Get The Chicken Facts Before Starting A Flock In Your Backyard

So many people are seeing the value in raising chickens. Raising your own chickens diminishes your dependence on unhealthy eggs and poultry, and when you raise them you have the ability to feed your family the best in quality nutrition. But before you jumpstart your chicken raising hobby, it’s important to get the chicken facts so you understand exactly what raising a flock of chickens entails.

Chickens can contribute to your family as most other farm animals can. However, you will need to provide specific things for your flock in order for them to be happy and healthy, and for your chicken-raising journey to be a successful one.

Here are some interesting and helpful facts about one of the world’s most popular fowl:

Chickens lay different colored eggs. You can predict the color egg a chicken will lay with good accuracy based on the color of skin behind their ears. In other words, if a chicken has white skin next to their ears, then they will most likely lay white eggs. On the other hand, if your chicken has red or brown skin by their ears, you may have a chicken that will lay brown eggs.

Raising a chicken in a cage-free environment, where they are free to feed on natural grass and organic chicken feed creates a healthy lifestyle for the chicken. Because of this, the eggs your chicken eggs will be richer in Omega-3 fatty acids as well as Vitamin E. This diet for the chicken can also produce eggs that are significantly lower in cholesterol.

Chickens eat a variety of insects, and can serve to minimize many annoying bugs in your yard. Of course, they also like to eat flowers and garden plants, so be sure your garden is fenced in before you let your chickens roam free.

Chickens are actually quite low maintenance. While you have to provide food and clean water, gather their eggs (if you are raising your flock for this purpose), and clean their coop, these tasks are minimal compared to other pets. Simply clean the bedding every couple of weeks and make sure all nesting areas are clean.

Chickens make great additions to many families, but if you don’t have 15-30 minutes each day to care for them, and you don’t have time to gather their eggs, then you may not have enough time to raise a flock. Similarly, if you don’t have plenty of space to raise your chickens, you can’t keep them cooped up.

Be sure you have enough room before investing in a flock of chickens. Chickens are social animals, so don’t expect to have just one chicken. Be sure you have the time and the space to have at least a few chickens that can interact with each other. If you have neighbors, consider whether or not they would mind having chickens next door to them. Bartering with a few eggs a week might help with this cause.

Raising chickens is a great way to provide healthy food for your family, and to decrease the amount of insects in your yard. In order to have a successful experience it’s important to get all the chicken facts you can in order to raise healthy chickens.

By: Tom Dewey

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Make sure you get all the chicken facts before you start raising a flock of chickens in your backyard. You can pick up a FREE Mini-Course at www.getplansforchickencoops.com/ that will give you a great deal of information on chicken housing and what you should think about before raising chickens.