What To Know Before You Get Backyard Chickens
We knew we wanted chickens ever since we knew we would be moving to Arkansas. It was one of the questions we asked about every neighborhood we looked at: does the city allow chickens? When we finally found a house in a residential neighborhood with large lots at the end of a street with five acres, chickens officially were put on our to-do`1 list. I'm definitely glad we have them, but I know they are not for everyone. What do you need to know before deciding to get backyard chickens?
Does the city allow them?
A "no" to this question and you can stop thinking about it. A lot of cities allow a certain number of "hobby" chickens (ours allows 4) and no rooster. That means that you cannot breed them or put out a sign in front of your house selling eggs. Check the city ordinances. Even if the city does allow them, how is your relationship with your neighbors? Chickens can be loud.
Do you have space?
You will need space for a coop and a run. The general rule of thumb is eight square feet of space per chicken for a chicken run. You want it to be on a flat area (ideally- you can manage on a hill but it's more difficult), and you want it to be convenient enough to the house to go out in the cold early on a winter morning.
Have you calculated the cost?
Chickens themselves don't cost much money, but coops and chicken runs can be pricey. Even if you decide to build your own, you need to make it predator-proof; so it will require a some kind of layer underneath it to prevent creatures from digging underneath it. It may be more work than you are expecting.* You will also need bedding, feed, scratch, grit, supplements & first aid, a feeder and a waterer, and someplace to put the poop. You won't save money on eggs. As high as the price for eggs has gotten lately, we would not make any money on our eggs unless we had a very large flock and did it at scale.
How are you with sick or dead animals?
I don't want to be macabre, but chickens can be delicate, health-wise. Luckily, we have not had any issues yet, but everyone who owns chickens eventually has one or more die on them. Chickens can die from disease, getting egg-bound, exposure to extreme weather, or from predators (including dogs- yours, or neighbors!) As with any animal, you need to be prepared when they get sick. Our vet does not handle chickens. If ours get sick, we do what we can or they die.
Who is going to take care of them?
Chickens are not very high-maintenance. Nevertheless, they need to be let out of their coop every morning at sunrise, fed, free-ranged once in a while, and put back in their coop at night. Bags of feed are heavy. Someone needs to clean out the poop occasionally. If you are the person who is the primary caretaker of other animals or people in your household, be prepared to do it all: that's all I'm saying.
With all that said, I LOVE having chickens. I love the fresh eggs, free-ranging them with a glass of wine in hand a the end of the day, even getting up in the mornings to let them out and feed them. It doesn't save us any money, but as long as you know what you are getting into, it can be a fulfilling and rewarding hobby.
- Annabelle
*Please, please do your research on predator-proofing your coop. Chickens can be prey for foxes, coyotes, raccoons, dogs, and bobcats. If they re not under a roof, they can get attacked by hawks! Too many people tell me stories of losing their ladies to wild animals.
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