Raising Urban Chickens in Your Backyard:
All about the hobby and art of raising chickens at home!
Raising chickens is a fun and rewarding backyard hobby. There's nothing better than waking up to a happy flock of backyard hens. You can raise chickens anywhere you have a little space, whether it's an urban city backyard or a spacious country ranch. With our help, you'll discover that raising chickens is a lot easier than you might think. We'll teach you absolutely everything you need to know about raising chickens, including the best hatcheries to buy baby chicks; what to feed your pet chickens; and how to build a simple chicken coop.
Why Raising Chickens?
- Raising chickens is fun and enjoyable. Ask anyone with chickens...they love it!
- The startup costs to start raising chickens for beginners is low compared to other types of farm livestock.
- Raising chickens is a great way to have a constant supply of fresh chicken eggs.
- Chickens are great at eating weeds and garden pests, and also make excellent free chicken manure fertilizer.
Ready To Get Your First Chicks?
- Your local poultry feed store often carries chicks. You probably won't find any exotic breeds at a feed store, but you'll discover perennial favorites like the Rhode Island Red and the Barred Plymouth Rock. Alternatively, you can hatch chicks by brooding chicks from fertile chicken eggs.
- Find the best hatcheries in our chicken forum, or in our hatchery listings.
- Housing chicks: Many hobbyists just use a cardboard box with pine shavings.
- Keep the chick brood warm with a 100-watt bulb at 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit and decrease by 5 degrees every week.
- Feed your chicks fresh water and high-protein chick feed.
Raising Your First Chicken Flock?
- Learn about building a chicken coop and the requirements for a chicken house.
- Feeding chickens: Use commercial chicken feed or mix your own chicken feed with chicken feed supplements. Provide lots of fresh, clean water.
- Many chickens enjoy being outdoors. Learn how other hobbyists do it in our poultry forums.
- Learn more about raising egg layers in our layer hen article archive.
more resources:
Chicken Articles: (click a category for dozens of free chicken articles!)
