If you’ve never raised livestock before, keeping chickens is a great start. They’re easy to raise, they don’t need a lot of space, and they don’t cost a lot of money to buy or to feed. Everything you learn about feeding, housing, and caring for your chickens will help you later if you decide to raise some other kind of animal. People have raised chickens for at least 5,000 years. All chickens belong to the genus Gallus, the Latin word for cock, or rooster The English naturalist Charles Darwin traced all chickens back tens of thousands of years to a single extant breed, the wild red jungle fowl of southeast Asia (Gallus gallus). These fowl look like today’s brown Leghorns, only smaller. Wild jungle fowl are homebodies, preferring to live and forage in one place as long as possible. This trait made taming wild fowl an easy task. All people had to do was provide a suitable place for the chickens to live and make sure that the flock got plenty to eat. As a reward, they had ready access to fresh eggs and meat. Early chickens didn’t lay many eggs, though, and they made pitifully scrawny meat birds. Over time, chicken keepers selected breeders from those that laid best, grew fastest, and developed the most muscle — and thus came about today’s domes tic chickens. The Romans called household chickens Gallus domesticus, a term scientists still use. Different people who have kept chickens over the years valued different traits, which led to the development of many different breeds. In 1868, Darwin took inventory of the world’s chicken population and found only 13 breeds. Now we have many times that number. Most of today’s breeds were developed during the 20th century, when chickens became the most popular domestic food animal. Getting Started How much it costs to get started depends on such factors as the kind of chickens you want and how common they are in your area, how simple or elaborate their housing will be, and whether you already have facilities you can use or modify Chickens must be housed to protect them from wind and harsh weather, but the housing need not be fancy. An unused toolshed, or the corner of a barn or other out building, can provide comfortable quarters. If your yard isn’t fenced, you’ll need to put one up. A good fence keeps dogs and other predators away from your chickens and keeps your flock from bothering your garden or your neighbors’ flower beds. In deciding where to put your chicken yard, consider whether crowing may bother your neighbors. Male chickens — called roosters, or cocks — are well known for their inclination to crow at dawn. Ancient people believed they crow to scare away evil spirits lurking in the dark. Cocks occasionally crow during the day, and if two cocks are within hearing distance, they will periodically engage in an impromptu crowing contest. A rooster rarely crows during the dark of night, unless he is disturbed by a sound or a light. If the sound of crowing might cause a problem in your area, consider keeping hens without a rooster. Although the rare persnickety neighbor may complain about hen sounds, the loudest noise a hen makes is a brief cackle after she’s laid an egg. Contented hens “sing” to themselves by making a soft, pleasant sound that only a grouch could object to. Without a rooster, hens will still lay eggs. The rooster’s function is not to make hens lay eggs but to fertilize the eggs so they can develop into chicks. Without a rooster, you won’t be able to hatch the eggs your hens lay. Comparing Benefits and Drawbacks Raising chickens has some downsides. One is the dust they stir up, which can get pretty unpleasant if they are housed in an outbuilding where equipment is stored. Another is their propensity to scratch, which becomes a problem if they get into a bed of newly planted seedlings. Chickens also produce plenty of droppings that, if not properly managed, will smell bad and attract flies. Before you set up a chicken farm, make sure that you and your family are not allergic to chickens. You can find this out ahead of time by visiting a poultry show at your county fair or spending a few hours helping a friend or neighbor care for their chickens. If you have an allergic reaction, you will have avoided the expense and heartache of setting up a flock you immediately have to get rid of. Until you raise your own chickens, it may be hard to believe that people become attached to their chickens and have difficulty letting them go when it’s time to butcher meat birds or replace old layers with younger, more efficient hens. The only alternative, though, is to run a retirement home for chickens, which gets pretty expensive, and the birds will still get old and die eventually. You’ll have to come to grips with the loss. For many people, the upside of raising chickens far outweighs the downside: • Chickens provide wholesome eggs and meat for your family, and you can take pride in knowing that the flock that puts food on your table lives under pleasant conditions. • Raising chickens is educational. By watching chickens interact, you will learn something about how all birds live and behave. • Chickens are attractive. They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. You can find a breed that appeals to your aesthetic sensibilities. Caring for a home flock takes a few minutes each day, to provide feed and water and to collect eggs. In hot or cold weather, these jobs must be done twice daily, seven days a week. If you raise chickens for meat, the project will be finished in 2 to 3 months. If you raise hens for eggs, you must care for them year-round. As long as you keep in mind that your flock relies on you for its survival, raising chickens is a breeze.Next: Chickens: Choosing the Right Breed |