Homemade Chicken Coops
Homemade Chicken Coops
Whether you are looking for a way to save money, be healthier, prepare for tough economical times, or simply have better tasting food, growing your own food in your backyard is a wonderful idea. There are just so many things that you could be growing on your own. You will save an incredible amount of money and you will also find that your food will taste a lot better. Since you are growing the food yourself you know that you are safe from pesticides and other harmful chemicals that are often used on larger commercial farms.
Another important thing to look into is that of raising your own chickens. There are wonderful benefits that come from raising your own chickens. You can have fresh eggs from the laying hens and meat when the time is appropriate. Your organic chickens will provide you will a lot of nutrition and protein. Since you will have so many chickens running around, it is important to make sure that you are giving them proper shelter in order to lay their eggs.
It is also important to make sure that you are feeding your chickens only the best and the healthiest food that you can find. After all, you will be eating their eggs and their meat so it is important to make sure that only things you would feel safe eating are given to the hens to eat. A great way to go about this is to dedicate a section of your garden to foods that will be for the chickens to eat. This will be your chicken garden.
The chicken garden will supply your chickens with all of the nutrients they need in order to produce high quality eggs and to be truly delicious and healthy to eat later on. In a matter of no time at all you will have yourself an array of food to pick from. If things ever get rough and you do not have much else to count on, you will at least know that you have eggs, meat, and vegetables from your garden to live off of. And the food from your chicken garden will be the food you use to help feed the chickens so you will not have to worry about spending an overload of money on feeding the chickens.
Make your garden as small or large as you would like. Just make sure that you are placing the garden a good bit away from your organic chickens or you may find them snacking on the plants that you would rather keep for your own food. You also want to make sure that you are planting your chicken garden where there is fresh soil and where there is room to expand. Even if you feel as though you will never want a larger garden, you really need to make sure that you are giving yourself the option should it ever come to that point.
Within no time at all you will be proud to say that you are truly self sufficient now. You will have everything you need in case of rough times and you are prepared for anything now.
Suzie O'Connor is the owner of ChickenHousesPlus.com which carries a catalog of Homemade Chicken Houses, chicken coops, DIY Chicken Coop plans and a selection of fertile chicken eggs designed to assist anyone that wants to have their own backyard chicken flock!
Chickens and care- I am a newbie?
I am getting 1 chicken (my family hasn't picked rooster or hen yet-- either a silky chicken, Jersey giant, Colombian......)
I will be getting a 2 foot squared coop soon (3 sided with wire on the front at night)
It will be in the coop at night because of coyotes and stuff.
It will be in the backyard during the day (we have to get it fenced so we will have a temporary min. 8 foot squared yard) to roam and exercise.
I am BRAND new at this and will need help.
If you have any tips, favourite feed brands, homemade food, info... that would be greatly appreciated... THANKS IN ADVANCE!
If you only have one chicken it is good to take care of him/her.If she is small chicken under 6 weeks put her on a cage or any other thing but never allow water to stay inside the cage.You have to buy a bulb an put it above the chicken.Place plenty of food and water only in seperate bowl.Note:never allow water to flow through cage.It makes her ill.
The chicken diet is important.Never give boiled rice if your chicken is female.
For small chicken starter is essential.You can buy it from stores.For all aged chicken starter is good.
Chicken feed:
Mashed/Crumbled Chick Feed
Buy some powdery mash feed, which chicks can easily digest, or get some crumbles for chicks at your local feed store if you find the chicks are wasting the mash. Buy pellets, which are made of compressed mash, for older chicks. You won't need to buy grit for digestion if your birds are on this diet.
Grains with Grit
Feed the chicks plenty of grains mixed with grit to help them digest their food. It's best to use whole, living grains rather than cracked. Try to give them a mixture of several varieties of grains rather than just a pure corn diet to make sure they get all the nutrients they need. Your local feed store can help you find the best grains for your chicks. Buy the chick-sized granite grit from your feed store and mix it in with the feed.
Medicated Feed
To prevent the chicks from contracting the parasitic disease coccidiosis, which can kill chicks that don't yet have a resistance, choose feed that is medicated with Amprolium. Amprolium controls coccidiosis and helps the chicks develop a resistance to the disease. Don't bother spending money on feed with antibiotics in it, as this is unnecessary.
Foods Around the House
You can use foods around the house for chick feed if need be. For example, while it may seem strange, you can serve the chicks mashed, hard-boiled eggs as a starter feed. Or, you can grind up some breakfast cereal and let them eat that. However, avoid sweetened cereals or those with chocolate; too much sugar can be fattening, and chocolate can be toxic.
If you are buying a baby chicken you have to feed them different food when they age.
Up to Six Weeks
From day one through six weeks of age, your chicks should be fed commercial chick starter feed. Available at your local feed store, chick starter feed comes in 25 or 50 pound bags and will supply all the nutrition your chicks need to thrive in the first weeks of life. Having a steady supply of feed and water is the most important factor in chicks surviving those early days of life.
After Six Weeks
At six weeks old, chicks should be switched to pullet grower feed. Smaller breeds should continue to be fed pullet grower feed for the next 20 weeks. Larger breeds such as Brahmas or Cochins should be fed the same feed for 25 weeks.
Feeding After Maturity
After 20 or 25 weeks, your chicks are old enough to be switched to laying feed, also known as "hen lay." Hen lay contains extra calcium and about 16 percent protein to ensure the hens produce strong-shelled eggs.
Different Formulas
Chicken feed comes in three different forms: pellets, crumbles and mash. Mash is a powder and easily wasted by the feeding chickens. Compressed mash is used to make pellets, and crumbles are crushed pellets.
Many who raise chickens prefer to feed crumbles to the younger chicks and pellets to the older chickens. However, in the event the chickens are all housed in one poultry yard, pellets are less wasteful because when they are spilled out of the feeders, the birds can still eat them off the ground.
Each type of feed is formulated to provide the nutritional needs of chicks in each stage of development. Most starter feeds are also medicated to prevent those serious disease common in chicken flocks. Pullet and laying feeds are less likely to be medicated and will be labeled as such. Very seldom do you need to feed your chick any supplemental feed.
Chicken Scratch
One thing your chickens will enjoy is "scratch," a mixture of seeds and grains you scatter in the yard to encourage them to scratch. Scratching provides exercise and also supplies them with grit for proper digestion.
The only caution with feeding scratch is that it dilutes the nutrient levels of the grower feed or hen lay. Scratch should only make up 10 to 15 percent of your chickens' daily food needs. The easiest way to regulate that is to only feed the chicks the amount of scratch that can be eaten in 20 minutes
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