More advanced drinker and feeder examples are in the article links detailed above.Īn advanced backyard feeding and drinking station (above image) I will eloborate more on the above six requirements further in this article but essentially, for this basic set-up there will be a need to check the feeder and drinker daily to top-up or change, which isn't really too much of a burden as you likely will visit your chickens daily to check for eggs anyway. Welfare Products – Mite dust and a worming solution are easy to buy and administer but there can be withholding peiods before eating eggs and other precautions required to be taken when using these products.Pen – an enclosure a few metres square for two chickens to scratch around or if the chicken house is mobile then potentially this is all that's required as the pen is part of the house ĭrinker – holding at least 1 litre of fresh water for access at all times įeeder – holding at least 1 kg of layer mash, pellets, or mixture of both for access at all times (article about feeders here) and Housing – any structure static or mobile safe from predators with a dry place to roost and a nesting area (some straw or sugar cane mulch for the nest) The six requirements for a basic set-up are:Ĭhickens – minimum of two, if possible, as they are a flock bird and like company If after having a few chooks you find they're not for you, it's easy to sell or give them away and your cost outlay will be minimal. Starting small is usually the best advice for many adventures in life and chickens are no exception. Hopefully, in this article I can share some of my experiences and help others considering keeping chickens to be better advised on the best way to go about it. However, getting and keeping chickens does require research and some know-how I have had to seek answers, solve problems (mostlty my own way) about things I hadn't thought of in the beginning. Obviously, I found answers to all my questions and the verdict fell towards a “thumbs-up” to getting chickens. Also, I needed to know what costs were involved and whether keeping our own chickens would actually save money in the long term instead of buying eggs and what were the other benefits in keeping chickens?īlack Australorp and Light Sussex hens nesting (image above) When I initially decided to investigate getting chickens the very first question that came into my mind was how easy are chickens to keep? At the time I had two cats and a dog, which were fairly high maintenance and I wondered if I had the time to add several more animals to my day.Īs usual, I thoroughly researched the subject of keeping chickens through shows, internet, books, and magazines to find out how to house, feed, and care for the birds. This article is a very basic outline but we have plenty of other articles also about chicken keeping in our poultry section.
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