love of local in Utah
Raising Backyard Chickens
I want to start off by saying we are *learning* on the go about how to raise backyard chickens. I want to share everything as we do it. Am I the expert? No. And I would love any tips from my readers if I am doing something the wrong way.
The girls and I came back from a trip to baby chicks. Actually, they are 3 weeks old now. Finding chicks in the “off season” (which is June to October) is hard, but my husband had found some while we were gone. We have a total of six chicks. 4 are White Leghorns and 2 are Spotted Leghorns. They don’t produce the beautiful colored eggs; just plain lighter eggs. At full size they will be around 3-4 pounds and are not usually used for poultry meat.
We decided to buy chicks instead of grown hens because we want to get used to each other. I want the girls to see, touch, play with and feed them every single day so they are comfortable around them. I also want the chicks to be very used to human touch. I also wanted to control where I got the chicks and which kinds. I have been told that if you buy from a local source, the chances of them being born from a mother who was treated humanely and not pumped with growth hormones is much higher. Hens don’t like to be alone. They recommend that you have at least 3. I am still not sure why he got SIX, but it will be fun and we have the room.
Right now their “home” needs to be kept at a very warm (actually kind of hot, 90 degrees) temperature which is perfect for the weather right now. They are not in their chicken coop in the backyard quite yet, but in their baby carrier with their water.
We are doing this for a few reasons: #1 For fun #2 To further teach the girls WHERE their food comes from #3 Because the Free Range Organic Eggs I buy cost too much! #4 We just adore animals #5 We have the room! #6 They are great for fertilizing the garden soil and keeping tabs on all those bugs!
The girls and Tyler named them: Athena, Audrey, Belle, Buttercup, Lilly and our favorite chick, Piper.
I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our process with raising backyard chickens. Wish us luck!
Added Notes: There is a very particular way you need to keep chicks. I did not go over this. Make sure that your other animals (3 dogs in our case) have NO access to the chicks and make sure your city’s zoning laws allow for backyard hens.
Tags: raising backyard chickens
good for you!! we got 16 chickens in may and they have been a hoot to watch and take care of. the kids absolutely love them and try to get to them any chance they can
We currently have 3 adult layers and 9 week or so chicks who will be mixed in with the flock, eventually. We love our backyard birds for so many reasons, the great eggs are just one of the benefits. Looks like you folks are off to a great start.
-Robin
you want 6 chicks so you get enough eggs out of it to make it worth it! Chickens lay about an egg a day give or take.
We really wanted to get some this year, but man with my giant garden I’m not sure I could have kept up with those chicks too. Maybe next year… and then you can give me pointers.
Wow. How cool. I am a little envious. I’ve often thought that having chickens would be so great for all of the reasons you mentioned. And then, I thought of the potential mess and the inability to travel often and changed my mind…
Hmmm. Still think it is totally cool. Wish you were my neighbor
Wow! What a surprise – have fun.
Tauni, I have no problem finding chicken sitters when we go out of town. I just pay them in eggs.
-Robin
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, but will be moving to Seattle and living in an apartment. I look forward to living vicariously through your posts.
So fun and so exciting!
So fun! I have been telling my husband that I want to get some hens… we just need to get a house first.
Hi all, im really happy
i just got my new IPhone 4G for FREE lol!. I didn’t think it would work but it pulled through. I followed the steps on Free IPhone 4G and i just thought ide share it! Dont forget to tell your friends
Holy cow!! You have chickens?!! That’s so rad!
[...] you haven’t read our first post on Raising Backyard Hens you should do [...]
What a great venture, Vanessa! You and your girls are going to learn so much in the process.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll have an abundance of eggs that you can sell to family + friends.
[...] If you missed the post on WHY we wanted to get backyard chickens, read it here. [...]
Thanks very much for this great website;this is the stuff that keeps me on track through out my day. I’ve been looking around for your site after being referred to them from a colleague and was thrilled when I found it after searching for awhile. Being a demanding blogger, I’m dazzled to see others taking initivative and contributing to the community. Just wanted to comment to show my approval for your post as it’s very enticing, and many bloggers do not get appreciation they deserve. I am sure I’ll visit again and will recommend to my friends.
Hey, I just found this article through Bing. I like the idea given by the article. I’m going to subscribe to your feeds aiming to see again.
[...] at 5am throwing on all our snow stuff to make sure they were ok. What can I say we have raised them from little baby chicks! We love Piper, Audrey, Lily, Athena, Belle and [...]
You’re making a lot of great points during this blog post however it is very hard in my opinion to concentrate on this article on the complicated page design.
Hi there, just browsing for information for my Utah 4g site. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Not quite what I was looking for, but cool site. Have a nice day.
Utilizing a pc with net in your home, your certainly linked world wide and plenty of data you could get from the web just for example in this blog. Many thanks!
This just gets better and better. Try taking a deep breath, let it out and try to open your mind. Think about this. If you have learned to run in the opposite direction whenever you hear the word ‘free’, just take a couple seconds and check this out. Companies give stuff away all the time and this site just has all these offers in one place and makes it easy for you to take advantage of each offer. You can just search through all the free offers by category until you find something that interests you or you can just take advantage of each and every offer. Whether you are a free or paid member, you can still get access to free stuff. As a free member, you can still get the 5 latest free offers each week, at zero cost to you. This is not one of those deals where you have to spend your whole day filling out surveys, you just have to do whatever that particular free offer requires. All you have to do is give your name and address so that your free items can be shipped to you. Also, and this might be the best part, if you actually pay the $25 to be a member, you can market this stuff to the world and make money giving away free stuff! You do need to become a member if you want to be a part of the business plan but it is very cheap and comes with some terrific tools (like a video mailer that you can even use for your other offers). Plus, you get access to ALL the free stuff. If you do decide to make money with this, they offer some really cool promotional tools including access to a video mailer that you can use to blast to prospects. Your head is probably already spinning with clever ideas on how you can make money with this. If nothing else, just check out the link in order to get the free stuff. This is a pretty cool deal and really worth checking out. http://adf.ly/1Vrs4