Chicken in Your Backyard

depending on where you live, you need to make sure that there are no zoning issues involved. Some residential areas will not allow you to have any sort of livestock in the backyard.

I do not have chickens (yet), but a great resource for information is http://www.backyardchickens.com/ and there is also a newer meetup group based in the NW burbs at http://www.meetup.com/The-WIllinois-Backyard-Chicken-Meet... that might also be a great resource for information for you.

We had 6 chickens in CA on a 1/4 acre house. Only hens were allowed as roosters crow (check with city planners).My hubby made them a 8 X 8 henhouse, but floorspace after nesting boxes was only 4 or 5 cubic feet. If they are too cramped, they will start cannibalism, where the head chicken pulls others feathers out and can do significant damage. Ours seemed cramped and we let them out daily- all day- they would scratch, take dust baths, and eat bugs and snails. They still feather picked though. Once it starts it's hard to stop.
They also weed your yard for free. The downside: the eat the same plants that snails would eat-they love soft leaved plants and flowers, and vegetables leaves. Shrubs or small trees just getting started can be weighed down and snapped by their weight when they try to perch in them or walk on them. Once a shrub is considerable size and width it wont be bothered, unless they start digging at the base of it. I put a 10 inch high circular cage of chicken wire around my tender new plants and pinned it in place. That worked. The other thing is they poop all over. I rinsed it off the patio at least daily. But still, you can get a wiff of it even though its sprayed off. Also chicken poo is very strong and will burn plants and lawns. the flower beds where I washed it into -the plants were failing. And the lawn was thinning and looking not so good.
Heavy breeds like Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds can't quite fly over or on top fences like slim breeds (Leghorns.) So clip wings on your chickens...but if you do, make sure there are lots of shrubs and small trees for them to run under because a hawk can swoop down and grab them up before you even saw it coming. If there is cover a chicken can usually get out of the way.
A great book I suggest you pick up BEFORE YOU OWN THE CHICKS is Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. (Amazon or Barnes and Noble). Most all the info you need to raise hens , house and keep them healthy is in there. Look at chicken coops designs (manufacturers) online and there are design requirements laid out in the book. Take note that raised wire mesh floors are hard on chicken feet, many people do it but I dont think it is good for them.
If you free range your hens, you get rich full bodied tasty eggs with deep yolks. If you don't free range, you might as well just buy store bought. It is cheaper to buy store eggs than raise chickens (due to feed costs), in my opinion. Even if you free range you still need to give them feed.
ps..we bought our chicks from Mcmurray Hatchery(look online)a good reputable source but you must buy at least 30 if i remember correctly. They were shipped to our 4H group. Your local chapter of 4Hers might add your order in with theirs if you contact them early enough.

Make sure you all wear shoes outside, in the coop, and remove those shoes before entering. No matter how careful you are, you will pick up nasty bacteria, and even hookworm, from chicken feces. I didn't believe in deworming until I saw a huge hookworm in their poo. Then I dewormed every 6 months.

chickens are great, we have two at the moment - henny and pecky - and they are great pets (we've even painted their toe nails!). if you start out with chicks you will need a fairly large cardboard box with straw, a small feeder dish, a small water dish, and a warming lamp for them. we used a long neck bendable LED light. without the extra warmth they will get sick and die. they will need to live indoors during the box period. once they have all their feathers or it is warm outside at night they can be moved into their permanent house outdoors. if you plan on letting them just have the run of the backyard be warned - they are poopy little critters and will get onto and into everything. we had two die a few years back when we used to let them roam - they went behind some boards leaning against the garage and couldnt get out. we found them by the smell. it was terrible. anyways, we have a coop for them that my husband built out of wood we had laying around and inside the coop they have a small elevated house filled with straw to nest and lay in and sit on top of. the coop is not quite tall enough to stand up in and is chicken wired all the way around, even the bottom, so other critters cant get in. for us thats dogs, bobcats, raccoons. we also have boards over the top of the coop so they dont get rained on and so the bobcats dont crash thru the chicken wired roof when they stand on the coop roof!!! we keep straw on the coop floor in the winter so it's not so muddy. baby chicks eat chick starter, then lay pellets or dual purpose feed with hen scratch mixed in and oyster shell when they are getting old enough to lay. do you have a feed store near you? go talk to them, they can give you all kinds of ideas. since you live back east, they will stop laying when they dont get enough sun then start back up when the days get longer. keep fresh water available. boy this is getting long!! it sounds a lot more complicated than it is. the major part is building a nice coop. we get two eggs a day and end up giving eggs to our neighbors. different chickens lay different colored eggs also. your best bet is the local feed store. good luck and enjoy your eggs!!

You might take a look at this blog and around the rest of Deborah's website. http://antiquityoaks.blogspot.com/ She has a farm and she is a very nice lady and might be able to answer some of your questions regarding care of chickens, etc.

mypetchicken.com has great advice and you can order small amounts.

i built my own coop for very cheap from an old coffee table and chicken wire and some wood i had lying around.

my friend grew up with chickens and had a problem with rats coming to eat the eggs. she also said the poop was unbearable. good luck!

check with your local city council laws - lots of cities make it illegal to do this

Hi. I have a business that helps you establish a backyard chicken flock, www.thebackyardfarm.com. I have been keeping chickens for about five years now. Love it.
Ran a mamapedia sweet deal in Atlanta about a month ago. My email is on the website. Feel free to contact me with any questions.