Taking Care of Chickens: a Simple Beginner’s Guide
If you’re new to caring for chickens or just starting your initial research and planning, it can seem overwhelming. But this guide will help you and tell you what you actually need to raise chickens properly and keep them happy, healthy, and safe.
I promise it’s not that hard and doesn’t take that much time — honestly, I find gardening takes more work on the homestead compared to chickens. And dogs and cats are way harder to take care of than a simple chicken.
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Key Takeaways
- Things you may not have thought of yet
- Practical considerations and downsides of raising chickens
- Building, buying, or converting chicken coops and runs, and winterizing them
- Choosing between commercial hybrid layers, heritage dual-purpose, and meat birds
- Deciding between hatching eggs, day-old chicks, ready-to-lay pullets, or older hens
- Having a plan for roosters
- Feeding chickens properly & how to feed treats
- Safely free-ranging chickens
- Chicken health issues, prevention, and first aid
Practical Considerations & the Downsides of Raising Chickens
Let’s start with a basic reality check: make sure chickens are legal where you live. I know this might seem condescending, but don’t overlook it.
Know the number of chickens you can keep and any legal requirements for the coop size and distance from fences and neighbors. And if your local government is a little too nosy, have a solid plan for keeping chickens out of sight from neighbors or overpaid bylaw officers.
And no, I’m not suggesting you break the law (perish the thought!) — just making sure you’re prepared for whatever bureaucratic nonsense might come your way.
(By the way, Muscovy ducks lay gorgeous large eggs and are a very quiet bird — just something to consider.)
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Plan for Vacations & Time Commitments
Your first big task is to have a plan for who’s going to care for your chickens when you’re away. A trusted neighbor, family member, or paid pet sitter will do.
You can also set up systems like an automatic coop door opener, automated watering, and feeding to buy you a few days’ time. I recommend adding simple cameras for peace of mind — that’s what we do. But even with automation, someone should stop by every few days to collect eggs and make sure your flock is fine.
Don’t expect to come back to fresh, edible eggs. You may find them spoiled depending on the length of time and outside temperatures, but don’t waste them — scramble them up and feed them back to your flock or toss them in the compost.
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Caring for Chickens in Winter
Another overlooked aspect is caring for your chickens in winter. Our Canadian homestead sees snowdrifts that bury the land, and while we’re slowly building our permaculture food forest to buffer some of those harsh conditions, our chickens still need daily attention. Chickens handle the cold well, but they require a winterized coop, constant access to fresh (unfrozen) water, and a dust-bathing area to keep themselves clean and healthy.
If you live in a place with harsh winters, be ready to break ice off waterers daily, seal drafts, and ensure the coop has just the right balance of ventilation without letting cold air blast through. I have several articles that go into this aspect of chicken care in greater depth.
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Figure Out a Safe Chicken Coop First
The coop is the heart of your flock, and it doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to be functional. Don’t get sucked into Instagram-perfect coops — they’re cute, but you need a safe, practical space that keeps your chickens comfortable and predator-free.
Our coops are just sheds we already had on the property which we converted to chicken coops.
1. Predator-Proofing
Use hardware cloth — not chicken wire. It’s called chicken wire, but it’s useless for keeping predators out. We’re talking raccoons, foxes, and any determined critter that would love to snack on your chickens. Secure all potential entry points and be sure your latches are predator-proof.
2. Ventilation & Winterization
The coop should be draft-free yet well-ventilated. Ventilation is key to prevent moisture buildup, which can lead to frostbite. Place vents up high above the roosting bars. And come winter, you’ll need to seal up any cracks or gaps that let in the cold.
3. Roosting Bars & Nesting Boxes
Chickens like to sleep perched on roosting bars at night, and layers need a comfy space to lay their eggs. A basic rule is one nesting box for every 4-5 hens. And let’s face it, chicken math is real — you’ll probably end up with more birds than you plan for, so build a coop larger than you think you’ll need.
4. Litter & Coop Cleanliness
Your choice of bedding (actually called litter) matters. We use a mix of chopped straw and other organics like wood chips, leaves, and old hay. My greatest advice to new chicken owners: seriously consider the deep litter method. This involves layering organic materials that slowly compost over time, which keeps the coop smelling clean and reduces your workload to cleaning out the coop only once or twice a year. Trust me, it makes life so much easier, and it produces incredible compost for your garden.
Coop Checklist for Beginners:
- Predator-proof with hardware cloth
- Install roosting bars and nesting boxes
- Ensure proper ventilation up high
- Seal off drafts for winter
- Choose litter (we use chopped straw + other organics)
- Settle on a coop management style (deep litter recommended)
- Plan for feeders, waterers, and storage (feed outside in summer; in winter, water should be kept outside to avoid humidity inside)
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What Types of Chickens Will You Get?
Your next big decision: which breeds to raise. There are three main types — commercial egg layers, heritage dual-purpose breeds, and broilers. These choices will affect how you raise and care for your chickens, so let’s break it down.
1. Commercial Layers vs. Heritage Breeds
Commercial layers, like the Cinnamon Queen, are the best egg-laying chicken breeds, producing a high number of eggs in their prime but tapering off after only a couple of years. Heritage breeds like Orpingtons and Bresse don’t lay as many eggs but will keep going for many more years. They also tend to be healthier, hardier, and can be raised for meat. On our homestead, we raise a mix of commercial and heritage layers — you get the best of both worlds.
2. Meat Birds
Meat birds are a whole different game. We’ve raised Red Rangers, which grow slower but provide great-tasting meat. Cornish X, or White Rock, is your standard grocery store chicken, slaughtered at 6-8 weeks. They’re fast-growing but don’t live long and are plagued by health concerns and ethical concerns for them even existing.
My advice: start with one or two breeds to learn what works best for you.
Tips for Choosing Chicken Breeds:
- Decide on your primary goal: eggs, meat, or both
- Pick a commercial and a heritage breed to compare their pros and cons
- Consider long-term factors like egg production longevity and temperament
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On Baby Chicks, Hatching Eggs, Pullets, and Older Hens
When you’re ready to start your flock, you have a few options. You can hatch eggs, buy day-old chicks, invest in ready-to-lay pullets, or even pick up older hens. Each option comes with its own set of benefits and challenges, so let’s break down what to expect.
Hatching Eggs
Hatching eggs can be one of the most rewarding ways to start raising chickens. It allows you to experience the full life cycle, from watching eggs develop to seeing chicks break through their shells. However, hatching is unpredictable — not every egg will make it, and you’ll need to invest in an incubator or have a reliable broody hen to do the work for you. You will end up with a mix of males and females, so be prepared to handle whatever hatches.
Day-Old Chicks
Opting for day-old chicks is a popular choice, as you can start bonding with your flock from their earliest days. Raising chicks lets you ensure they’re socialized and comfortable in their environment right from the start. But there’s a bit of a catch: chicks require constant warmth, care, and monitoring during those critical early weeks. And unless you’re buying specific autosexing breeds or paying a premium for sexed chicks from a reputable hatchery, you might end up with surprise roosters in your batch. Have a plan for those.
Ready-to-Lay Pullets
Ready-to-lay pullets are your best bet if you want to skip the fragile chick phase and start getting eggs right away. These hens are usually around 16 to 20 weeks old and are on the verge of beginning their egg-laying journey. You won’t need to worry about roosters, and you’ll get instant egg production. The downside is that they’re more expensive than chicks or hatching eggs, and you miss out on watching them grow from their chick phase. your breed choices are also limited and exotic, high quality breeds can for as high as $100+ for a single bird.
Older Hens
Picking up older hens is a budget-friendly way to start your flock, and they can still provide you with eggs for a while. However, keep in mind that their laying years are limited, so while they might still lay for a season or two, you’ll eventually need to replace them as their productivity declines. It’s a good short-term solution if you’re looking to keep costs down and don’t mind missing out on the younger stages of raising chickens.
Whatever you do, you must decide what you will do about male chicks — roosters.
You can buy straight-run chicks which will include a mix of male and female, or you can buy sexed chicks from hatcheries too and their success rate at accurately determining gender is about 90%.
If you hatch your own eggs you should expect a 50/50 mix of male and female chicks and you need to have a plan and decision in place for what you will do with those excess males.
Have a Plan For Roosters
I’m utterly exhausted by new owners in my chicken groups trying to rehome their extra, unwanted, or illegal roosters. It’s irresponsible and ridiculous to make this someone else’s problem. Decide how you will deal with the excess males before you go out and buy a box of adorable chicks.
In most suburbs and town/city limits it is outright illegal to own roosters.
Nobody wants your rooster as a pet. And unless you have an incredible exhibition-quality genetics rooster that a breeder might be interested in, you’re not going to easily find a home for him that doesn’t want to eat him.
If you try to “rehome”, please don’t try selling your roosters. No one is paying for a rooster; taking them off your hands is a favor.
The best solution for excess roosters is to eat them yourself or give them to someone who will gladly do it for you. A rooster makes the most delicious bone broth or coq au vin you have ever had.
If you find that cruel or shocking, just know that trying to keep every single rooster will result in extreme stress, violence, and bloodshed. The roosters will fight, sometimes to the death or extreme injury. Your hens will lose the feathers on their backs from being over-mated. They will become injured and stressed out.
Fueled by testosterone, stress, and aggression, the roosters will likely become aggressive and violent with the humans on the property, too.
The best ratio is one rooster for every ten hens, or no rooster at all. Another thing you can do is separate your roosters into a rooster bachelor pad; the lack of females will soothe their desire to fight. One year, we managed to hatch around 24 Bresse roosters, and that was what we had to do to stop them from killing each other and trying to kill us.
After they grew out to a nice size, they were butchered. That was how I discovered that roosters were so delicious.
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Feeding Chickens Properly
We feed our chickens a whole grain mash, soy-free, corn-free chicken grower feed at 19% protein. They get this feed from day one and up until the end. The egg-laying chickens and meat birds get the same feed. To make the nutrients more bioavailable, we make fermented chicken feed. For the benefit of our layers, we also feed crushed egg shells on the side free-choice to help supplement their calcium needs. In the winter we provide grit to help them digest their food.
You will have to decide if you want to do the same or to take advantage of the different types of feed for different birds at different stages of life.
Chicken Feed Forms
Mash – This type of feed consists of coarsely ground ingredients that are still identifiable. The pieces are small, making it easy for chickens to eat. This is the form of feed we buy and feed,
Pellets – Pellet feed is created by compressing mash into small, compact pellets. It tends to be more expensive but results in less feed waste.
Crumbles – This is essentially pellets that have been broken down into smaller fragments, making it easier for younger birds, like chicks, to consume.
Scratch — Chicken scratch is a mix of several cracked grains, such as corn, wheat, and oats, used primarily as a treat or supplement to a chicken’s regular diet. It helps encourage natural foraging behavior but should not be relied on as a complete feed due to its lower nutritional content.
Chicken Feed Types
Starter—This feed contains 18-20% protein and is designed explicitly for chicks aged 0-6 weeks. It typically comes in crumble form and is calcium-free. Chick starter comes in medicated and non-medicated forms. Medicated chick feed is formulated with amprolium to help prevent coccidiosis, a parasitic disease in young chicks.
Grower – With a 16-18% protein content, grower feed is ideal for chicks between 6 and 14 weeks of age. It often comes in mash or crumble form and does not include calcium.
Layer—This feed Contains 16-18% protein and is suitable for pullets starting at 18-20 weeks when they begin laying eggs. It comes in mash, pellet, and crumble forms and includes calcium to support egg production.
Broiler Starter – This feed has 20-24% protein to encourage rapid growth during the first 0-3 weeks of life. It is usually available in mash or crumble form and is calcium-free.
Broiler Finisher—This feed provides 16-20% protein and is used to control growth until the broiler is ready for processing. Like other broiler feeds, it comes in mash or crumble form and does not contain calcium.
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You can attempt to mix your own chicken feed, but don’t just randomly put some grains together and think you’ve nailed it; your chickens will suffer and might die from an improper diet. This is especially crucial for chicks.
Feeding Chickens Treats & Other Foods
We regularly feed our chickens high-quality kitchen scraps. High quality here means high protein because those foods are way more valuable for your flock than greens, which can negatively affect their health and growth and even disrupt their laying.
Leftover meat scraps, scrambled eggs, and even dairy are fed to our flocks regularly.
Other foods and treats are kept to a minimum. Since our chickens have access to our compost, they are free to take any food they find enticing, though I think they’re more after the bugs and worms.
In general, sticking to their main feed and feeding high-quality treats in moderation on the side will not do you wrong. If you pasture your chickens, you will find they will get so many nutritious extras into their diet from the grasses, plants, bugs, and other small creatures they will gladly hunt and eat.
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Free-Ranging Chickens Safely
Will you free-range your chickens? Raise them on pasture in moveable tractors? Or keep them in an enclosed predator-proof run? The answers depend entirely on your property and the predator pressures you encounter.
We easily free-range our chickens, but we don’t have forests that border our homestead.
Free-ranging chickens gives your flock the freedom to explore and forage naturally, which can lead to healthier, happier birds. They can enjoy a varied diet of insects, plants, and seeds, while also staying more active. That said, free-ranging comes with risks like predators, traffic, or exposure to harmful areas, so it’s important to take steps to protect them while they roam.
For more information on keeping your chickens safe while free-ranging, check out our article that covers four effective methods.
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Chicken Health Matters
As a new chicken owner, it’s important to understand that maintaining your flock’s health is a key part of raising chickens. Having basic health and injury supplies on hand is essential since finding a veterinarian specializing in chickens can be difficult or expensive. You’ll need to learn how to identify and treat common conditions and injuries, as prompt action can save a bird’s life.
Unfortunately, there may also be times when culling a chicken is the only humane option, so it’s necessary to be prepared with the right tools and knowledge to handle that difficult task.
Here’s a list of common-sense items to include in a chicken first aid kit you can buy online or from your local farm store:
- Antiseptic wound spray or iodine solution – For cleaning and disinfecting wounds.
- Sterile gauze pads and bandages – For covering injuries.
- Veterinary wound powder – Helps stop bleeding and promote healing.
- Scissors – For cutting bandages or trimming feathers around wounds.
- Tweezers – Useful for removing splinters or debris from injuries.
- Vet wrap or self-adhesive bandages – To secure bandages without causing discomfort.
- Antibiotic ointment (without pain reliever) – For treating minor cuts and wounds.
- Saline solution – For rinsing wounds or eyes.
- Poultry vitamins and electrolytes – To boost immunity, especially after illness or stress.
- Blu-Kote or other wound dressings – To prevent pecking at wounds.
- Cornstarch or styptic powder – For stopping bleeding from minor cuts or broken feathers.
- Small syringe or dropper – For administering medication or fluids.
- Disposable gloves – For handling wounds or sick chickens.
- A sharp pair of nail clippers – For trimming nails or spurs.
- Epsom salts – Can be used for soaking a chicken’s foot in case of bumblefoot or other infections.
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Raising chickens is rewarding, not just for fresh eggs and meat but for the experience of caring for these creatures. With a bit of planning and the right mindset, you’ll quickly find that keeping a happy, healthy flock isn’t as overwhelming as it might seem at first.
Questions? Comments? Leave them below!
