A Primer On Chickens: Part-1
A Primer On Chickens: Part-1
Begin with the end in mind.
Has the idea of paying $7.00 dozens of eggs given you pause to concern? Did you watch a food documentary, or read a Joel Salatin book, and decided that you need to take more control over your sourcing of meat? Does the idea of becoming a little more independent and closer to nature make you happy? Then these primers are for you!
What is a primer? A primer is a book containing basic facts about a subject, which is used by someone who is beginning to study that subject. In the United States we tend to pronounce this word as primer like the first layer of painting a room, or like the prime meridian with a long i. When actually it should be pronounced in the old english way of a short i. More like being prim and proper. But enough of being bougie already… let’s move on.
Before embarking on any new adventure, I find it important to reflect on the words of wisdom of Steven Covey…
“Begin with the end in mind.”
Steven Covey from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
What is the purpose of raising your own chickens? We have found that there are three main camps of why people raise chickens. Those camps are 1. Egg Production, 2. Meat Production, and 3. Pleasure and Fun.
Egg Production
The vast majority of backyard chicken owners started because of their desire to raise their own eggs. It is a major win-win in the fact that you save money by being able to get higher grade eggs for less dollars spent in feed, and fresh eggs are healthier and taste way better!
Eggs are one of the most versatile foods on the planet. I don’t want to go on and on like Bubba from Forrest Gump talking about how many ways to cook shrimp, but honestly I could. However you consume eggs, there is one thing we can all agree on…farm fresh eggs are just better!
So, what breed of egg layer should you get? We have experimented with different varieties of egg layers and have some recommendations.
Don’t buy exotic breeds of chickens because you want the color of the egg. Green and olive eggs are cool, but your first concern should be finding chickens that are hearty and well suited for your climate. We have had great experiences with Leghorns, Rhode Island and New Hampshire Reds, Plymouth Barred Rock, and our favorite have been Buff Orpingtons. Buff Orpingtons are super docile and produce consistent large brown eggs.
We have tried fun chickens before that have cool shaggy heads or long colorful legs, but they always seem the first to die or get picked off by predators.
Below is a chart from www.thehonestworm.com, that shows the top 9 egg laying chickens.
Egg layers eat a diet lower in protein than that of meat birds. They need access to clean water, food, and a nesting box where they can go to lay eggs. This can range from fancy to basic. We have a 10 hole galvanized metal nesting box that we use in our main coop. We have also used old cat litter containers and milk crates on their side. Regardless of what type of nesting box you choose, you will need to fill the box with some sort of material to keep the eggs dry and protect them from breaking under the weight of the chicken. Typically we use old hay that we have an abundance of but others also use things like straw, wood chips, and hemp bedding.
Meat Production
Elizabeth and I have not raised meat birds yet for our family, but we plan on doing some in 2023 and doing a lot more in 2024. I am thankful some friends of ours CJ and Kirston raise their own meat birds and were willing to share their story with us below:
In the summer of 2015 our first batch of fifty meat birds came in the mail. Fifty meat birds is manageable but now we would much rather do two batches of 25. When we order meat birds, I usually end up blocking off two weekends for harvesting, one at nine weeks and one at 10 weeks. When we get close to the eight week mark we pick the Harvest date based on the size of the birds. We’ve read a lot about feeding schedules and it’s enough to make your head spin. We give the birds as much as they will eat during the day and remove food and water at night. Meat birds are supposed to be fed 20% protein the first three weeks of life and then they can be put on 16% protein. But we often have forgotten that and have fed them 20% the entire time and they were just fine. They don’t need a lot of space but they will do a form of foraging if you let them Roam. As they get bigger, they rest a lot, but I’m a firm believer in making them move at least occasionally so their legs and heart don’t give out on them. We’ve only had one break a leg and he wasn’t full grown. I’m not sure how he got hurt, but it wasn’t because of his weight. We did, however have one bird’s heart give out on her, but I’ll talk more about her in a moment.
Predators are a real problem when it comes to meat birds. When we first got our layers, I read somewhere that the safest place to put your chickens was as close to the house as you can possibly get. So our meat birds sleep in the corner of our garage and every morning we fill feeders in the backyard to coax them out of the doggie door CJ put in the wall. During the day, the birds have a space in the backyard to roam and forage. One year we had planted corn in their forage area, and I have the coolest picture of them sitting between the rows of corn(See picture below). They loved the shade and protection. And we were also gifted a truck cab, and since we like to repurpose things, it now sits in the backyard, providing shade and protection for the meat birds. In the evenings, we have to herd the meat birds because they won’t go up on their own. Which means we have to be available for 8 to 10 weeks home every night when the sun goes down so one of us can herd the meat birds into the garage. I believe that our set up being close to the house and enclosed behind chain-link fence in the backyard is the reason our meat birds have never been victim to a predator death. I’m knocking on wood as I type this!
We talked about food, but even more important than food is water! Meat birds drink a ton of water. If it’s hot and our birds are almost grown there have been days where we have refilled waters three times in one day. It is crucial that they have access to water. Probably four years ago we switched things up and instead of going with the traditional cornish crosses, we tried a flock of heritage meat birds. They grow slower. I think it takes 18-20 weeks to grow them out start to finish. The heritage birds are mostly dark meat and have smaller breast. At the end of the day we missed the white meat and the size of our Cornish crosses, and we decided to go back to them. Out of the 50 heritage birds that came that summer, there was 49 roosters, and there was one lonely hen. I told CJ that growing up with 49 roosters was bad enough so we decided to let her live. She was the first hen I had ever named. Henrietta lived through the winter that year, and then died in the hottest part of the following summer. She just got too big and couldn’t compete with the heat and her heart gave out. I thought I was doing her a favor by letting her live, but in hindsight going with her brothers may have been better than dying alone in the miserable heat. When you make the decision to raise your own flock you have to be able to let the animal go whether you do the harvesting yourself or someone else does it for you. It has to be done. These birds are not supposed to live long lives. They are only meant to be here a short while. We thank every bird that we harvest on our urban homestead for its life, we know that every bird got to scratch for bugs and see the bright blue sky, even if it was only for eight weeks.
Pleasure and Fun
How do you have fun with a chicken? Well, I would argue that Poultry Club in our local 4-H is our favorite exhibit! No offense to goat or dog club. Showing chickens is a very interesting hobby. Not only do you get the benefit of having some farm fresh eggs, but you can enter your chickens in local, state, and national chicken shows. If you have never seen a chicken show, judges evaluate each bird in a certain breed against the standard of perfection. Like literally perfection! There is a book called the American Standard of Perfection that takes every breed of chicken and states exactly what perfection looks like.
"The Standard" is a wealth of information. There are full-color drawings of both the male and female of many of the breeds and varieties of poultry. Included are technical terms, a collection of black and white figures including combs, feathers, anatomy of poultry, tails, wings, information on disqualifications, and description of colors and patterns. - Description and image borrowed from www.purelypoultry.com.
I would also recommend watching a documentary called Chicken People. This will give you a good sense of what takes place at these judgings and how perfection is measured.
I strongly urge you to do some research and have a plan or vision of what you want to accomplish getting into the chicken game. Evaluate how much space you can commit to putting in a chicken coop and a fenced in run. How much time a day are you willing to commit to gathering eggs, feeding, watering, and cleaning out the coop? What are the predator concerns for your area and how will you mitigate them?
If you are have read this far and are still ready to embark on the greatest clucking journey of a lifetime, you won’t want to miss our next newsletter: A Primer On Chickens: Part-2. That is where will get into all the details getting and raising chickens.
Thanks for reading, and please share these resources with anyone you know who is thinking of getting into the chicken game.