Big Mistakes
Get your chicken-keeping adventure started right by not falling for these unforced errors.
Start your chicken-keeping adventure right by not falling for these errors.
Getting backyard chickens is trendy and a good idea if you want to be in control of your food. It’s as simple as grabbing a few chicks from the feed-supply store or filling out some information online from a hatchery. Right? Not so fast! If you’re a first-time or novice chicken owner, newbie mistakes can be costly. Learn how to avoid these mistakes to have a healthy and productive backyard flock.
Know Your Local Zoning Laws
Zoning laws may seem boring and tedious, but many a chicken owner has found out the hard way that these laws will govern every step of their chicken-keeping adventure. If you run afoul of the law, you may be forced to rehome your chickens or try to change your local laws. The best advice is don’t pick out your chickens then look at your local laws; look first. Note: Not all these scenarios will apply to everyone. Zoning laws vary by locality.
Zoning laws actually start at the feed-supply store when you’re buying day-old chicks. In my state, most feed-supply stores are required to enforce a six-bird minimum purchase. If your local zoning laws allow you to keep chickens (most subdivisions do not), then check to see your maximum bird limit. If your maximum bird limit is three but your feed-supply store only sells six minimum, you’re already over what the law allows you to own. If you’re buying chickens from a swap meet or hatching eggs, the same maximum will apply to you, too.
On a personal note, the six-chick minimum purchase is my most hated chicken law.
I understand the need for it, but I always have to consider this when I add birds to my flock. If you don’t mind purchasing by mail or live near a hatchery, you may want to check with them before heading to the store. Some hatcheries will sell/ship a minimum of three birds.
Zoning laws will also dictate if you can have roosters and hens or just hens. I follow a lot of chicken social media sites and almost every day I see someone that’s looking to rehome a rooster because they aren’t allowed to have them in their area.
Even if you are careful, unwanted roosters happen. I know; it happened to me … twice! Here are a few tips to help decrease your chances of getting a rooster.
KNOW YOUR TERMINOLOGY. Pullets are young hens (females). Cockerels are young roosters (males). Straight run means the chicks are not sexed so there are pullets and cockerels in the group.
ORDER FROM A HATCHERY. With a direct order, hatcheries tend to be careful about fulfilling that order correctly.
DON’T HATCH CHICKS. When you hatch, you’re essentially populating the straight-run brooder. The percentage of pullets-to-cockerels in a hatch is about 50/50.
Meat Vs. Eggs
In theory, you can eat any chicken you raise. In reality, some provide better meat ratios than others. If you’re looking to raise chickens for meat and eggs, you can purchase dual-purpose birds (birds that can be raised for meat and eggs) that are straight-run, knowing you’ll eat the roosters and keep the hens, or you can purchase meat chickens solely for that purpose.
But what if you don’t want to eat your chickens? Just because a chicken is dual-purpose doesn’t mean it has to be used for both. Many of the most popular laying breeds are technically dual-purpose. But be careful because there are chickens that are bred only for meat. These chickens have different names at different hatcheries, but in general, are called Cornish Crosses, and they grow quickly and don’t have long lifespans. They are subject to numerous maladies including heart attacks and broken legs. If you get meat chickens by accident and fall in love with them, it can be heartbreaking. Be sure you know what breed you are getting so you can avoid this problem.
Don’t Get Too Many Roosters
If you’re able to keep roosters in your area, they can be an asset. A rooster first and foremost is needed if you want to expand your flock by hatching chicks. He can also provide predator protection and keep order by keeping flock squabbles to a minimum. But keeping lots of roosters together in one flock can be a problem.
The best ratio of roosters to hens is one rooster for every 10 to 12 hens. Why? A rooster’s sole job in life is to reproduce. Everything he does is to ensure his reproductive success.
During mating season, a rooster will mate with every hen in his flock many times. If you have enough hens, the rooster has lots of mating choices. This helps to prevent overmating damage to the hens because it reduces the number of times each hen is mated. This isn’t to say roosters don’t have their favorites, because they do, but it does help to blunt the effects.
Roosters also don’t like competition for producing offspring. Other roosters can be competition. Fighting off competitor roosters can cause harm to the roosters themselves and any hens caught in the uproar.
What’s the solution if you end up with too many roosters? There are a few possibilities.
• Identify best flock leader and eat the others.
• Get more hens.
• Separate your birds into multiple flocks
each with its own rooster with separate housing and areas to roam.
• Keep your roosters in a bachelor pad away
from your hens so the roosters don’t feel they have to compete for reproductive rights.
Brooder Balance
Chicks can’t maintain their body temperature and rely on their mother or you to keep them warm. The ideal brooder temperature for the first week of life is 90 to 95 degrees with a 5-degree temperature decrease each following week. The temperature should be measured where the chicks live so keep a thermometer at the brooder floor so you measure what the chicks are feeling.
Beyond the thermometer, watch chick behavior. They’ll let you know if everything is right in the brooder. If they’re lightly clucking to themselves and spread out eating, drinking and
scratching, things are probably right. If they’re frantically and loudly peeping in distress and huddled under the heat lamp, your brooder is likely too cold. If they’re panting with their wings spread, aren’t chirping happily and are as far away from the heat lamp as possible, it’s too hot.
If you are using a heat lamp, adjust the temperature of the brooder by moving the lamp up or down. Heat lamps can be a fire hazard, so make sure you are careful and safe.
Know Chicken Breeds
You don’t have to memorize the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection for chicken breeds, but it’s good to know a few basics about the birds you’re picking. Everyone has different needs and wants for a backyard flock. If you pick the wrong breed, those needs and wants may not be fulfilled.
For instance, do you want enough eggs to supply your family and have some leftover to sell? You’ll want to choose a prolific egglaying breed such as a Leghorn or Wyandotte. Do you have harsh extremes in winter and/or summer? You’ll want a cold-hardy breed such as a Buckeye or a heat-tolerant breed such as a Leghorn.
Do you want colored eggs? Easter Eggers will provide pastels while Marans will provide dark chocolate brown. Looking for family-friendly birds? Try Orpingtons or Cochins.
The good news is that hatcheries are good at providing breed information and there are hundreds of breeds to choose from, so there’s something to fit everyone’s backyard!
Pam Freeman is the author of Backyard Chickens: Beyond the Basics. You can find her online at www.pamsbackyardchickens.com.