***Disclaimer: Chickens are considered the gateway drug for homesteaders and small farmers world wide. If you feel the need to begin canning, gardening, or buying larger livestock animals, we cannot be held accountable for those urges.***
Whenever people are considering getting into livestock, homesteading or starting their own little farm, I always recommend getting chickens. Chickens are incredibly easy to raise, low maintenance, inexpensive compared to other livestock animals and they can be raised in smaller spaces.
Chickens are a great livestock animal for beginners and a great way to learn about animal husbandry. The do well in groups, so when buying chickens, I recommend buying 2 or more.
Chicks or Chickens?
If you are deciding between purchasing chicks or full grown chickens (I am going to assume you haven’t jumped right into incubating eggs) there are a few things to consider.
Full Grown Chickens
Buying full grown chickens often sound like the best option. Unfortunately they are harder to find as many people won’t sell hens that are in their prime laying age. If you can find mature hens they will jump you right into egg production without having to wait 18 to 20 weeks for the laying process to start. They are also more temperature hardy in comparison to chicks. You won’t need to use heat lamps or brooder plates.
You can also guarantee that you are buying hens (female chickens-lay eggs) rather than roosters (male chickens-don’t lay eggs).
But, buying chickens are more expensive that purchasing chicks. For example, you may be able to buy a chick for $5 in your area. Buying that same chicken, grown out to maturity may cost you $25 (often more) as a hen.
When buying mature chickens that have been living in someone else’s flock can also be a biosecurity concern. You may introduce respiratory illnesses, parasites, dieases, etc to your property. But how will you know if the other animals are healthy? Check out our buying guide to help you pick a healthy, properly cared for chicken.
Chicks
Buying chicks can feel super intimidating. There are lots of blogs talking about temperature, humidity, heat lamps versus brooder plates, medicated versus non medicated feeds, etc. It sounds like a lot of moving parts to navigate. Raising chicks is really not that complicated.
Where to buy chicks?
Many people buy chicks through their local feed stores. Some feed stores have chicks in stock in the spring time. Other feed stores will have you look through their chick catalogue and help you order chicks directly from a hatchery. These chicks are often purebred so you know exactly which breed you are getting and what to expect as a breed standard.
You can also check out you local farm or homestead papers, online groups or online pages to find locals who are selling chicks. Lots of people raise chicks and they often have some unique varieties.
When ordering from a hatchery, they require a minimum order for 25 chicks to ship them to you. This is because chicks are extremely sensitive to temperatures and get cold easily. 25 chicks minimum is enough to keep themselves warm in the boxes they are shipped in.
How to to raise chicks?
Chicks are way easier to raise than many realize. They require a dry, draft free space with a heat lamp or a brooder plate to warm up if they need. The space should be large enough that the chicks can move away from the direct heat source.
They require a chicken starter feed (medicated or unmedicated. We have only ever used unmedicated.) or if you do not have a starter feed, you can get a grower poultry feed and grind it up with a coffee grinder, food processer or blender. The pieces just need to be small enough for these tiny checks to peck at and consume. Turkey starter is also a reasonable option.
The require access to fresh, clean water. Some people like to add electrolytes to their water, but in our experience we have not needed to do so.
Chick feeders and waterers can be found at your local feed store or online. Chicks are prone to drowning or suffocating. I recommend purchasing the chick feeders and waterers to prevent this from happening. Once they are fully feathered and more mature, this becomes less of an issues as long as they are not over crowded.
Bedding is also controversial between chicken enthusiasts. With larger groups of new chicks (25 or more), I put them directly in our 5 foot by 5 foot brooder with wood shavings. We have very rarely lost a chick while on wood shavings. But I dip each chicks beak in the water and then place near a food dish so they know where to find their food. They are mistaking bits of wood shavings as their feed.
I keep our chicks in a brooder until they are 3 to 4 weeks old. Once they are almost fully feather, I move them to a coop and wean them off of a heat source over the course of a week. If I have less than 10 chicks, I leave the heat source with them especially in early spring when the weather is still cool.
Feeding Your Chicks and Chickens
The chicks stay on the chick starter for approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Then you can transition to a poultry grower until they are 16 to 18 weeks. After that, you will start them on a layer ration that will promote healthy egg production (unless you are raising meat birds, then I assume you already butchered them).
What Breeds of Chickens to Buy
There are so many different options for breeds. It all depends on what your chicken goals are. Do you want A LOT of eggs? Do you want chickens with pretty feather? Or funny hair-dos? Do you want fun colored eggs? Big or small chickens?
I recommend researching some breeds and find what you are interested in. Do some reading then check out your local Facebook groups, sales websites, local newspaper or feed store. There are a lot to choose from but some may not be available to you. So ask around and figure out what is in your area.
Chicken Resources
Here are some resources that I like to use whenever I need more information for my chicks and chickens.
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