Raising chickens at home can be done as a hobby, for eggs as well as for meat. This article provides some good tips for the purpose.
With many commercial as well as household benefits, livestock breeding at home is increasingly gaining a lot of popularity, in recent times. Raising chickens is beneficial in a lot of ways.
For pet lovers, this is a hobby, the ones doing it for business purposes can gain a lot of profits by selling eggs and meat! Moreover, apart from the early investment, raising chickens for eggs at home is not at all an expensive affair.
In fact, chickens can be fed on fresh water and kitchen waste and this in turn would provide a nitrogen rich manure. But how to successfully raise chickens at home? This is the question many beginners in this activity are confronted with. To help out all those, here are some tips on raising chickens at home.
Tips For Breeding Chickens at Home
Although keeping chickens at home might seem to be an easy activity, there are many minute things, you need to take care of. The tips discussed below will give you an idea of the same.
What Does the Law Say?
Now, this is the first and foremost step while starting to raise chickens at home. You need to check the local law associated with livestock breeding at your home.
Some local authorities might not permit, while some may permit it with some limitations or norms. Nonetheless, get it checked and make your business legal, instead of landing yourself into legal prosecutions in the future.
Start the Activity!
When your local law has no objections with your idea, you can go ahead and plan on further requirements. Decide the number of chickens that you'll be breeding and also decide the breed.
Contact your local supplier for this purpose and also see that you buy healthy chickens Some of the popular chicken breeds for this purpose are, Buckeye, Ameraucana , Delaware, Jersey Giant, Dominique, Plymouth Rock, etc.
Further, select a chicken coop having the right dimensions, which meets the number of chickens you have. You can either purchase a 'ready to use', chicken coop, or you can prepare it yourself at home, by referring to various books available on the same.
Food and Beverage!
Caring for their food and water is the most important and challenging part of raising chickens at home. You need to refresh the food and water stock and if you are raising chickens for the purpose of eggs, then you can have tasty eggs if you feed them different types of food everyday.
The best way to do this is by feeding them with kitchen waste. Bread, table scraps, green vegetables, corn etc. can be included in their diet. The end product of this would be tasty eggs and also some nitrogen rich manure!
Health and Wellness!
Paying attention towards the health and wellness of chickens is another important part of the endeavor. Get your chickens checked from a veterinary doctor regularly and if any of them is found to be infected, quarantine it immediately.
Keep Them Safe!
If your backyard is an open one, then your chickens could be at a danger of being killed by predators like hawks. If hawks are not a problem, then sunlight and rain also may affect their health.
To avoid this, you can have put on some cover on the coop. In fact, a dark environment is favorable for the chicken to lay eggs and rest.
Following these tips would definitely make work easier and turn your venture into a successful one. However, for a more precise approach towards caring for different breeds, you can contact your local chicken supplier and get a detailed insight of everything needed. All the Best!