What I wish I’d known about having backyard chickens

I’ve had backyard chickens for about five years and it’s been amazing.

I love it.

Benefits of Backyard chickens

• Chickens eat ticks.
• They eat compost.
• They produce even better compost.
• Backyard chicken egg yolks are the color of the sun.
• Kids get to experience the natural process of egg production (and the responsibility that comes with it).
• We get to take a break from supporting factory egg farms.

I knew all that going into having chickens. But here’s what I wish I’d known.

Automate and Oversize Everything

I used to walk up to the chicken run with water and food, every single day. It was sometimes fun but usually kind of a pain.

Now I have a new chicken food and water system that lasts for weeks.

That means I GET to go out to the chicken area to collect gorgeous eggs but don’t have to hustle out there every morning.

Next step: an automatic door so the chickens can leave the coop in the morning — and return to the safety of the coop at night — on their own.

Spring Can Be Dangerous

Predators are more brazen in the first few weeks of spring. These are days when even though I’d like to let the chickens roam around our backyard, they need to stay in the safety of the run.

In our area we have:

• foxes
• hawks
• raccoons
• opossums
• coyotes

After four years of relative peace, our flock suffered a MURDER WEEK last year where half of our birds were beheaded, attacked or absconded with. Day after day, losses. It was so awful.

We have a lab-mix rescue dog who is on guard and yet, predators still got to the birds. So, it’s important to be aware of the seasons, talk to neighbors about sightings and take measures to secure the chickens.

(Here’s a list of clues about what predators you might have, based on the damage.)

you don’t have to clean out the coop every week

Boy was I working hard for those first couple of years. Then I heard Joanna Gaines talk about her gorgeous chicken coop. She said she only cleans it out every few weeks. So I looked into it and yes! This is a thing.

It’s called deep bedding.

You just keep adding layers of fresh pine shavings until eventually you pull them ALL out and put a whole wheelbarrow’s worth of fertilizer right onto your compost pile.

For Clean Eggs, You Need Fresh Shavings Near the Nesting Boxes

That said, if you sprinkle fresh shavings in the nesting boxes AND right in front of the boxes, your eggs will come out cleaner.

Think of it as a red carpet to the fresh eggs.

Your Chickens Will Hate New Chickens

I’ve added baby chicks to the flock many times. But it’s only been successful for the last two years.

Because the chickens who live together do not want to share their space.

How to introduce new chickens to your backyard chickens:

1. Keep baby chicks in their own space, with a heat lamp if needed.
2. When chicks are fully feathered out and no longer need a heat lamp, set up a small habitat INSIDE the chicken run. I use a dog kennel. The chicks still have their own food and water, but they’re sharing space safely.
3. After 2-3 weeks, test out letting the new chickens mix with the established chickens. Be prepared for them to get picked on but don’t let the other chickens attack them.
4. Add another feeding and water station, so there’s plenty for everyone.

Last time I introduced a few new chickens to our flock (after the MURDER), my older chickens got so mad! They started laying eggs in the bushes instead of the coop. Those girls eventually got over it, but chickens are territorial.

Chickens Love the Patio

Especially when it rains.

Our chickens are free range. They roam throughout a four-acre area on the back side of our property. It’s fenced in, which helps keep them in and predators out (though they could certainly fly over if they wanted to).

It’s so cute to watch them waddle around. They make forts under bushes and dirt baths EVERYWHERE.

But they also love pooping everywhere.

I set up a temporary fence along one side of our patio, just to discourage them from traipsing across. There’s literally nothing to eat on the cement so I don’t understand the attraction but still, they love it on that patio. A real fence all the way around would be more effective but we don’t want to do that because then our dogs wouldn’t be able to come and go for their own potty needs.

It’s always a balance of who needs what. In this case, I need to be able to walk barefoot on my patio.

When the weather calls for rain, I keep the chickens in the run now.

What Foods Chickens Can’t Eat

While backyard chickens definitely eat a lot of kitchen scraps, there are some foods they don’t like OR can be poisonous.

Foods CHICKENS shouldn’t eat:

• raw, green or sprouting potatoes
• eggplant
• rhubarb
• onions
• avocado
• chocolate
• apple seeds, peach and plum pits
• dried or raw beans

My chickens don’t really like bell peppers or zucchini, which is funny because we always have so much of both.

No problem, off it goes into the compost.

Best of all, backyard chickens means that you get SO MANY EGGS! These are our favorite egg recipes.