Laws about Raising Backyard Chickens

§ February 18th, 2012 § Filed under Guest Posts § No Comments

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Nate Smith of ChickenSaloon.com

The Law Regarding Raising Backyard Chickens (and How to Not Get Stung!)

There are quite a few different things that go into preparing to raise backyard chickens. None of which however, are as important as figuring out the laws in your local area in regards to keeping chickens. Everything rests on that point because as you can image, if you are not allowed to raise chickens on your property, what’s the point of preparing to do so? That being said, let’s take a quick look into that point and see what you need to do in order to accurately find out the laws in your own town.

Talk to Local Offices

The very first think you should do when contemplating raising backyard chickens is to speak with your local government offices. If you live within a city, this would be the city government offices; or county offices if you do not live within the boundaries of a city. You can call, but I chose to go in person. Calling ahead might be a good idea just so you can make sure you are going to the right place. If your city offices are anything like mine, there are plenty of them!

Finding out that you can raise chickens in your backyard is not enough. You will need to know all the details. For example, there might be a limit on how many chickens you can raise. Sometimes there will be a flat number, ie. no more than 10 chickens. Other times, as is the case for me, there will be more of a graduated scale where maybe you can raise 4 chickens, or 8, or 12, depending on the square footage of your property.

The quantity of chickens that you can raise isn’t the only aspect that will be brought into question. There can be other restrictions as well, such as whether or not you can have a rooster, or whether or not you can slaughter chickens in your backyard (if that is even something you had in mind). It’s good to look into all of those issues before going out and buying a chicken coop and 10 chicks.

What if I Cannot Raise Chickens Where I live?

There is a chance that this might be the case. Don’t stress about this just yet; wait to see if that is indeed the law where you live. If you find that it is, I strongly suggest being an advocate of sorts where you live. It doesn’t take very many voices to get a law changed. In fact, it has only been about five years or so that my own city has allowed raising backyard chickens.

Look to see if you can attend a city council meeting (or equivalent) and bring up this issue. Plan out ahead of time what you would like to say, bringing up all the many good reasons that you can think of. My experience has been that no one on city council wants to be that one person that seems unreasonable while the others are all for the idea. Good luck!

Nate Smith writes about raising backyard chickens in both urban and rural settings. He focuses on the how-to’s including knowing your local laws, housing, feeding and caring for your flock. Visit Nate Smith at ChickenSaloon.com

5 Reasons You Should Sign Up for Our Newsletter

§ January 11th, 2012 § Filed under Our Company § Tagged , , § 1 Comment

It seems like every business wants you to sign up to receive their email, and half the time, you receive it and wonder why they bother sending it at all! Well, we wanted to share a few reasons you really should get the Purely Poultry newsletter.

 

Reason 1:

Information! Unlike some companies, we don’t view each issue of our newsletter as an opportunity to sell you something. Instead, we want to provide you with information that will be useful to you as a person interested in poultry. We write articles, tell you about books, include links to interesting news items, and more. Our newsletter is designed to be useful to YOU, rather than a sales tool for us.

 

Reason 2:

Stay up-to-date! Wonder when our catalog will be mailed? Want to know about new breeds as soon as they are available? Our newsletter is the best way to find out what’s going on at Purely Poultry.

 

Reason 3: 

Be in the know! We share news about events in the poultry world in our newsletter. You aren’t going to find out about a new breed being accepted into the APA Standard of Perfection by watching the evening news, but you will if you read our newsletter.

 

Reason 4:

Special promotions! On occasion we offer newsletter subscribers special discounts. You shouldn’t expect a discount in every issue, but sometimes we look for a small way to say “thank you!”

 

Reason 5:

Fun and games! We are constantly looking for ways to have fun, and we’ve found that our customers and friends like to have fun, too. From book clubs to contests, we try to include something interesting in each newsletter. As an added bonus, most of our contests involve some kind of prize, so besides the occasional discounts newsletter subscribers receive, there are prizes! Who doesn’t like prizes?

 

So, there you have it – five good reasons you should subscribe to our email newsletter. There really is no downside, and if you should happen to discover one, there is a link to unsubscribe in every issue. You have nothing to lose!

 

Thinking Beyond the Chicken

§ December 8th, 2011 § Filed under Care & Safety of Poultry, Ducks, Geese, Guineas, Peafowl, Quail, Turkey § Tagged , , , , , , , , , § No Comments

Most backyard flock keepers are introduced to the world of domesticated poultry by the chicken. There is plenty of easily accessible information about chickens, chickens lay the eggs that Americans are most familiar with eating, and chickens make great pets. We certainly don’t discourage raising chickens.

 

However, today, we’d like to introduce you to a few other types of domesticated poultry, along with some of the reasons you might want to consider raising them. Some of them require more space than chickens, and some require water, but they are worth considering if you think you might be ready to expand.

 

Quail

Quail are easy to raise. They can happily thrive in a cage in a garage or basement with proper care. They produce lots of eggs and they don’t make much noise. There are lots of reasons to raise quail! Many people who live in urban areas where it is still illegal to have chickens find that quail are a good choice because there are not usually specific ordinances against them and they are quiet so don’t disturb neighbors.

 

Ducks

You don’t necessarily have to have a pond to have ducks, depending on the breed you choose. If you don’t have a pond, ducks can be happy with a small swimming pool or large wash tub to splash in. Duck eggs are excellent for baking and many people find they enjoy the flavor as well. Some types of ducks are more vocal than others; some are better fliers or foragers. If you are thinking about getting a few ducks, do a little research and choose the breed best suited for your situation.

 

Turkeys

It is entirely possible to raise your own turkey for Thanksgiving. In fact, there are lots of advantages to doing so. Turkeys need a fairly large amount of area to forage. There are good instructions for building moveable turkey pens available. Most people don’t know that turkeys are friendly, and like being around people. Some folks start out raising poults, planning to have them for dinner, but end up keeping them as pets.

 

Guineas

Have ticks? Get guineas! Guinea fowl are great at pest control, and they make fantastic “watch dogs.” They will happily share a residence with your chickens. Guineas are excellent birds for gardeners to keep because they pluck bugs right off of plants, without harming the plant. Most folks find they can let their guineas roam around in the garden without worrying at all.

 

Peafowl

Peacocks are beautiful, but besides looking like living sculpture, they offer another advantage. They run snakes away. In Indian, people kept peafowl to keep cobras away. Since we don’t really have a cobra problem in the US, you can feel pretty certain that a peafowl is capable of keeping whatever snakes you worry about out of your yard. Peafowl are large birds, though, and do require at least 200 square feet per mature couple. You should also research the pros and cons of letting peafowl free range.

 

Geese

Although it is not exactly a fashionable food, “roast goose” is considered a tasty food by many. As far as caring for poultry goes, geese may be the easiest. They don’t require anything more than a three-sided shelter for housing, they love to forage and a simple, 3-foot-high fence will contain them. Geese are also useful for insect control and as “watch dogs.”

 

Whether you decide to diversify when it comes to poultry or not, it is fun to learn about domesticated species. There are many others besides those listed here, and people all over the world raise a huge variety of poultry.

 

Do you raise birds other than chickens? If so, why? As pets? As a food source? For pest control? We’d love to hear about your flock!

Chicken Nutrition

§ November 29th, 2011 § Filed under Care & Safety of Poultry, Chickens, Education § Tagged , , , , , § No Comments

No matter what kind of animal you are talking about, nutrition is both numbingly complex and startlingly simple. On the simple side, animals need food for fuel. On the complex side, there are questions about the best balance of nutrients, which nutrients are essential and which are useless, how often the animal should eat and in what quantity, and even whether or not improper nutrition can lead to infertility or disease. These are serious questions, for human or fowl.

 

If you are raising chickens because you want more control over your family’s food supply, you are concerned about what your chickens consume. You might even be mixing your own chicken feed, or paying big bucks for a special organic blend. Chicken nutrition is a highly studied subject, and there are many books on the subject available. The information in this post is elementary, at best, and should be considered only as a brief introduction to the topic.

 

Dispelling A Couple of Myths

“Commercially produced feed is loaded with hormones.”

The feed that you can buy at your local feed store does not contain hormones. Fifty or sixty years ago it might have, but not now. So, you can lay aside any fears that you will be encouraging early physical maturity in your children if your chickens eat feed you can conveniently purchase.

 

“Unless it’s marked organic, commercially produced feed is full of chemicals and medications.”

Again, this is just not true. You can purchase medicated feed, but it will clearly be marked “medicated.” Sometimes, medicated feed is appropriate and the best choice. However, if you don’t want to buy feed with medicines added to it, simply don’t buy the stuff marked “medicated.”

 

As far as other chemicals go, none are added to chicken feed. Of course, the corn in the feed might have been treated with fertilizer or pesticides, but probably no more than the corn available for human consumption in grocery stores and supermarkets.

 

“Chickens will feed themselves by foraging, so they don’t need any supplemental food.”

If you have no more than two chickens per acre of pasture, that might be true – during the summer months. Otherwise, chickens needs supplemental food. They will forage and eat only what they need of the supplement, but most of us simply don’t have the space for chickens to be healthy with only forage available.

 

A Few Tips

  • Read about chicken nutrition. You don’t need to earn a PhD in animal husbandry, but it is useful to know a little about what your birds need, and why.
  • Don’t buy the cheapest available feed. It’s usually not quality stuff.
  • Read the ingredients on the feed you do buy.
  • Talk to people and ask lots of questions. There are helpful online forums, we are happy to answer questions, the folks at your local feed store will probably be glad to talk, there are swaps and classes at agricultural extension offices, and plenty of other place you can get answers.

 

The more informed you are, the better able you are to make the best decision for your flock and your family. Some things will depend on why you have chickens in the first place, your schedule, and personal preference. Have you had any big discoveries when it comes to feed? Is there one tip you’d offer a beginner? Do you have a particularly helpful book or source of information?

Laying Cycles

§ November 18th, 2011 § Filed under Care & Safety of Poultry, Chickens, Ducks, Quail § Tagged , , , , , , § No Comments

People keep poultry for many reasons, but one of the most common is for food. Healthy poultry provide eggs and fresh eggs from happy, healthy birds taste good and are good for you. Obviously, chickens are the most popular eggs, but many people keep ducks and quail for eggs as well.

 

One thing that all three species have in common is decreased egg production in the winter. It is normal for birds to lay fewer eggs during the cold months. Many people who are new to keeping poultry worry because they see few eggs as the temperature drops.

 

Chickens

Commercial egg producers use artificial lights to maintain egg production during the winter. If your only goal is to have lots of eggs, year-round, you can also use lights to promote egg laying. There are a couple of things to be aware of, though:

  • While you will get more eggs in the short-term, you will likely be shortening the long-term productivity of your birds. Simply put, hens need some rest.
  • Using lights and heaters to increase egg production can be dangerous because your birds become used to the warmth and can be shocked if they go out into the cold. Chickens can generally withstand quite cold temperatures, but when the temperature is kept artificially warm they don’t have the chance to adjust.

 

 

Deciding whether to eat fewer eggs in the winter or to try and coax your birds into laying more comes down to your reasons for keeping chickens at all. Backyard poultry keepers have different goals, and there are many equally appropriate ways to care for flocks.

 

Ducks

Like chickens, ducks will lay few eggs during the colder months than during the spring and summer. And, like chickens, ducks can be coaxed into possibly laying more eggs in the winter than they would naturally. The same dangers exist, too.

 

While chickens generally do just fine during the winter with proper care, ducks most always do. Ducks have an extra layer of fat just under their skin to help keep them warm. That is one of the reasons ducks can swim in even icy water without freezing.

 

Quail

Quail, also, will naturally have decreased egg production when it is cold out. The difference is, many people choose to raise quail because they can comfortably live in a garage or shed where it is a simple matter to make sure they have enough heat and light to maintain a steady level of production.

 

If your quail live indoors all the time, there is little risk involved in extreme and sudden temperature swings. People who want fresh eggs but live in urban areas where chickens or ducks may not be allowed can raise quail. Quail are quieter, content to remain pens indoors and are not usually banned. If you want fresh eggs year round, quail may be your best bet.

 

What sort of poultry do you keep? If you have chickens and/or ducks, do you go with nature’s flow and deal with having fewer eggs when it’s cold, or do you try to increase production with heat and light?

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