So you ’re finally necessitate the plunge and joining the ranks of volaille owners across America . Congratulations ! keep a microflock of Gallus gallus will land a slap-up deal of enjoyment , amusement and expiation to your spirit , in addition to those scrumptious fresh eggs .
maintain chickens is not without its negatives , however . And new poultry owners from time to time find themselves blindsided by forking they were unaware they would meet . Make indisputable you infix the populace of deal ownership with optic wide open by giving these four head your full retainer .
Can You Handle the Inconveniences to Your Schedule?
Owning a backyard flock involves a major restructuring of your — and your family’s — schedule . bury sleeping in or spending a easy morning in bed , checking the tidings or reading your notifications . Your morning priority must be releasing your chickens from their coop .
They do n’t call for to be lease out at daybreak — especially since predatory animal are still malinger around at that hr . But your birds should be released before mid cockcrow to render them with the daylight vulnerability necessary for egg production and to keep the stress and minus behavior that come in from being confine with modified blank .
It does n’t count if it ’s pour rainfall , if it ’s blizzarding or if it ’s 0 degrees F out . You still require to open up the coop and get the chicken adjudicate if they desire to come out or not .
close down up at night can be more riotous to your schedule than the good morning dismissal , since the distance of day change throughout the time of year . It ’s not so tough during the summer , when sunset come around 9 post meridiem You ’ll just have to cut poor outings to evening ball biz and concert and opt for the tardy showings at movie theaters .
As the days grow shorter , however , time direction becomes much more challenging . This is especially true if you exploit a 9 - to-5 caper outside the home , as it will already be coloured when you leave body of work .
If your children have afternoon or evening body process , you ’ll postulate to recover a agency to shut up your birds up before attending their game or school day plays . And yes , you ’ll need to have your friends and category know that no , 6 p.m. is not a good time to meet for dinner because that ’s around when you have to lock up the flock .
Just this retiring Thanksgiving , I had to explain that a 4 p.m. dinner time would n’t work for us because sundown was just past 5 p.m. and we ’d have to leave behind dinner so as to lock up our chickens .
you could press your luck and return home to shut away up your chicken after twilight . But I ’ll insure you ’ll make that mistake only once . There are merely too many climb , digging , jump and swoop up predators around — even in the suburbia — to risk your mickle ’s slaughter .
Even if you work from home , you’re able to not allow yourself to get too caught up in a task or activity that you escape whorl - up times . I made this mistake once . I was fully in author mode , work on an clause — and went outside just as the sun was setting … and just as a Cooper ’s Hawk swooped down on my dear Silkie hen , Natalya .
My screaming frighten away off the hawk , but Natalya was mortally injured and choke in my arms . Nothing — not work , household labor , phone calls , a dear book — comes before ignition lock - up .
And then there ’s vacation . Unlike dogs or African tea , you ca n’t wreak your hatful to a doghouse . You ’ll either have to hire an animate being sitter or discipline a trusted friend or comparative to give care for your chickens while you ’re away … and you ’ll have to impress upon them the importance of release and curl - up times .
My home has not gone on a holiday together in almost a X because one of the six of us always has to stay behind and take care of our animal . We just do n’t experience it ’s right to impose on our friends for the duration of clip a vacation lasts .
In light , when you own chickens , your crybaby order your schedule . If you find this difficult to accept , you may wish to reconsider keep a deal .
Read more : robotic henhouse door bring flexibility to Gallus gallus - keeping .
Can You Provide for Your Birds’ Well-Being?
It ’s not enough to let your bird out in the dawn and shut away them up at Nox . elevate chickens involves maintain them levelheaded and look out out for their safety and well - being .
This can imply tramp out to your coop several meter a day in sub - freezing conditions , hauling 5 - congius buckets of affectionate water to thaw out and refill frozen waterers . It can mean setting up misting hose in 100 - degree F temperatures to relieve your panting hens . It can mean running in a torrential electric storm , test to round off up fowl who did n’t have enough sense to essay shelter inside their coop .
It most definitely means hit around with a flashlight in total darkness , trust to locate that one adventuresome chicken who did n’t make it back in before sunset .
Keeping your birds healthy also involves on a regular basis pick out their coop , routinely providing them with fresh bedding , and thoroughly scour the waterers and feeders , which can get rather nasty if left unsanitized for too long .
You ’ll also need to be willing to dispose of entire sack of feed if they ’ve get going musty or if the sacque show signs of rodent taint or insect infestation . It may seem like a dissipation of money and may ask daunt out to your nearest feed store for more . But extend your flock spoiled or begrime feedcan have severe consequences for your bird .
If any of these project seems utmost , you may not be ready to take on keeping a chicken flock .
Can You Manage the Emotional Aspect of Flock Ownership?
Chicken owner often divvy up funny pic or amusing stories about their chickens on societal medium . It ’s often these heartwarming post that make us long for a flock of our own .
What rarely gets mentioned , however , are the negative emotion we know as poultry steward .
gall is common . Having to alter our lives , our act and our docket for be up early for going and at place for curl up can be very frustrating and can quickly sour the total chicken - keeping experience .
Stress is also often experient . I have it away of several backyard flock owners who rehomed their hens because the emphasis of dashing home from work every evening , hoping to find their wimp alive , was just too much for them to handle .
Many of us become very emotionally attached to our wimp . They ’re not just egg stratum . They ’re our dearie and companions .
The heartbreak of misplace one of our cherished birds — to predators , combat injury , accident or other reason — can be overwhelming . If you are not at a expert place with your own mental and worked up well - being , now may not be the time to introduce chicken to your life .
Can You Tackle the Foul Side of Fowl Keeping?
It goes without saying that raise chickens is far from being a squeaky - neat hobby . Dealing with our pile ’s faecal matter is fairly much a day-to-day happening … and that ’s the easy stuff . A undecomposed number of domestic fowl steward also have to dispense with worms ( both in those muck and in the snort themselves ) , poultry lice , mites and other parasites .
If any of our bird ’ tail are coated with diarrhea , especially that have by coccidiosis , we have to cautiously bathe them to remove the stuck - on excreta . There ’s also the veritable removal and administration of soiled coop litter , which can be stale , soggy , ammoniated2 and in various stages of decomposition .
For me , the most unpleasant part of poulet guardianship is without a dubiousness administer with the remains of what were our feather supporter after a predatory attack . This can be very gruesome , depending on the predator .
Raccoon cleanup are the worst , since those carnivores rive unfold the pharynx and trunk to feast , leave behind the wimp ’s shredded corpse behind once they ’ve rust their filling . If the kill occur inside the hencoop , there ’s a good opening you ’ll also postulate to scrub blood and gore off the flooring and wall .
If handling blood and the skinny ( and worsened ) makes you squeamish or queasy , you might want to consider a dissimilar prospect of hobby farming , such as container horticulture , rather than subject yourself to daily round of woozy sickness while caring for your backyard heap .
