When thinking about joining the chicken-keeping contingency, make sure to understand all of the important things you will need to start raising backyard chicken.

To a first-time chicken-keeper, the task of keeping your chickens healthy and safe might sound very challenging. However, in reality, raising backyard chicken is quite simple once you’ve learned the essential tips and tricks. 

Chickens, out of all the birds, are the easiest to keep so after getting the basics right, you'll soon be able to reap the benefits, whether you keep chickens for their eggs or company. So let's dive into it and find out the essentials before you start raising backyard chicken.

Ordinances in Your Area 

Before starting, do detailed research about the laws of chicken-keeping in your area. In some cases this could be a country-wide regulation, in others it may be a local state or town.

Some areas have restricted livestock to agriculturally-designated zones. Others have banned roosters due to their noise. Likewise, there are cities where chickens have to stay in their coop at all times. This means they cannot live free-range. 

While your neighbors are not lawmakers (unless they actually are), you also probably don't want to introduce a rooster call at 5am to their life. That is unless your neighbor is not that near you or keeps backyard chickens as well.

After all, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. 

What Type of Chickens Do You Want?

There is a wide breed of chickens. Ranging from cuddly and loving to anxious and flighty, each chicken breed has its own qualities.

If you want to raise chickens for meat, you would get a broiler breed. One of the common options would be a Cornish Cross. If you're going going after the eggs then a Leghorn would be a better choice. If you live in a cold area, you would be better off choosing a breed which better copes during winter such as Australorp. You get where this is going - there are many chicken breeds and some may be better suited to your climate, overall goals from chicken keeping as well as other factors.

Visit a local hatchery or join local groups on Facebook and Telegram and you'll soon get some good advice on what breed can be found in your area. 

Adequate Space

Building a safe and happy chicken coop with ample space and privacy should be your priority when deciding to raise chickens. Here’s a list of things you should consider to include in your cage where your hens will live, play and lay eggs:

1. Comfortable Bedding: Sun-colored straw with its sweet earthy smell and springy texture will be a great bedding choice. Try to avoid sawdust as it is too dusty. 
2. Nesting Box: To lay eggs, hens require a dark area where they can have privacy. Planning for a nesting box would be a great idea.
3. Hanging Feeder and Waterer: Keeping it off-ground will preserve freshness. Additionally, place it inside your henhouse to keep unwanted animals away from the food. 
4. Coop Safety: Know the potential predators in the area and ensure your coop offers sufficient protection from unwanted guests.

That’s all you’ll need in your chicken house to start raising backyard chicken! 

Health and Hygiene of Your Chickens

Once you've brought your pet chickens home, make sure to perform your daily, monthly, and semi-yearly care to keep your chickens fit and healthy. 

On a daily basis, clean and refill the water to prevent dehydration of your chickens. In addition, collect their eggs to maximize freshness. Take some time to observe them on a daily basis to make sure that they are in good health.

Every month, manage your chickens' bedding, freshen their nest boxes, and sanitize the waterers. 

Finally, every six months, you should deep clean your chicken coop and prepare for the winter. 

What else do I need to know about raising backyard chickens?

Raising chickens may be an exciting experience, but you need to know some essential tips beforehand:

• Make sure you know or can reach out to a chicken expert for professional advice.
• Chickens may lay their eggs at unpredictable times. 
• Raising chickens can get messy so be ready to roll up your sleeves and be aware that however clean your coop and birds are, it won't smell like your rose garden.
• Buy a coop instead of building one. This will save a lot of time and frustration if you are not adept at carpentry. 

How many chickens should a beginner start with?

Chickens prefer to live in flocks. Therefore, you should keep at least two chickens. 

Additionally, if you have a big family, it would be an excellent option to have a flock of five or six hens. This would provide you with two dozen eggs per week. 

What can I feed my backyard chickens?

Here are some budget-friendly feed suggestions that your chickens will enjoy:

• Wheat
• Corn
• Peas
• Barley
• Any kind of grubs as treats (we of course recommend Supreme Grubs black soldier fly)

Conclusion

Raising chicken in your very own backyard may sound like an adventurous and thrilling experience. 

Things may not go as smoothly at first but get familiar with the basics, learn as you go, and you'll soon be the one advising others about backyard chicken keeping.

When you’ve invested long hours in raising your backyard birds, tips on how to protect your flock are something you’d love to know. 

Besides, it’s only natural to worry about the safety of your birds – they live in your backyard and not only occupy a place in your house but also your heart.

And when we talk about ‘safety’, it doesn’t only mean protection against predators, but also from overheating, infections and diseases, adverse weather conditions, and so on. 

Beware – Predators of Poultry Are on The Hunt

Predators, such as coyotes, dogs, and owls, always keep an eye out for prey – they’d actually love a chicken meal. 

To keep predators away in the daylight, you can hang reflective material around your coop. The sunlight reflected from this material will deter predators. 

However, this won’t work during low daylight hours. So, to protect your flock at night, you should consider replacing chicken wire with hardware cloth of half-an-inch thickness to keep the hungry animals away.

Another useful technique is using motion-detecting lights. These lights start flashing, and the alarm goes off whenever movement is sensed nearby. Most predators are simply scared off by the flashing lights.

You can also clear out any bushes or other hiding spots for the predators, along with keeping guard animals such as dogs and geese.

How To Protect Your Flock From Disease And Infections

Diseases and infections can reduce egg production, make your flock weak and even kill it – No one would wish that on their feathery friends. So, there are several things you can do to keep the diseases away.

In this regard, the health of your birds should come first. The stronger their immune system, the more resistant they'll be to diseases, and the more capable they'll be to fight off pathogens. You can ensure a healthy immune system by:

• Adding garlic cloves to the waterer.
• Feeding them bananas and berries.
• Giving them vitamin and mineral supplements.

Along with strengthening your flock's immune system, it is essential to keep any disease-causing germs away. You can do this using the following steps:

• Ensure any birds introduced to the coop are healthy and germ-free by quarantining them for at least a month.
• Employ methods to keep wild birds (that may carry germs) away.
• Wash your hands and change your shoes before entering the coop.

Protection from Adverse Weather Conditions

Too much heat and too much cold can harm your birds and make them sick. This makes it essential to protect them from extreme weather conditions.

How To Protect Your Flock From The Heat

Although chickens prefer warm temperatures, extreme heat can be harmful to them.

To keep your flock in the summer, you should make sure they have access to shady areas if the sun bothers them too much.

You should also give them fresh, cool water to drink and gently dampen their dust baths so they can twist and turn in the cool dirt.

Suppose you're in the mood to reward your feathery fellows. In that case, you can give them chilled treats, such as refrigerated berries and watermelons.

How To Protect Your Flock From The Cold

In the winter, you have to make sure your flock stays warm. 

You can do this by allowing sunlight to enter their coop, so heat is trapped in their living space.

It's also a great area to let your birds decide where they want to spend their time by leaving the coop door open for some time. Some might prefer staying in the indoor heat, while others will enjoy playing in the cold.

Also, keep the doors of the coop closed during the night while also sealing any holes. This will prevent any cold air from entering the coop.

Keep Them Warm, But Don’t Overheat!

At times, you may find yourself keeping your flock a little too warm. This doesn’t let the birds ‘adapt’ to changing weather conditions and causes problems.

Plus, a ‘very warm’ coop will encourage the chickens to stay in and avoid going out in the fresh air. This will eventually affect their health in harmful ways.

Therefore, make sure you're using a calculated amount of insulation. Too little insulation will mean the temperature drops low. Too much insulation will build up moisture and cause respiratory issues.

Conclusion

Raising chickens and ducks has its benefits, but it also comes with great responsibility. Part of this responsibility revolves around the safety of your feathery fellows.

If your birds are safe, they’ll be healthy and happy. And happy and healthy birds will give you maximum benefits. 

Therefore, you must know how to protect your flock. And when we say ‘protect’, we mean it in many different ways, with the most important ones discussed in this blog.

You’ve seen ducks quacking in a duck farm, or better yet, picking on breadcrumbs on the lakeside. The sight of those feathery fellows, especially their cute little ducklings, is really instigating you to start raising them in your backyard – be it alone or alongside your chicken. 

But … you’re still in two minds about it – should I, or should I not?

Well, that’s the purpose of this blog – to discuss why the decision to keep ducks is really gonna be a good one! So, here are the TOP FIVE reasons as to why you should start raising ducks.

Ducks are easy to care for – generally healthy, low-maintenance birds.

As a responsible poultry farmer (or poultry farmer-to-be), one of the most significant concerns in your mind is perhaps about your capability. More specifically -  whether or not you will be able to care for your ducks efficiently.

Well, got some good news for you; ducks are easy to raise, generally healthy, and low-maintenance birds. The cherry on the top is that you don’t need a very high budget or high-end resources to provide them with the care they need – they really are simple, happy (and cute!) folks.

Basically, all your ducks need the bare minimum: good food, clean water, and a well-ventilated place to sleep (giving them love and attention would be a bonus). They can make their own little spaces to lay eggs without a designated area, such as a nesting box.

Additionally, ducks have stronger immune systems and tend to contract diseases less easily. They don't catch fleas and ticks owing to the time they spend in the water. Plus, they have fast metabolisms and survive in different climates, ranging from hot to cold. 

Ducks suit urban and rural backyards.

Everyone knows ducks are great when raised in rural backyards, but they’re pretty adaptable to your urban backyard as well.

Ducks are decent little creatures and, unlike chickens, will not dig into your lawn and turn it into barren land. They don’t require dust baths – a small pool of water is sufficient for their showers. 

While ducks do eat any greens they see, that really isn’t an issue as it won’t distort the entire image of your lawn. In fact, their presence adds to the natural beauty of it. 

They're peaceful creatures.

Additionally, ducks are an excellent option for urban backyards because they make little to no noise – they'll rarely ever quack and will just peacefully… live. Hence, you’re less likely to receive disturbance complaints from neighbors and people passing by.

Ducks are beneficial for your lawn – another reason why you should raise ducks.

Ducks are a great way to keep your lawn healthy in the following ways:

They keep the pests away.

If you’re also farming plants and veggies in your lawn, you know how hard of a task it is to keep the pests away. In this regard, ducks will be your efficient little helpers.

Given the opportunity, ducks eat everything they get their bill on, including beetles, slugs, and snails. They not only attack the bugs they see but also often hunt down hidden ones. And they don’t let them go easily – as intimidating as it may sound: they chase them until they eat them.

They provide fertilizer for your garden.

Duck manure serves as an organic and natural fertilizer for your garden. It is packed with nutrients such as nitrogen and potassium. This, in turn, contributes significantly to the well-being of your lawn and the plants grown in it.

Hence, you're not only raising ducks for their other benefits but also getting a natural way to control pest growth and fertilize your garden. Kinda like ‘buy one get one (actually two) free’ deal, you know?

Ducks are friendly fellows.

To put simply, ducks are unproblematic birds. They warmly welcome any new additions to your flock, be it their babies or even other birds like chickens. (If that’s not news for you: hens even peck their own chicks before they get used to their existence).

Plus, they won’t ask for too much of your time to entertain them – they pretty much find fun in everything they do. Actually, it’s gonna be vice versa – ducks will entertain you and your family with their naughty little acts.

Ducks are a great source of meat and eggs.

The meat a regular person eats is contaminated with artificial substances such as antibiotics and other chemicals because of duck feed. But, if you raise your ducks yourself and monitor their feed closely, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that the meat you’re consuming is organic and free of chemicals.

The same goes for eggs – a chemical-free feed means chemical-free eggs.

Additionally, ducks lay eggs more often than hens and without supplemental lighting and heat. Duck eggs are also larger in size, yummier in taste, and more beneficial in terms of nutritional requirements as compared to hens’ eggs. 

If you wish to sell the eggs laid, quite a few bucks. This is because duck eggs are generally pricier than other types, with organic ones being even more expensive.

Finally, you can also let the eggs hatch into cute little ducklings that will never fail to melt your heart and make you smile. 😊

Conclusion

We hope that we've given you enough reasons to get you closer in favor of the decision to start raising ducks :)

In short, ducks are amazing little creatures and they do not require much in return. They'll bring you numerous benefits, including pest control services, organic manure, and fresh meat and eggs, amongst many others.