Starting Chickens

Town law, HOA covenants, and other entities can restrict your ability to raise chickens, either outright banning it or capping the number of chickens, the offsets from property lines, and other sometimes onerous requirements.

We are closer to a rural setting and have just shy of 4 acres (~1.5 hectares) to work with, so no restrictions other than being a good neighbor.

A hen house / coop has a couple principles to start from and allow the design to follow from there.

1. Predator proofing - animals that like to each chickens are wily!
   • Any entries should be secured against clever paws. We have found carabiners through latches are robust against non-human limbs.
   • A skirt and buried fencing to deter digging. We buried our hardware cloth down 6 inches under soil level. We have not seen attempts to dig, but we still have added random farm debris around the base of the coop to further deter interested diggers.
   • Hardware cloth (not chicken wire) is a sturdy material. We used 1/2" hardware cloth, 6' wide, 100' long. We built ours with 2 sides of wood (the coop is attached to an overhang against the barn) and 2 sides open with hardware cloth (the west and north sides). Any larger-sized holes and you risk predator paws reaching in and tearing off parts of chickens, which isn't great for their well-being.
2. Flock size
   • Chickens are social! Don't plan on a single bird.
   • Typical suggestions are 2 eggs per 3 birds per day, on average, from spring to fall. However, our hens laid through the winter (1 egg per day average) their first year, with no forcing (no artificial lighting or any shenanigans on our part).
3. Space needs
   • Within the coop, recommendations are 3 square feet of space per hen.
   • The roosting bar should allow ~1 foot per hen (more for bigger breeds)
   • One nesting box per 3-4 chickens is often recommended. We actually just let the hens build a nest in a corner opposite the roosting bar, behind the feed bucket. No construction necessary.
   • In the chicken run, 8-10 square feet per hen is recommended.
   • In the chicken run, plan on a fence plus bird netting to keep your domestic flock separated from your native birds and curious dogs on the loose. We have some old welded wire fencing we used to enclose the run, with some black plastic bird netting over the top.
   • We have half the run covered in a thick layer of wood chips where the garden and kitchen scraps get added at the north end, turned towards the south end and piled up. When we clean the coop out (see Deep Litter Method below), we'll combine with the run's compost in a heap elsewhere.

1. Feed needs
   • Chickens need daily fresh clean water. We like a 5-gallon bucket hanging with water nipples on the bottom for the hens to peck at. We found waterers on the ground got dirty every day from their kicking and scratching. We also don't have many days below freezing; when it did get cold enough, a fresh bowl of water each day while the nipples were frozen was enough.
   • Laying hens need a feed formulated for laying (higher calcium mostly) We have a local farmer who makes really good layer feed.
   • Food scraps and garden waste During the winter when our vermicompost setup is hibernating (worms and black soldier flies aren't too active then), we feed most kitchen scraps to the birds, in the run.
   • Additional calcium and grit Chickens need small sized grit (like sand) to help with digestion. If they don't have access to gritty dirt in their run, adding some periodically will help We save the egg shells, cook them in the oven after we bake/roast in the residual heat, then grind them up to sprinkle in the run as additional calcium. Our feed has high calcium rates as well.
2. Cleanliness
   • If the coop or run smells bad, you don't have enough carbon (wood chips, straw, etc).
   • We have had great success with the Deep Litter Method: we bank a large amount of carbon in the coop and run. A couple times a week (mostly by sight of large amounts of poo or smell) we turn the carbon to aerate the piles and spread things out. Especially during the winter, there's a hot composting effect that offsets the chill a bit for the ladies. Every 6-12 months (again based on smell mostly), remove all the bedding to a hot compost pile and re-bed with fresh carbon.
   • Ventilation is very important. Above the highest point should have an outflow for coop air and down around the floor should be an inflow for fresh air, but there shouldn't be drafts. Adjustable vents can be used to mitigate really cold temperatures.
3. Temperature
   • Chickens mostly do well in cold temperatures, as long as they can stay dry.
   • Hot days are the most challenging to keep them cool
     • Cold water in their waterer helps
     • Wetting down some dirt
     • Digging a small hole to find cooler dirt to lay in
     • Plenty of shade
4. Eggs
   • If you don't wash them (just wipe off the feathers and gunk), they can stay on the counter for a couple weeks.
   • If you wash them, the protective coating (or bloom) comes off and they need to be put in the fridge
   • You can store excess eggs in the freezer for leaner times.
   • You can dehumidify eggs (if you can do it over 165F) for later cooking
   • You can pickle eggs for later eating as well (with pickling lime AKA lime water). 2+ years of viability! No electricity required! Not attractive to rodents!

Most breeds of chicken fall into one of three categories: good layers, good for meat, and hybrid (pretty good at both).

We started with pullets (juvenilles about 8 weeks old) that could immediately be in the coop and run. Granted, it was August so temperatures were well-suited to keeping the birds happy. Younger chicks often require a more controlled environment until they can be left to the elements, but this requires additional setup which may not be ideal for starting out.

There are as many opinions as there are breeds for what kind to get. We liked our local breeder and have had good success with her hens. We would recommend heritage and rare breeds because diversity is important to maintain, if you can. Growing what lots of neighbors are growing is also a viable strategy - lots of shared experiences to bond over and grow your sense of community as well.

The fixed costs to start will be figuring out how to house and protect your flock. We used a covered corner on the outside of the barn to protect two sides of the coop. We purchased the 100' of hardware cloth for ~$150, knowing we needed it for other projects as well. 30' of fencing for the run was found on Craigslist for $15 and bird netting for ~$35.

The water nipples are a couple dollars plus a 5 gallon bucket.

The hens were purchased from a local lady for $10 per hen. We should get 4-6 years of productive egg laying and rich compost from them.

We get our feed in 50lb bags for ~$45 per bag. These last us about a month in the winter (when we feed them more to keep them warmer) and almost two months in the warmer months as they forage more in the run for bugs, garden scraps, etc, for our three ladies. To be honest, I could probably get more precise with feeding rations but 3-5 scoops with our metal cup seems to keep the hens plump and the eggs coming.

All told, we're probably around $200 for setup and ~$45 per month variable costs at this point. We'll start cycling new pullets in every year or two as the older hens cycle out.

A dozen commodity eggs are currently $3.50 (of unknown quality). So ~57 eggs from the hens will offset the fixed costs. 20 eggs per hen takes about 30 days. To offset the feed costs, we need ~22 eggs a month; the first year we should expect ~45 eggs per month (30 days * 1.5 eggs per day).

Our reasons for raising chickens include:

• Showing our kids where food comes from
• Controlling the quality of nutrition in the eggs and birds
• Objecting to commodity egg production techniques
• Enjoying watching the flock (chicken TV - thanks to Sean at Edible Acres among others for highlighting that pleasure)
• Rich compost in the spring
• Delightful eggs

Way down at the bottom is to save money; we're fortunate that the financial impact of raising chickens isn't making or breaking our ability to put food on the table.