I use wood shavings for the nest boxes. Some folks like straw.
Have you ever done fodder? I'm sure your chickens will be able to free range where you live. Well, thinking of the nice weather, right now, we have snow. But, if you don't want your chickens free ranging for some reason, fodder is great. BOSS is also good. Black Sunflower Seeds. Great protien. They can also be fed their own eggs back to them as long as they are broiled or scrambled. Don't want to give the raw eggs..will encourage them to eat their own eggs.
I have found some excellent eggs to hatch on BYC and E-Bay. All of my chickens are heratige but one. It was given to me. I hatch all of mine. Here is a photo of the fodder. It is just getting going, only takes about a week for it to be full grown. You can do it on a much larger scale.
I used red wheat from the grocery store to do this one. There are several varieties. You can look them up. Hope you enjoy raising chickens!
