Chickens: What to consider before getting chicks

I’ve owned birds since I was a child. I adore birds of all kinds. I had macaws and lovebirds growing up, and my parents had parakeets, sun conures, and finches before I was born. I’d wanted chickens for years, and when we moved to a place where we could start a flock, I was so excited to get going. That being said, even with having a good deal of bird knowledge, chickens are still a lot to learn.

Most people bring home spring chicks from farm stores like Tractor Supply or order online from various hatcheries. Personally, I highly recommend getting chicks from either someone you know who breeds healthy birds, or ordering from a highly respected hatchery. The hens we’ve gotten from our local farm store come from a very reliable hatchery have been extremely healthy and laid eggs year round, even in the coldest winter months.

One major thing to consider for your chicks is whether or not you’re going to vaccinate them against Marek’s disease. Marek’s vaccination has to be done at the time of hatching or within a few hours after chicks have hatched. We now only get chicks that have been vaccinated. Marek’s is a horrid disease and it is a slow and painful death for chickens affected by it. There is no cure for it either. Of all the poultry diseases that exist, this one is at least preventable from day one if you have vaccinated chicks.

Chicken math is REAL. You can say you only want to start off with 6 hens and then two years later you’re up to a flock of 50. It happens to everyone because there’s so many beautiful chicken breeds and egg colors out there. If you have a rooster in your flock, you’ll definitely get some spring chicks if you aren’t diligent about taking eggs out of the coop every day. Last spring I forgot to get eggs for two days and that was enough for the embryos to begin developing and we had 8 new babies born a few weeks later.

While it would be amazing to just get as many chickens as you want every year, it’s not usually feasible for most people. You must take into account the space you have available, the coop size, and their roaming space. Of course if you live on 20 acres and can fence off the entire space, then you can have 100+ chickens and never have an issue with running out of room, but for most people, anything over 12 starts to become a little crowded. Our chicken coop is very large and easily holds up to 40 hens. We’ve also got a large, fenced off space that they can roam in addition to their fully secured runs that they use when the weather isn’t excellent. To be considered “free range” your hens need a minimum of 100 square feet per hen.

Before you even look at a coop, a run, or fencing, check your zoning laws in your town and call your Board of Health to determine if you’re a) even allowed to have chickens b) required to get a permit to have chickens c) allowed to have roosters or required to keep under a certain amount of hens. The building department will also likely have regulations on where you can place a coop, and how far it must be from any of your neighbors. Some towns even have building requirements for the coop construction itself, so it’s always best to ask before spending the money constructing something to just be told you can’t even use it.

Now, let’s assume that your town has given you the okay to get chickens, and you’re looking to get your set up ready for when they’re a bit larger than chicks. Ideally, a chick will be fully feathered by 5-6 weeks of age and able to live outside full time. That said, it is definitely best practice to have their coop at least picked out and ready to go before you bring those chicks home. 5 weeks goes by really quickly and they will outgrow their nursery brooder set up very very fast.

We currently have an XL elevated coop that has three attached runs. We have multiple of these metal runs from Tractor Supply. We use them for the goats and for the chickens because they’re secure, easy to change the shape of, and easy to build.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-universal-poultry-pen-8-ft-x-8-ft-cr0808-1333983?store=1762&cid=Google-Shopping-Sustain&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_content=Sustain&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADnTm23gitDN6YTtdopqJLQ-W0hiO&gclid=Cj0KCQiAwtu9BhC8ARIsAI9JHalNF5UY30Oq0mLBOaisz8TUCY8trckEje2JtpH88z1y7CflzlUzHEEaAj0kEALw_wcB

When you’re building your coop, experienced chicken people will tell you to invest in it. In an ideal world, everyone would hire a professional carpenter to build a strong coop that will last, but so long as you’re making sure the coop is non drafty, has ventilation (windows are great for the summer), and has perches and nesting boxes, you’re pretty okay. That being said, you need to make sure it is extremely secure, especially against things digging under the coop and run to access the chickens and eggs. In our area, the biggest threat to chickens are dogs, foxes, fisher cats, and raccoons. Further north people are more worried about bears so they will also secure their chicken areas with electric fencing. Please research the predators in your area to make sure you’re thinking of each one before you place your chickens in their new home.

Chickens are susceptible to a multitude of diseases. Due to their unique anatomy and being bred to have eggs almost daily, there are a lot of organs to learn and a lot of functions to be aware of. The most common diseases are often preventable, such as bird flu, bronchitis, coccidiosis, impacted crop, pyometra (inflammation of the uterus), renal failure (sometimes preventable but very common in heavy egg laying breeds), and fowl pox. Vaccination, continuous cleaning of the coop and runs, fresh water, and high quality food and vitamins can help prevent many of these diseases with high efficacy. (We will do another post on nutrition and vitamin supplementation). As always, get a chicken vet BEFORE you get the chickens.

There are many good chicken raising groups on Facebook that are usually a wealth of knowledge. A good friend of mine always suggest that everyone who wants to get chickens join one of these groups and read every post for a few months. You’ll learn basic and advanced chicken skills from people going through it in real time.

Our next blog post will be about setting up a brooder system for your new chicks, stay tuned!