My family had a big garden and chickens in the backyard when I was a kid. In the South, it was just how things were. So it makes sense to share tips or “hacks” for raising chickens in your backyard. Even though I wasn’t as hands-on as my parents or children, I know a lot about handling chickens and making it easier to take care of them.
How to Raise Backyard Chickens: Hints and Tricks
Whether you have one or twelve, taking care of chickens is easier than you think. Chickens are a great addition to a homestead; some people even like to keep them as pets. We’ve raised chickens many times over the years to get eggs. Even though I don’t know much about meat chickens, many people raise them to eat.
These tips and “hacks” are good to remember whether your chickens are pets, laying hens, or meat chickens. Similar Project: CD and tin can wind chime used as a garden ornament Not to make it sound like raising chickens in your backyard is easy, but generally, it’s a good idea.
Beware, though, because chickens are something that many common predators want to eat. This could make things hard for you. Sometimes, hens and roosters will get sick for no reason, and you can’t do anything about it. Even so, they are easy to care for and do well when they get love and attention.
Instead of starting with eggs, start with baby chicks.
You might use an incubator to hatch eggs after you’ve raised chickens for a while, but I wouldn’t do that the first time you decide to raise chickens. It’s a lot easier to start when the eggs are already out. You’ll have to do less work and probably get better results if more of them are alive instead of still in eggs.
Using suet bird feeders, hang food for chickens.
You can put suet or other foods that chickens like in these little suet bird feeders. They are easy to hang in different places in the coop, and the chickens must work to get the seed out of the containers.
Freeze corn for snacks in ice cube trays.
One of the best summer ideas is to put corn in ice cubes and freeze them. Drop them all around the chicken yard for the chickens to peck through to get their treat and more water.
Make a simple feeder system.
Make a raised feeding trough with two blocks and a gutter. You can put a few of these around the chicken coop to maintain the chickens from fighting over food.
Use a plastic container as a no-waste feeder.
With a big plastic tote and a few pipework parts, you can make a perfect feeding system that doesn’t waste food. Fill the tote with food; the chickens can eat through holes in the sides. No food falls on the floor, and the coop stays cleaner. Also, if it rains, you’ll realize that the food doesn’t get wet.
Give your chickens a pool so they can stay cool.
Those kiddie pools aren’t just for your kids! They are great to put inside the chicken coop to help your hens stay hydrated and cool down on hot days. If you put ice in the pool, your chickens will have an even better time.
Make nests out of old cat litter boxes.
If you turn cat litter boxes on their sides and fill them with hay, they can be used as roosts for chickens. Just get rid of all the waste before putting it in the hay. You can also glue them together and stack them to make a little apartment building for your chickens in your coop.
Grow veggies in the chicken coop.
Growing vegetables in the coop with the chickens is an easy way to add variety to their diet. Chickens will happily eat several plants if they are around. Give your chickens a few extra plants to graze on in their coop or yard in the warmer months.
Put vegetables on a stick so chickens can eat them.
Instead of putting sliced fruits and vegetables on the coop floor, put them on a stick or dowel like a kabob. Please put it in the ground and let the chickens eat the fruit instead of you having to take the time to cut it up.
Fruits and vegetables can be frozen in a Bundt pan or a Jello mold.
Instead of giving each chick a separate ice treat, put them all into one big mold and put it in the middle of the coop. This also takes less time and is a great way to use bigger pieces of fruit or vegetables at once.
You can grow grass inside for them in the winter.
Purchase a few packets of simple grass seed and grow it indoors in disposable pans throughout the colder months. Once it’s a few inches tall, put the pans outside so the chickens can eat it all day long.
To make a treat feeder toy, put chicken feed in balls.
This is a great way to use dog or cat food as a toy. Put chicken feed in them or a waffle ball and let each other work to get their reward.
Construct a DIY Corn Holder
Among the most common things chickens eat is corn. Feeding them corn on the cob is a wonderful way to do it. With this little wire holder, giving them more than one cob to eat at once is simpler.
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