, it’s not so attractive, in fact, it is very unattractive. However, it may be the best bet for you as you will only need some cheep wood framing and some weatherproof material to go over the walls and roof. If you are a farm boy or a farm girl, then you probably already have all f this stuff laying around. With this technique, you will not even need to build proper nests. If you like, you could use cardboard boxes, which is really going to cut down on the cost.

Second on our list, we have the Urban Style Chicken House. Do you like the ring of the name? Yes, you guessed right, it can be beautiful, as long as you put some effort into it.

If you live in an urban area, then you may want to build one of these. It is aesthetically pleasing and will look clean, which is something that many individuals like.

You can use either pine or hardwood for the frame. It requires the same type as the farm style house, except the wood will need to be higher quality. For the walls and the roof, you will need to use painted material.

With this, you could also put some shingles on the roof. This will definitely give a boost to the appeal. Maybe you have some left over shingles when you did the roof on your home or garage that you could use?

It is important that you pay attention to the flooring options. Choosing the right flooring can make a big difference. Not only in the look of the coop, but also in egg yields. There are three materials – sand, sawdust or straw.

Many individuals choose to use straw, because generally, it is quite clean. Straw is also easy to replace. The sand will be good for areas that have a wet climate, because it drains easier. As for sawdust, it is great for long-term use and is cheap.

When choosing chicken house plans, it is important to make sure you pick one that will make your chickens happy. The one you pick all depends on the desires you have.

Constructing a comfortable chicken coop for your chicken entails paying close attention to the details in the building plans. Indeed constructing a chicken coop without adequate plans is a complete waste of money, time, building tools and materials. In your chicken house plans, make provision for the comfort of the chicken.

Make sure that you provide them with a spacious place to live in if you want them to be healthy. The least amount of space required for every chicken in a coop is about four square feet. Therefore, make out the number of chicken you plan to raise before constructing the chicken coop. Chicken house plans have never been that easy. It is quite easy to determine that for 30 chickens for instance you would need to build at least 120 square feet of chicken coop. It would not be bad if you are able to build more than the required space. The more space they have the more they are able to enjoy and produce better eggs. Never try to beat down cost by limiting the space allotted to each chicken. It could eventually work against you.

Again, in your chicken house plans, do not give room for the overcrowding of chicken. It rather leads to negative effects like diseases, pests and cannibalism. If your chickens do not get enough air then they would be exposed to all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. They could be very weak and die eventually. Construct a perch for your chicken. It would be very filthy to see chicken droppings mix up with the eggs. Ensure that you have boxes or any other type of containers under the perch to collect the droppings that come through. Similarly you could you could use broom handles to provide them a comfortable place to perch. It helps to keep the perch free from diseases.

Also your chicken coop should be well ventilated to prevent the chickens from sweating. Sweat promotes the development of diseases and ailments on the skin. Supply your chicken coop with small vents or windows to allow the sweat to evaporate. Indeed the best position for a window is one that does not face the direction of the wind. This position keeps stale air out and rather brings in fresher air.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances you should have a maximum of six chickens per nesting box. As much as possible the nesting boxes should be dark. This makes the chicken feel comfortable and relaxed. To prevent the eggs from cracks you could place straw shavings in the nesting boxes.

If you know how to design chicken house plans remember that the chicken coops should be strong to inhibit intruders. The wood used should be sturdy enough. Push your chicken after construction to see if it is really strong. If it shakes then you have not applied all the principles of how to design chicken house plans.

Index: poultryOne.com / Chicken Articles / General Chicken Articles / Building Chicken Coops Plans (Part 1 of 2) /

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A backyard chicken coop is a poultry building or housing structure where chickens are raised. Cheap and easy to build, you won’t need to look into home loans for this structure. The inside of a chicken coop typically includes such coop features such as chicken nest boxes (for those raising chickens for eggs)); chicken feeders and waterers; and chicken roosts where the birds can perch to rest or sleep in the evening. Many backyard chicken hobbyists also construct coops with additional features such as windows and connected wire chicken runs so that their birds may gain access to sunshine and fresh air. Regardless of the type of chicken coop you plan to construct, it is important to take the needs of your birds into consideration when building chicken coops.

A chicken run can be as simple as wire stretched over a wooden frame!

Chicken hobbyists building chicken coops often have different pictures in their heads when thinking about chicken coop plans and housing designs. Some individuals may have a picturesque idea of a country-style miniature chicken house, complete with a white picket-fenced chicken run. Other individuals may possess a more utilitarian chicken coop plan idea consisting of a simple wire chicken cage propped up on wood beams for the chicken manure fertilizer to fall through.

Whatever your creative inclination, the chicken coop that you build for your flock does not need to be elaborate. A poultry coop can be as simple or fancy as you wish. If you’re a handy man, or simply skilled with a few construction tools, you can easily build a simple box-shaped coop without buying any of the many different “simple chicken coop plans” available online. However, you must integrate a few basic chicken coop requirements no matter what type of chicken coop you choose to build. Such requirements should also be kept in mind when evaluating ready-made coop options.

Chicken Coop Size Requirements:

Plan your chicken coop dimensions carefully. It is critically essential to ensure that your flock has suitable space. A variety of health problems may arise if chickens are not given enough floor space in their chicken coop. These include cannibalism, low egg lay rates and feather-picking. The more floor space you provide to the birds, the better. Chickens with enough space often perform more positively than their small-cage counterparts.

That being said, not everyone has the acreage to give their birds unlimited roaming space. Give your chickens adequate room by allowing a minimum of two to three square feet per bird, or more for larger chicken breeds. Also, the space requirements in a chicken coop will vary as your flock matures. Understandably, baby chickens need far less space than larger, mature meat birds. Review the coop space requirement chart below to calculate how big your chicken coop should be:

Minimum Space Requirements for PoultryType of Poultry BirdSq Ft / Inside CoopSq Ft / Outside in a RunBantam Chickens
Layer Hens
Large Chickens
Quail
Pheasants
Ducks
Geese
1
1.5-2
2
1
5
3
6
4
8
10
4
25
15
18

Planning Your Chicken Coop’s Ventilation:

Your chicken coop MUST be well ventilated! “Fresh air is good; drafts are fatal,” writes chicken expert Judy Pangman, in her book Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock. “Adequate ventilation is important.” Just as humans don’t like stuffy houses, chickens don’t like stuffy coops! If you don’t give your chickens enough ventilation, fumes can build up to a toxic level. Vents, placed on the south or east-facing walls of your chicken coop, can help to create proper airflow while also protecting the chickens from cold drafts. Alternatively, drill large holes on the north and south sides of the coop where the roof meets the walls. To keep out wild, disease-carrying bird visitors, cover these holes with mesh screens.

Coop ventilation goes hand-in-hand with coop insulation. Proper building insulation will help keep your chickens dry and warm in the winter, as well as cool in the summer. To keep the flock comfortable during these cold nights (and during the hot summer days), invest in propercoop insulation. 1.5 inches of Styrofoam sheets between the walls and ceiling provides excellent structural insulation. To reflect heat during the summer, some individuals choose to also use aluminum roofing and white paint. Additionally, cool the chicken coop by planting tallvegetation and/or trees around its exterior. If you do this, be careful not to let the plantsblock any ventilation holes and windows that you may have made. To provideextra insulation during the winter, you may also wish to try stacking hay balesagainst the north walls of the barn. Such rudimentary insultation is cheap, and when winter is over you can use the hay as litter.

In the second section of this poultry article, we discuss chicken coop flooring; how to protect your chicken coop from pests and vermin; planning nests, chicken roosts, feeders and waterers; and other chicken coop building basics. Read Part 2!

Didn’t find the poultry answers you wanted? Ask a question in our poultry forum or search for more great info on raising chickens at poultryOne.com:

References and Recommended Readings:

If you are going to keep chickens for profit or as a hobby, then having the right housing for them is an essential part of raising healthy poultry. If you don’t want to invest a lot of money, free chicken house plans that you find on online can provide you with an economical way to build the chicken house you need. However, choosing the plans is only the first part of your venture and the building materials are often where the major expenses lie.

Save Even More When Choosing Materials for Your Free Chicken House Plans

There are some additional ways to save money on your chicken house. When you are browsing through the free chicken house plans that are available, consider only those that give you a complete list of what materials you will need. Otherwise, you may end up purchasing the wrong materials and having to replace them or you may simply get more than you actually need.

There are hundreds of different designs available and you can adjust them to suit your needs depending on your carpentry skills. Unlike the typical chicken coop of the past, today’s chicken houses are made in many attractive designs that look more like a playhouse in your backyard than they do a coop. It is important, however, to choose the free chicken house plans that you have the skills to complete and that will meet your needs rather than basing your choice primarily on the attractiveness of the design.

If you are going to have only a small flock of chickens, there are many designs for coops that are portable and will offer the added convenience of being transportable. Rather than being made with a floor, you transport them to different areas of the lawn regularly to provide the chickens with fresh lawn. This is a good option for those who don’t have a lot of space to provide chickens with a run where they can move around. As a bonus, you don’t have to clean up the droppings since they will fall to the ground!

If you are going to have a larger flock of birds, you will find free chicken house plans for all sizes of houses including small, medium, and large ones. It is important to provide your chickens with plenty of room and to choose a design that will accommodate the maximum number of birds that you will have.

Materials to Use with Your Free Chicken House Plans

You don’t have to limit yourself to using new materials if you are trying to build your chicken house on a budget. While new wood is the most common material used for building chicken coops, you can also find used or scrap lumber available at some businesses. The same is true for windows and shingles. Call your local lumber supply store to see what they have available before you purchase new lumber. Some lumber stores also have the free chicken house plans available that you can use to help design your new structure.

You can also use other materials besides wood for your chicken house. If you have an old shed that is already standing, you may be able to do some simple repairs and transform it into a new coop. You may also use an old camper, pipes, barrels, etc. Many of the items that you will find lying about unused can be incorporated into your free chicken house plans in one way or another. Remember, everything you can get used or free will save you a little more money and help you create the chicken house you need without spending a fortune!

If you have some birds to cater for, you will probably be attracted to chicken coops for sale. Even though, some people are able to build the facility themselves, there are quite a number of people who lack the requisite knowledge or material for manufacturing one. However, considering the amount of benefits chicken coops could provide, it is only prudent that you make the necessary investment to acquire them.

The good news is that there are several types and design out there for you. This makes it possible to get what you want at any point in time. Be mindful of the fact that even though there are many designs, you will be best served if you are able to secure the facility based on your peculiar needs. Its also worth knowing that there are several places you can consider for chicken coops for sale.

Aside your local shops, you will also have to be in the know that the internet could also provide an invaluable source of information for you. It is always a good idea to get much information prior to purchasing any product. For this reason, the internet provides the most ideal means of getting virtually all the vital information you will need. The fact that you would swerve the hassle of shopping from one place to the other through the markets by using the internet is simply refreshing news.

Quite apart from this, there are several shops online to consider chicken coops for sale. Since you are required to make monetary investment, it will be in your interest to compare a number of sites before making a final decision. The importance of comparing providers is not only to get affordable item but also for the purposes of acquiring a durable product. Remember the fact that the materials used in manufacturing them are always not the same. Before giving your attention to a provider of chicken coops for sale, be convinced of these issues.

The fact of the matter is that the ease with which cleaning will be done is largely dependent on these materials. It will be a mistake on your part to choose the coop just by the mere fact that it appears nice. Make sure the general important factors are all considered. For instance, the amount of protection it provides for the birds should be a matter for concern. The best product should be able to offer protection against predators as well as theft.

You are also required to install adequate lights in them for the comfort of the birds. This will usually give you the opportunity to monitor them as and when needed. Another important thing you must not forget when looking for chicken coops for sale has to do with providers who produce enough support to customers. Try as much as possible to look for those with reputation of providing quality and reliable products. It should be simple and easily used devoid of any accompanying complex features.

If you’ve ever wanted to build chicken coops for your own personal or commercial uses, visit our site for the most up-to-date information on chicken house plans.

A basic guide to raising chickens organically where we will be discussing:

• Housing for Chickens
• What to Feed Chickens
• How to Raise Chickens for Eggs
• General Poultry Care

Raising organic poultry can be very satisfying, and you don’t have to live on a farm to be able to collect your own eggs every day. As long as your council allows the keeping of poultry, you can easily set up a chicken coop in your backyard; thus backyard chickens! Better still, farming organic chickens in your own backyard, is far more satisfying. Just remember, most councils will not allow you to keep a rooster, only hens, because of the racket they can make and waking up your neighbours, which is fine, because you do not need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs.

However, before you decide on what chicken breeds you want to keep, you should be looking at why you want to keep them. Are you raising chickens for meat production, egg production or just because you want to have a couple of fowls scratching around in your garden keeping the slugs and snail population under control? Based on your needs, you will then be able to identify what breed of chicken you should keep.

However, remember that if you want to keep free range chickens in a garden rather go for bantams, particularly a breed such as Pekins as they do very little damage by comparison to other breeds that are far better suited to chicken coops.

However, raising organic chickens really is the beginning of sustainable living; chickens will be able to eat your table scraps and vegetable peelings, in addition to their grains. They will happily lay eggs for your personal consumption, and best of all, will provide you with some of the best type of manure for you to add to your compost heap which, in turn, will benefit your garden and vegetables no end.

The most incredible step-by-step guide to Raising Chickens for beginners available anywhere.Loaded with ‘word of mouth’ secrets, tips and tricks.A guide that anyone could follow and reference at any time. It takes you by the hand, step by step and shows you exactly what to do. Direct to you in just seconds, in digital format!

CHICKEN TIPS

• Get rid of all wooden perches in your hen house as they are the perfect place for mites to burrow and breed. Instead use poly-piping. Score the pipe first with a knife all over the surface to create a rough surface so as to allow the chicken to grip it more successfully.You will reduce the occurrence of scaly leg significantly.
• Give your chickens rain water where you can. Mains water contains chloride that will kill both good and bad bacteria in the chicken’s digestive tract, thereby lowering the chicken’s resistance to disease.
• Add a tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar to every litre of their water as an excellent tonic for your birds. However, make sure that the water is in the shade during the summer months as heat can make the water sour, resulting in the birds not drinking as much as they should. Plastic waterers are better than metal ones if you are adding the cider vinegar.

Raising Organic Chickens and Basic Care

Chickens like routine, and should be let out and put away at a set time every day.

They should be fed little and often.

Housing should be kept very clean, and all manure should be scraped off the perches and floor of the coop daily.

Fresh water should be given daily, and chickens looked over to see any immediate apparent illnesses.

There is no need to keeping a cock bird if you are raising chickens for eggs. Sometimes, they are more trouble than they are worth.

Raising Chickens: CHICKEN BREEDSRAISING CHICKENS: Bantams

When space is limited, you would like to keep chickens in your garden and you don’t have dogs that will kill your chickens, then go for bantams. They are small, make great pets and will also keep the slugs and snails under control. However, if you are looking for good-sized eggs on a daily basis, then bantams are not for you.

RAISING CHICKENS: How to Raise Chickens for Eggs?

These are birds that are light in body-weight and as a result often take off to roost in trees and tend towards flightiness in general. Therefore, if you want to keep egg-layers, they should really be kept in covered runs. Alternatively, if you want to let them free-range, you will have to clip one wing.

RAISING CHICKENS: How to Raise Chickens for Meat?

Table breeds are heavier and therefore less flighty than egg-layers. They are also more docile and placid in nature. There are also many dual-purpose birds which are both excellent table birds and good layers. These are discussed under Chicken Breeds. However, if you are going to raise table birds, never name your chickens unless you want recrimination and tears from the kids who refuse to eat “Rusty” or “Speckles” minus its feathers while gracing the plate!

However, if you end up with too many roosters, don’t despair, as you can caponize chickens, making your roosters good as surrogate mothers for hatching eggs, and also better meat birds.

RAISING CHICKENS: How Many Chickens Do you Need?

For those of you who are raising organic chickens just for eggs, then 6 good layers will happily keep a family of 4 in eggs, all year around. Beware however, that at certain times of year there will be times when egg production will decrease. This happens when the chickens loose their feathers during moulting in late summer, early autumn, and in winter when there are reduced daylight hours.

Raising Chickens: BUYING YOUR NEW CHICKENS

Buying your chickens will basically come down to 2 things; how much money do you have, and how much time can you afford to wait before your chickens start to produce eggs or will be slaughtered for their meat?

The cheapest option is, without a doubt, buying day-old chicks. However, although they are cheap, there are some issues here that need to be discussed. First of all, buying day-old chicks often comes with a high mortality rate. If you haven’t lost some on-route to delivery, you will often loose some more within the next couple of days. To prevent any further deaths you will have to invest in an artificial brooder, or find a foster mother for them to keep them warm.

Secondly, very few breeds can be sexed at that age. As a result, if you are after egg-layers, you really don’t want to end up with a lot of useless cock birds. And then what do you do with them once you find that about 40 – 60% of your stock are male? You will either have to cull them, or separate them off and sell them at a later stage. However, you will have to off-set that against the cost of their food, care and housing.

Lastly, when you buy day-old chicks, you will have to feed, care and house them for at least 8 months or so, before they start to lay.

For those of you who are raising chickens for egg laying, it make more sense to buy pullets. A pullet is a female that is at least 20 weeks of age and less than 1 year old. Technically, she is capable of laying eggs within 4-6 weeks of purchase, which is significantly less than time then the 8 months you would need to wait if starting with day-old chicks.

The downside is of course the cost of purchasing pullets. They are more expensive, but then they too have had to be fed, vaccinated and cared for, for the last 8 months.

At the end of the day, you will have to decide what is right for you, and your situation. However, the best time to buy, whether it be day-old chicks or pullets is in the spring. Your birds will be about a year old, and will be far happier coming to a new home with good weather and access to new grass shoots and lots of sunshine.

Raising Chickens: CHICKEN HOUSES AND COOPS

Chicken coops can be simple homemade arks to chicken palaces and everything in between. Chicken coops can be bought or they can be made. We have a free chicken coop plan for you which is 8 feet by 8 feet. And another chicken house plan, courtesy of the Tennessee University. In the end, it really comes down to space factors, aesthetics and money.

Whatever you choose should give your chickens 5 things:

• 1) Adequate protection from the weather and predators such as foxes

• 2) A large enough coop to give them space, but not too large where they won’t benefit from each other’s warmth, especially in winter

• 3) The coop should be free from draughts but still has good ventilation

• 4) The coop is positioned so that the front of it faces the the rising sun but it’s protected from the midday sun.

• 5) Part of the run should be shaded.

If you are keeping 12 chickens in a covered coop with an attached run then your coop should be 5 x 7 feet and at least 1/5 of wall space should be allocated to windows. If you are not going to provide any outdoor access, then you could only house 6 chickens in this space.

However, unless you keep your chicken production to small numbers, one coop will never be enough. If you are going to breed chickens, you will need extra space for mum and her chicks. Sometimes too, you will have a sick chicken that needs to be separated from the rest.Picture courtesy of Van Tucky

RAISING ORGANIC CHICKENS: The Ark

The ideal type of housing is one which you can place directly over an area that you want to use in the future for vegetables and then move to another area at a latter date. These are known as movable arks and are ideal for a number of reasons.

When you have them in your veggie patch the chickens can scratch around in the dirt, eat the grass and insects and fertilize your soil at the same time, with very little effort from you. Once you feel that they have spent enough time there, you can move the ark into another position where the grass is better, and you can start all over again. You only have to dig over that area where the chickens have been, allow the manure and added compost to rot down, and once planted out, you will have the most amazing vegetables.

In moving your chickens around a lot you will minimize the chance of disease, they will always have access to fresh grass, and involves very little housework when cleaning out, as opposed to a permanently fixed hen house.

However, they still need to be cleaned and disinfected, and this should be done every 6 weeks.

RAISING ORGANIC CHICKENS: Fixed Hen Houses

These are useful if you are keeping a large number of birds that will also have access to an outside run, or is used for intensive chicken farming for a small number of birds. However there are a number of things here too that need to be taken into consideration.

These houses take a lot of time and effort to keep clean. All the perches, walls and floors have to be scraped removing the manure on a regular basis. Ventilation is an issue, and if not provided your chickens will end up with respiratory infections and other problems. The taller the walls, the better the air-flow, and in general, you should be able to stand upright in the chicken house. This also enables you to walk in without doubling over, and makes cleaning and egg-collecting a lot easier. My ideal chicken coop has the nesting boxes positioned whereby you can collect the eggs while standing outside the coop.

The floor of the hen house should be covered in a material that is not mouldy or damp or dusty so that it causes any respiratory problems. The ideal coverings would be wheat or oat straw, non-toxic wood shavings or shredded paper. This further helps with insulation, absorbs any droppings and keeps the birds busy, as they will enjoy scratching through it. This should be replaced twice a year and the hen house should be thoroughly disinfected after it has been cleaned, preferably with a high-pressure steam cleaner.

RAISING CHICKENS: Nesting Boxes

For every 3 laying-hens there should be 1 nesting box 1 foot square, and 14 inches high. These should be placed just off the ground and lined with straw or hay. They will need to be cleaned out regularly; at least once a month, dusted for parasites, and any broken eggs should be removed immediately. This is very important as once a hen gets into the habit of eating eggs, it will be almost impossible to stop.

RAISING ORGANIC CHICKENS: Perches

Perches should run the length of your hen house and be about 2 inches thick. However, if you are keeping bantams, then they should be 1 inch in thickness. If you are using wood, all perches should have the top edges rounded off, and the wood should be splinter-free. Each bird should be allocated 8 inches of roosting space. Never place the perches more than 2 feet off the ground for fear of injuring the birds, unless you are keeping a variety of bird that has long plumage.

RAISING CHICKENS: Chicken Runs

19 gauge wire with a 2 inch mesh is more than adequate for fencing in chickens. However, for egg-layers who are quite flighty, and to keep predators out, they should be built to 6 feet in height. At least a foot of wire should be buried underground to prevent foxes from digging underneath. In some countries now, due to bird flu, all chickens have to be fully fenced in, which means that the top of your run should also be covered with further wire mesh or netting.

The best way in dealing with fixed chicken houses is to have 2 runs attached to the sides of the house. While one is in use, the other is free. This is so that the ground can recover and the grass can regrow, and it also helps to cut back on parasites and diseases that occur through farming one lot of livestock on the same piece of land, year after year.

Raising Chickens: WHAT DO CHICKENS EAT?

Chickens have different nutritional needs at the different stages of their lives. Young chickens need more protein when they are young as opposed to when they are around 12 – 18 weeks when they no longer have a growth spurt and are growing more slowly.

However, despite the fact that chickens are foragers and will eat slugs and snails, insects, table scraps and the like, they also need protein for growth, tissue repair and to develop an immunity against diseases. They also need fats and carbohydrates for heat and energy, and a small amount of fibre aids in digestion. Finally, a chicken needs vitamin supplements and minerals for optimal health, strong bones and good eggshell formation.

RAISING CHICKENS: Raising Day Old Chicks

When raising chickens that are a day-old they should be fed on chick crumbs for the first 4 weeks of their lives, and stay away from household scraps until they are much older, as they need the right protein levels at this stage to grow into healthy birds. They should be fed little and often, about 4-5 times a day at first.

RAISING CHICKENS: Commercial Feed

However, feeding chickens needn’t be a fine balancing act where you fret and ponder at whether they are getting the right nutrients. Buying commercial feed in the beginning is probably the easiest way to go. You can purchase organic feed these days, and it takes the guess work out of what to feed them, this is normally in pellet form.

However, if you just feed them pellets they will soon get bored, just as you would get bored if you were given the same food day in and day out. Chickens love kitchen scraps and veggie greens, as we have already mentioned, and they also love eating corn. Pellets and chicken scraps are best given in the morning (a large handful each, per bird) and the corn in the afternoon. Wheat and maize are mixed in this feed in a ratio of 1:4 respectively. A small handful for each bird scattered on the ground will give the birds interest and exercise in foraging for it, rather than placing it in a feeder.

RAISING CHICKENS: Grit & Oyster Shell

Oyster shell should only be given to the chickens once they start laying. If they are given the shell too early, they could end up with egg-binding issues. Grit on the other hand should be given from day one as this aids in their digestion. It can either be left in yard all day for the chickens to peck at when needed or sometimes, it is left as a thin layer in the nesting boxes for the fowls to access. Each bird will consume about 1 tablespoon of grit a month.

RAISING CHICKENS: Water

Your chickens are made up of 50% water, therefore it stands to reason that your chickens will need a constant supply of fresh water. Chickens also are unable to perspire, and in the heat you will see your chickens with their wings and beaks open trying to cool down. If your chickens don’t have access to water in these conditions, they will die.

Raising Chickens: HEALTH AND YOUR CHICKENS

The health of your chickens will be dealt with in another section, however, the only way of staying on top of your chickens’ health is to make sure that you interface with them daily and are observant to any changes, no matter how slight.

Early symptoms when treated usually ensures a quick recovery for your birds. Therefore if you see a chicken that is standing away from the flock look carefully for any tell-tale signs. Are the eyes bright or do they look glazed? Are the wings dropping? Are any stools loose with stained feathers around the vent? Is there blood around the vent? Are they off their food? Do they have ruffled feathers? Do they have breathing difficulties? Can you see any bundles of worms in the run from parasitic infestation?

If in doubt at all regarding your birds’ health it is best to call the vet as soon as possible for serious ailments that cannot be treated by yourself.

Chicken coops and chicken pens should be spotless. And every spring and fall should be treated with fire to rid the area of parasites and disease. See our page on chicken pens for more information on this subject.

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