HOME SWEET HOME continued
Mary Beth Voelker
Mary Beth Voelker is a writer, a mother,
a cook, a gardener, and a crafter. Though
originally from Pittsburgh, she and her family
kept coming back to North Carolina until God
let them stay. She likes to say that while she has
often been bored at work she has never been
bored at home.
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Sweet
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Recipes, Crafts & Life Tips
HOME SWEET HOME continued
Are Backyard Chickens
For You?
by Mary Beth Voelker
I love chickens. For a while I had a small,
in-town flock and now, in the country I can
have more chickens than were practical in
a small backyard. Here are some things to
consider when deciding if backyard chickens
are right for you:
Legality. The good news is that many
places in our area do permit chickens.
However, some do not and some of those that
do may have space restrictions, set limitations
on the numbers, or allow hens only. The only
way to know for sure is to contact your local
government authorities and to check the
terms of your HOA agreement if applicable.
Coop and Run. Local regulations on
the type and siting of temporary and/or
permanent outbuildings apply. Know what’s
allowed before you begin. Some people
build their own. Some convert an existing
outbuilding. Some hire a contractor. Some
buy a prefab or a kit. The three critical factors
are Siting, Space, and Ventilation.
Siting. Chickens need to be kept dry,
so the coop needs to be located in a place
that does not collect standing water or have
groundwater running through it during
storms. Additionally, it should be convenient
to the house and to a water source to make
tending the chickens easy. In this climate
of blistering summers, it is best to put the
chicken coop in natural shade if available or
to provide shade if you can’t.
Space Requirements. Chickens require
less space than other farm animals, less space
even than some pets. But they do require a
certain amount of room to maintain good
health. The usual recommendation is 4 square
feet of room in the coop plus 10 square feet
of room in the run per standard-sized bird.
While intensive management such as is
used in commercial operations can make it
possible to keep chickens
in tighter quarters than
this, backyard chicken
keepers find that more
space = fewer health and
behavioral issues as well
as being easier to keep
clean. Prefab coops are
notorious for claiming to
hold more chickens than
they can legitimately
house. Some are not
only too short on square
footage but so low that a
full-grown chicken can’t
even stand upright. Rule
of thumb—if it looks like a dollhouse, then it’s
only suited for toy chickens.
Ventilation. The usual recommendation
is 1 square foot of draft-free, permanent
ventilation per bird. Permanent means open
24/7/365, so windows that will be closed in
winter and the pop door that is closed at night
don’t count. The best ventilation is located
high up over the roosting birds’ head because
heat and ammonia both rise. My personal test
is that if I put my head and shoulders into the
coop on a hot day and it’s hotter in than out,
then I need more ventilation.
Where to get them? You can buy chicks
at farm stores, from local breeders, or by
mail from hatcheries. You can buy started
pullets or grown birds from various sources of
classified ads or at swap meets. The advantage
of farm stores is that you can buy chicks that
you can see beforehand in any quantity. The
disadvantage is that farm stores are notorious
for mislabeling and/or mixing up the breeds
so that unless you know exactly what the
chicks you want ought to look like you might
end up with a surprise. Mail order chicks
very rarely have this problem, but are almost
always subject to order minimums that might
be more chicks than you wanted. Chickens
from the classifieds can be great or can have
other issues, but it’s usually the best way to get
chickens without having to deal with brooding
chicks and it’s one way to ensure that you get
HOME SWEET HOME con't. next column HOME SWEET HOME con't. next column
only hens and not roosters.
Predator Control. Yes, you do have
predators in town. Raccoons, opossums, stray
dogs, coyotes, hawks, and more. Your fencing
for the chicken run needs to be both strong
and tight. Hardware cloth is best. Chicken wire
is completely inadequate because raccoons,
dogs, etc. can tear right through it. Electric net
is good in the country but presents issues in
town where people, especially children, are
more likely to get into it unawares.
Roosters. Chick sexing is only 85-90%
accurate so you have to be aware that you
could end up with a cockerel when you only
wanted hens. Roosters have both advantages
and disadvantages, but it’s important to
know what you’re getting into. The best way
to ensure that you get only female chicks is
to buy one of the sex-linked varieties that are
bred to be able to tell the boys from the girls
immediately at hatching. If you prefer other
varieties, which I do myself, then you need
a plan for dealing with accidental roosters.
“Finding him a forever pet home” is rarely
realistic.
I love my chickens. They give me fresh eggs,
garden compost, yard pest control, and the
wonderful entertainment known as Chicken
TV. If you’ve thought through this overview
and still want chickens, then I recommend
that you take advantage of the many sources of
excellent information available on the Internet
including hatchery blogs, homesteading
magazines, and, my personal favorite—www.
Backyardchickens.com to learn more about
the details of chicken keeping. ☐
Mary Beth with one of her Chickens.
HOME SWEET HOME con't. p.24
Rule of
thumb—
if it looks
like a
dollhouse,
then it’s
only suited
for toy
chickens.
~The barn was very large. It was very old.
It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It
smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and
the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It
often had a sort of peaceful smell as though
nothing bad could happen ever again in
the world. It smelled of grain and of harness
dressing and of axle grease and of rubber
boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat
was given a fish head to eat, the barn would
smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay,
for there was always hay in the great loft up
overhead. And there was always hay being
pitched down to the cows and the horses and
the sheep. ~Excerpt from Charlotte’s Web No. 141 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.11
/Backyardchickens.com