Congratulations MamaNini! You won a beautiful coop from Handcrafted Coops! - Page 18

Backyard Chickens in the City

 

If you live in the city, and are considering the idea of having chickens, it is most important that you check what your local city ordinances say on this subject. If you live in an HOA, check with them, as well. Though your city may allow them, it is possible your HOA may prohibit them. Though backyard chickens are becoming more popular, they may not be allowed in your area.

 

If you can legally have chickens in your backyard, there will be rules to follow. Generally, city ordinances (or HOA regulations) will tell you how many chickens you can have, if you can have roosters, and where the coop can be located. Be sure to review the specifics.

 

Once you have found you can keep chickens, there are other things to consider. First and foremost, they must have shelter. Before any chicks or chickens arrive, you should have proper housing prepared. There are many sources available to help you with this decision. A couple great online examples are handcraftedcoops.com and backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops.

 

It is understandable that chicks are cute and you might just want them immediately, but planning a head will save a lot of stress in the long run.

 

 

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*edited to fix the links that wouldn't work

 

Edited by kathyinmo - 2/28/12 at 8:36pm

Without a doubt, my advice is to anyone who is thinking about getting chickens is to stop!  Stop thinking about it, and just do it. You can research chicken breeds, behaviors, coop designs, and feed types, for years and years, but the real learning, and the real joy comes when you just stop thinking and just do it.

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When they are young start handling them but don't be afraid to handle them if they are just a couple of days old if you don't handle them early on then they will become very difficult to handle and when they reach adult hood they will become very skittish.choosing a breed can be very difficult it really depends on what you want in my opinion there are 4 categories meat/egg/dual purpose/and decorative ask your self what do you want chickens for.Some people just buy chicks for the cute factor and then get ride of them when they reach adult hood when you see chicks and say "aaww I want one" ask your self what are you going to do when it is a year old what if it is a rooster?Some people want to know rather to get them as chicks or adults it depends do you want to keep baby chicks in your house/garage/storage building for 4/6 weeks or do you want to have chickens that are most likely very skittish both have their pros and cons.Don't be mistaken just because it says chick starter doesn't mean you cant feed it to the adults, it has good probiotics for them and in the winter time I like to give my chickens scratch grain they have to work harder to digest it and it creates body heat, never feed chicks laying pellets it is very bad for their colon and can kill them.Chickens are not for everybody but for those that it is meant for it can be the best hobby ever.

My best advice for keeping a flock of chickens... {with a busy schedule} is to design a secure coop that has a dirt floor. We use dried leaves as the bedding in our dirt floor coop & our girls are happily digging for bugs & scratch - all the while turning the poop & mulching the leaves! It also works great to have a place to dispose of all these leaves! Now... If I could just figure out how to keep the hawks away...
I'd be thrilled to win... These hawks won't let up.. We might just NEED the tractor!

We started our first flock just last year, so we are still learning every day about our chickens and BYC is the first place we come for advice. We have just one piece of advice to share......build a bigger coop than you think you will need.  Because you WILL catch the chicken fever! 

Pull up a chair.
seriously.
Have a chair out in the middle of all the fun. Throw some scratch down or even meal worms or crickets.
Be prepared to have your shoes untied, your feet sat on(and pooped on), your lap, shoulder, and eventually head turned into roosts.
Be prepared to laugh till it hurts, and to see your blood pressure drop.

Basically, enjoy them. They are fun and quirky with tons of personality who will bond with you the giver of treats if you let them.

My best advice is to find a treat your chickens like.  Save that treat to use as a bribe.  On the days you need to get the chickens back in the coop early just show them the treat and call them in.  My birds love peanuts and any kind of bread.  If they are close just showing them the bread and calling them gets the whole flock running.  On the other hand if they are spread out, cracking peanuts out of the shell and calling them gets them running.  I always use the same "call" when feeding them treats.  "Birds!  Ladies!  Treats!"  It always works.  Even the turkeys run in. Seeing the whole flock running towards you, wings flapping will entertain you also!

Before I got my chickens, I did TONS of research, built what I thought was a good coop, talked to the kids about the responsibility involved, and worried that my dogs would try to eat my chickens.  The best advice I can give anyone who is ready to step into the world of backyard chickens?  Research your hearts out, make sure you, your family, and pets spend a good amount of time with the chickens (our dogs learned the first day that these precious little fluff balls were to be protected, not eaten), and above all, relax and enjoy them.  Raising backyard chickens has been the best, most relaxing, most rewarding decision I have made.  I love going out to see my girls each morning, giving them their favorite treat, spinach and bananas, and watching them run around the yard scratching for every bug they can find.  As you go, you will discover what works best for you and the individual personalities of your chickens.  And keeping up with terrific sites full of wonderful information such as this one will be invaluable to you and anyone who is looking to enrich their lives through the joy of chicken-ing.    Good luck, and ENJOY!!

 

My best advice for backyard chickens is to get a variety of breeds, you'll get lots of different personalities, lots of different laying schedules which is great because you'll always get a surprise. I love opening the coop with my 5 year old and seeing how excited she is every time she finds an egg. Recently 5 of our birds have started to lay and she gets so excited to count out so many eggs. Having chickens has been a great experience for all of us, we learn to love and care for a great family pet, we get to enjoy healthy great tasting eggs and our daughter gets to have her own little egg selling business. This has been one of the best decision our family has ever made. Thank you BYC for giving us the knowledge we needed to raise a happy and healthy flock.

As others here have said, it is essential to do as much research as possible when it comes to raising, feeding, housing, and breeding chickens. It's also extremely important to prepare BEFORE you buy. Sort of like, "don't count your chickens before they hatch", ...... don't buy your chickens before you have everything you need to properly care for them.

That said, I really think one of the most important things to know is that chickens should be afforded the same quality of care and attention that you'd give any family pet. All too often, people have the idea that chickens are somehow disposable creatures that are only good for the food they provide us with. They're thrown in cages with little room to thrive or tossed out in the yard expected to fend for themselves. They do come with that added bonus of fresh eggs and/or meat, but that is NOT all they're good for! Chickens are friendly, intelligent, and comical creatures and they have unique individual personalities. They play, they sing, they fuss..... From a rooster ever so sweetly announcing to his hens that he's found a delicious treat for them to eat, to the loud, seemingly frantic hen who seems utterly shocked that THAT EGG just came out of her....chickens provide us with so much more than just food. Words cant express the joy they bring to my life. They are amazing little critters and deserve to be treated with love and respect.