Chickens! Chickens! Chickens!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about our chickens. Apparently, there is an “Urban Chicken” trend. I guess that our family has been trendy and we’ve never known it. I’ve been raising chickens ever since I got married 14 years ago. It started (for me) when my husband came home with a large “surprise” in a box. I never imagined that the box would contain 20 baby chicks!

I was stunned, but he was clearly impressed with himself. He had grown up on farm on which they raised chickens for eggs and was genuinely excited to have some for our own farm. We’ve been raising chickens ever since and could not imagine our farm without them.

How we raise chickens…

Disclaimer: This is how our family raises chickens and is not meant to give instructions on how to raise them. There are several sites on how to raise chickens J

We receive our chicks in the spring. We usually only get a new batch every 3 years. Hens normally lay eggs for 3 years. We typically get around 30 chicks. The first few weeks are the toughest. You have to make sure that they stay warm at all times. Soon they can move to a larger area. We often use a kiddy pool with sand in the bottom.

After about one month, they can be moved to the chicken house as long as they are the only chickens there. Chickens can never be moved in with another group of chickens. They will peck each other to death. By August, the chickens usually begin to lay eggs! They usually lay around one egg a day during the first year.

Our chickens are the responsibility of our boys. Our oldest started taking care of them at the age of 5 or 6. The boys have to feed and water the chickens (we feed them ground feed) every evening. They gather the eggs and wash them so that they can sell them to friends and family. They save their “egg money” to buy their animals for 4-H.