How To Raise Backyard Chickens: A Beginner’s Guide

If you want to learn how to raise backyard chickens, you’re in the right place! Aside from providing you with delicious eggs everyday, they are actually very easy to keep. In this post, I’m giving you the complete guide on how to raise backyard chickens, get lots of farm-fresh eggs, and ensure you have a healthy flock!

Included in this post:

• Basic Chicken 101
• Why Chickens?
• Supplies Needed for Backyard Chickens – Baby Chicks
• Supplies Needed For Backyard Chickens – Pullets & Adult Hens
• Raising Backyard Chickens

Basic Chicken 101

Before we get into the nitty gritty, I want to give you a few chicken facts – in case there is any confusion! These are some of the things that confuse many people, (myself included when I was first getting started), so I figured I’d do a bit of chicken-ED first!

• The term “chicken” technically applies to both males and females. Male chickens are called roosters, and female chickens are called hens. Young roosters are referred to as cockerels, and young hens are referred to as pullets.
• You do NOT need to have a rooster in order for your hens to lay eggs – this is a common misconception.
• Roosters can not lay eggs.
• The term “broody hen” refers to an adult hen, who is responding to her instincts to sit on her eggs. A broody hen is necessary in order to hatch chicks, unless you use an incubator. Broodiness can happen at any time of year, but is most common during the spring and summer. 
• Fertilized eggs are completely edible and safe to eat, as long as they have not been incubated, (or sat on), for any amount of time. 
• When a rooster mates with a hen, the hen is now considered “fertile” for an average of 2 weeks. During that time period, any eggs she lays would likely be fertilized. This means that those eggs could turn into chicks, if incubated. 
• If a fertilized egg is not incubated, either by the hen or an incubator, it will never become a chick. If it is incubated in one of those ways, then 21 days later, a chick could hatch!
• White chickens lay white eggs, brown chickens lay brown eggs, and other breeds of chickens can lay a wide range of egg colours – pink, blue, light green, dark olive, and more. However, although the shells can be different colours, all eggs are the same on the inside. 
• Chickens are very social animals, therefore, they get to know and trust you as the chicken keeper, quite well.  

Why chickens?

Before we learn how to raise backyard chickens, let’s talk about WHY chickens are referred to as “the gateway to homesteading“, and why backyard flocks have become so popular. 

• Price: Purchasing baby chicks, or even pullets (hens that are ready to lay), is very inexpensive. You can order your chicks from most local farm supply stores, for around $2-$3 per chick. Pullets are a bit more up front, but it saves you on time and expenses needed to raise baby chicks. Pullets can range anywhere between $10-$20 per hen, depending on the breed of chicken. Compared to large farm animals that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to purchase, chickens are a very affordable option!
• Size: Because chickens are a small animal, they are less intimidating for people just starting out with livestock. They are easy to move around, light weight, and non-threatening, (unless you get an evil rooster…I know this from experience!). Even young children can be actively involved in their care, with little to no risk of injury. 
• Infrastructure: A chicken coop does not have to be a complex build. If you desire to have a pinterest worthy coop, that’s wonderful – but you certainly do not have to! Chickens need shelter from weather and predators, roosts to sleep on at night, and nest boxes to lay their eggs. I have seen this done in the simplest of ways, and be just as effective as a fancy set up. A chicken coop is a very easy build, and it doesn’t take up too much space.
• Egg Production: This is the REAL reason why we love our chickens so much – the delicious eggs that they give us every single day! Egg-laying chickens are considered a maximum output livestock animal. This means that during the course of a chickens life, you will get maximum output with minimal input. Of course, you do put time and effort into raising backyard chickens. However, compared to other livestock, the work is minimal, the time commitment is less, and they are generally much easier. 

Supplies Needed For Backyard Chickens

When learning how to raise backyard chickens, you first need to know what supplies you will need. 

Depending on whether you purchase baby chicks or pullets, the supplies you need will be a little bit different. Chicks do require more care at the beginning, but many people opt to go this route, for various different reasons. Here is a look at what you will need to have on hand – from raising chicks, right up to keeping your adult hens outside in the coop. 

Baby Chicks

By the time baby chicks are around 6 – 8 weeks old, they have lost all of their downy fluff, and have replaced that with their feathers. Once a chick is fully feathered, it is ready to go outside. Up until that point, chicks need some extra care and attention so they don’t get cold or sick. Chicks will die very quickly if they’re cold, so putting them outside before they’re ready is not a good idea. 

Chicks need to be kept in a warm, dry brooder – which is sort of like a nursery for chickens! Their brooder also has to be equipped with everything they need to grow strong, and healthy.

If you are planning to raise baby chicks, here are the 6 key things you need to have in place in order to meet their needs:

1. Brooder Box 

A brooder box is basically just a safe, enclosed area where you keep your baby chicks. It needs to be kept somewhere away from predators or other household animals. In the past, we have made our brooder out of a plastic tote container, others build theirs out of wood, however there are many ways to do this. Here is an article that offers seven homemade chick brooder options – all of which are extremely affordable. 

2. Heat Lamp

A heat lamp is an absolute necessity when raising baby chicks. Until they grow their feathers, chicks are not able to regulate their own body temperature. If chicks are hatched outside with a broody hen, the chicks stay warm by sitting underneath the hen. Her body heat protects them and keeps them from getting cold. When you are raising chicks inside, or without a broody hen, they need a heat lamp as their heat source. Typically, you will need the heat lamp turned on for the first 4-6 weeks, depending on where you have placed the brooder box. If it’s in a warmer area, you may only need it for around 4 weeks. But if you’ve placed it in a garage, or somewhere a bit cooler, then you will likely need to keep it on for closer to 6 weeks. 

3. Chick Starter

When your chickens are older, they eat a special layer feed. However, when they are still chicks, they can’t process adult chicken feed yet. They need to be fed a special chick starter that is easier for them to digest, and has all the nutrients they need to grow. Some chick starter comes medicated against a common parasitic disease called coccidiosis. However, many people opt for unmedicated starter to allow their chicks to build an immunity towards this illness. It often comes down to what you have access to in your area. 

4. Fresh Water

It is important to make sure your young chicks always have access to fresh water. One way you can boost their health dramatically as babies, is by making what is called “Magic Water”. This is a combination of water, apple cider vinegar, raw honey, and garlic. You can find an exact recipe for magic water here. 

5. Grit 

Chickens don’t have any teeth, which means they can’t chew their food. In order for them to break their food down for digestion, they need to eat little tiny rocks called grit. Grit contained in both the chicken’s crop and the gizzard, take over the role of breaking down tough foods. You can purchase bags of chicken grit at your local feed store.

6. Fresh Bedding 

In order to protect your chickens from harmful bacteria and parasitic infections, you need to keep their bedding clean. Most people use either pine shavings, straw, or hay as bedding for their chicks. I prefer shavings, as they are easy to replace, and help absorb odor as well. When they are in the brooder box, it’s a good idea to sprinkle in some fresh bedding every single day. By covering their poop with fresh bedding, it will help the manure to break down, which produces more heat within the brooder. 

Pullets & Adult Hens

Once a chicken reaches around 12 weeks old, it is considered a pullet. A pullet is essentially a teenage chicken; or a chicken that is ready to start laying. Most egg-laying chickens start producing their first eggs between 16 – 20 weeks of age. And generally speaking, hens are considered pullets until the age of one year, when they graduate into their “adulthood”.

Pullets and adult hens do not need to be in a brooder box, or underneath a heat lamp. Because they have all of their feathers, they can live outside in the chicken coop right away! One perk of buying pullets or already laying hens, is that you don’t have to worry about the chick stage, where they need that extra attention. Even though chicks are totally adorable, they can be a lot more work!

If you plan to raise backyard chickens, here are the things you will need to have:

1. Chicken Coop

Your chickens need to have a safe place to call home. This is where they will sleep at night, lay their eggs, and take shelter from weather and predators. Do not confuse a chicken coop with a chicken run – they are two separate things. I will discuss the chicken run in a moment, but just know that all chickens need to have place to call home, even if you plan to free range them.  

There are many different styles of chicken coops out there, from super basic, to chicken mansions! It’s up to you how fancy you want to get in your design, just make sure that your coop has these following elements:

• Roosts – Roosts are perches that chickens sit on during the night to sleep. Some people use actual tree branches to make their roosts, others use pieces of wood. It doesn’t really matter what you use, as long as they aren’t too wide for the chicken to grip with her foot. A few inches around would be all you need. The number of roosts in your coop will depend on the number of chickens you have. 

• A Nesting Box – When hens lay their eggs, they want to do it in a space that feels safe to them. If there is no nesting box, they will seek out a dark corner, or somewhere they feel is hidden. By providing nest boxes for your hens to lay their eggs, you’re making your hens happy. Plus, it’s a lot easier to collect the eggs!

• Good Ventilation – It’s very important for chicken’s respiratory health that their coop has good ventilation. If there’s no ventilation, the buildup of ammonia inside the coop can be very harmful for their respiratory systems. The best kind of ventilation for a chicken coop, are openings that are well above the chickens head height while they roost. This allows the ammonia to escape, but it doesn’t blow cold air or moisture directly on the chickens. You also want to make sure you have a few vents on each side of the coop, to allow for cross ventilation. 

• Hardware Cloth – Chickens are prey animals, which means there are alot of wild animals that would love to make a dinner out of your beautiful egg layers. Make sure to cover any openings in the coop, such as the vents just mentioned, with hardware cloth. This will allow the air flow in, but keep the predators out. 

2. Dust Bath

The way chickens clean themselves, is by taking dust baths. This is when they crouch their bodies down into some dirt, spread their wings, and use the dirt to help get rid of any bugs or parasites that may be trying to live on them. 

Dust baths are an extremely important element in keeping chickens, and they are very simple to make. If your chickens free range, they will take care of this on their own by finding some dirt, and using that as their bath area. If your chickens are in an enclosed run, chances are you will need to provide them with a good dust bath. 

This is so easy, and does NOT have to be anything fancy! You can place an old tire on the ground, or create a little 4×4 area with wood. You could even just dig down a few inches in one area, and then add some fresh dirt and sand back into the hole so it stays loose.

Other than dirt, there are a few things you can add into the dust bath to ensure you have really healthy chickens:

• Diatomaceous earth – this is a natural substance that helps get rid of external parasites. Make sure to only use food grade.
• Wood Ash – this contains vitamin K, calcium and magnesium, which is really good for the health of a chicken. It helps absorb toxins from their pores, and even acts as a kind of medicine.
• Sand – sand keeps things loose and helps prevent the dirt from getting too compacted

3. Enclosed Run

Depending on where you live, free ranging your chickens may not be possible. If you have a suburban backyard, you should check with your local ordinances to see if there are any regulations on letting your chickens free range. If you are allowed to let them roam, know that there are many pros and cons to giving your chickens full freedom. Read The Pros And Cons Of Free Ranging Chickens, to learn more about that.

If you are keeping them in an enclosed run, the most important thing to consider is the square feet of floor space you are giving them. In order to keep your flock happy and healthy, it is recommended that you provide around 10 square feet of chicken run space per chicken. If you have 8 chickens, that’s 80 square feet. However, the more space they have, the better. So when choosing your chicken run, it’s best to make it as big as you can, while still working well in your space.

4. Clean Water & Bedding

When learning how to raise backyard chickens, this is something you want to focus on. 

If you want healthy chickens, keeping their water clean is a big part of that. Chickens poop a lot, and depending on where you have their water, poop can sometimes land in it. It’s a good idea to hang their water containers so they’re elevated up off of the floor by a few inches. This will reduce the risk of them getting poop, or other debris in their water. 

Another great tip is to add fresh garlic to their water every day. Garlic is one of the best things you can give your chickens, as it acts as a preventative, and cure, for many chicken illnesses. Here is a great resource all about the benefits of feeding garlic to chickens.

Clean bedding is also important, as it helps to break down the chicken manure, and keeps things smelling fresh and clean. Hens LOVE a clean coop, and you’ll see them go in and start scratching at the new bedding right away! As chicken keepers, it always makes us happy to see them enjoying their fresh new bedding! 

Some great options for chicken bedding are:

• pine shavings
• straw
• hay

4. Layer Feed

We talked about chick starter feed for baby chicks, but once your girls are out of the chick stage, they need to be fed a good quality layer feed to help them with their egg production. Layer feeds contain about 16 percent protein and extra calcium, which helps your chickens to lay eggs with strong shells. If you want to boost their calcium a bit more, adding some oyster shells into their feed will do this. 

It’s also a safe practice to mix some food grade diatomaceous earth into their feed, as this acts as a natural dewormer. 

5. Grit

Just like I mentioned earlier with baby chicks, adult hens also need to have access to grit. If you let your chickens free range, they will take care of this on their own by eating small stones they find in nature. If they are in an enclosed chicken run, just make sure to provide some to them, alongside their food and water. 

Raising Backyard Chickens

When learning how to raise backyard chickens, there is really nothing quite like good ol’ experience! My advice is to go ahead and get some egg-layers, because you will develop your routine and knowledge along the way. 

Just be sure to have all of the supplies that you need, so that you are able to raise happy, healthy chickens! 

Oh, and if you haven’t already heard about chicken math, it’s very much a thing! Most of us ‘chicken people” start out by planning on having just a few chickens – then we turn around and we have way more than we ever thought we would! This is because chickens really are an amazing animal to own. They give back with their beautiful eggs, they are entertaining to watch, and not complicated to keep.

Raising backyard chickens really is a joyful experience, that is good for the whole family!