Adding Chickens to Your Homestead: How to do it and Why it’s Important

There are many reasons why chickens are the perfect animal for your homestead. They are compact, hardy animals that require little maintenance and can clear a yard of pests. Not only can their eggs act as a long-term food source, but they may also play an important role in ensuring food security when it comes to meat production. In this blog post, we will look at how you can add chickens to your homestead and why they are advantageous.

Chickens are easy to take care of

One of the many benefits of adding chickens to your homestead is that they provide a sustainable food source. Chickens will eat a variety of things, including insects, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and other small animals, such as snakes. This makes them an ideal addition to any homestead as their diet can be supplemented with table scraps.

While hardy, it is not so easy to grow your flock naturally. Many people plan on letting their hens go “broody” in an attempt to hatch chicks. However, many breeds have had this trait bred out of them. If you are aiming for true sustainability, incubators are a great way to ensure that you will have a new batch of chickens each year. Most incubators can be found on Amazon or in many farm supply stores and can range from $60-$300.

Important to food security

flock of chickens — Our front yard flock

Sustainability, and overall homesteading success, comes down to having a sustainable food source. Chickens are an excellent way to provide this, as they lay eggs daily throughout most of the year, consume table scraps and pests in the garden, and can be integrated into an existing flock fairly easily.

With the rising prices of groceries, many people are looking to establish their own food sources to reduce reliance on our food chain. Chickens are an integral link to keeping food on your table both reliably and cheaply.

How to add chickens to your homestead

There are a few ways to obtain chickens. One way is to start your flock with hatching eggs, which can either be incubated artificially or allowed to hatch naturally under a broody hen. Chicks need warm temperatures and high humidity to survive, so an artificial brooder is necessary if you live in a colder climate. Online hatcheries are a great option if you want to hatch eggs, as they will often ship the eggs directly to your door. You can also find chicks at swap meets or poultry auctions.

If you already have a flock of backyard chickens, adding new birds is simple. Introduce them slowly by placing the new chicks in an enclosure next to the existing flock for a few days. This will allow the birds to get used to each other before being placed together permanently. You can also place your new chickens with your older flock during the night to help ease the transition.

Choosing the right breed of chicken

Not all chickens are created equal. Some breeds are better suited for egg production, while others are more suited for meat production. Some are considered “dual-purpose” which means they are raised for both meat and egg production. It is important to choose the right breed of chicken for your needs. If your main concern is eggs, choose a breed that is known for its prolificacy, such as the Rhode Island Red or Plymouth Rock. If you want a chicken that is mostly for meat, choose a larger bird such as the Black Jersey Giant or Buff Orrington. These breeds do take from 6-12 months to grow out and make a 6-9 pound bird.

There is an entirely different breed of chickens, referred to as “meat birds”. These are ONLY raised for meat production. Breeds such as Cornish Cross can be processed in as little as 8 weeks. However, since they were bred specifically to put on weight in a short amount of time, they are not the best breed if you are looking at sustainability. After a few months, they often develop health problems, such as sores or an inability to walk. if not butchered within three months, many simply die of heart failure.

Decide how many chickens you need

flock of chickens and fence — Our backyard flock

The number of chickens you need will depend on how many eggs or how much chicken meat you want to consume on a yearly basis. The average chicken will lay about 250 eggs per year. So, if each member of your family eats two eggs per day, you would need about 4 chickens. Of course, this number will go up or down depending on how many eggs your family consumes. A good rule of thumb is to have one chicken for every four people in your household. You will also need to consider slow times, such as the winter, when daylight hours decrease, and many breeds greatly reduce the amount they lay or stop altogether until spring.

This also applies if you are wanting to raise chickens for meat production. An average bird will yield about two – six pounds dressed and frozen. If you want to eat a pound of chicken per week, then you would need at least 26 chickens.

Keep in mind that not every chicken will make it to adulthood. Chickens have a lot of predators, both wild and domestic. Dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, weasels, snakes, and hawks are all common predators of chickens. You should also expect about a 15% mortality rate due to disease, injury, and old age. So, if you want 18 egg-laying chickens, you should purchase around 21 chicks.

Prepare a brooding area for the chicks

Chicks will need an adequate brooding area before they arrive. This can be as simple as a cardboard box with a heat lamp, or you can purchase a commercial brooder. The important thing is that the area is warm, dry, and draft-free. It should also have something soft for the chicks to sleep on, such as straw or pine shavings.

A standard heat lamp will work fine for most chicks, but you may need to adjust the height of the lamp to maintain a temperature between 95-100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. The temperature should be gradually decreased by five degrees each week until they are fully feathered out and can regulate on their own.

Heat lamps do pose a safety risk and have started many a fire when left unattended. We prefer to use heat plates. Not only are they safer, but they can also be reused, are adjustable, and can be left unattended.

When young, chicks needed starter feed, which you can buy medicated or unmedicated. We prefer to start our chicks on medicated feed and add a probiotic to their water. This helps to prevent coccidiosis, a common parasitic infection in young chicks.

Chicks will need fresh, clean water at all times. A simple waterer will work, or you can purchase a nipple waterer. Deep dishes are discouraged as a chick can easily drown in a small amount of water.

Caring for your chickens

Once you have your chickens, there are a few things you need to do on a daily basis to ensure their health and well-being.

Chickens need access to fresh food and water at all times. They should also have a place to scratch and peck for insects. This can be done by simply letting them out to free-range.

Chickens produce a lot of waste, so their housing will need to be cleaned on a regular basis. This is typically done every few days to once a week, depending on the size of your flock and how often they are let out to free-range. When cleaning, it is also necessary to wear a mask so that you are not inhaling particles of their waste.

Chickens are susceptible to many diseases and parasites. The best way to prevent these is through biosecurity measures, such as not allowing other animals in their housing, not sharing equipment, and washing your hands after handling them.

Health and safety concerns

When raising chickens, there are a few health and safety concerns you need to be aware of.

One of the biggest concerns is salmonella. This can be contracted by handling sick birds or their feces. An easy way to prevent this is to wash your hands after handling them and to clean their housing on a regular basis. In addition, before eating eggs, it is important to wash the shell to get rid of any outside material.

Another concern is avian flu. Avian flu can be contracted by contact with an infected bird or their droppings, so it is important to keep your birds isolated from other birds until you are sure they are healthy.

The last concern is lead poisoning. This can be contracted if your chickens are allowed to free-range and come into contact with lead sources, such as old paint chips. The best way to prevent this is to provide them with a safe area to free-range.

Handling and processing poultry

Poultry can be a bit tricky to handle and process, but with a little practice, it can be done.

First thing first, you will need to catch your chickens. Meat birds, like the Cornish Cross breed, are not difficult to catch. Others, such as Buff Orpingtons, are a bit harder. While you can catch them by hand, it is vastly easier to use a net.

Once you have the chicken, you need to kill it. This can be done by decapitation, strangulation, or by shooting. You can buy equipment, such as a kill processing cone, that makes this process easier although it isn’t necessary.

The easiest way to process a chicken is to pluck all the feathers first. This can be done by hand or with a plucker. After the feathers are removed, you will need to eviscerate the chicken. This simply refers to removing the internal organs, such as the gizzard, heart, and liver. To end with you will clean the carcass and, if you prefer, cut it into pieces.

If you are not comfortable with handling or processing poultry, you can always have a butcher do it for you. Butchering chickens is a skill that can be learned, but it does take some practice.