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Raising Chickens

Raising chickens is a great way to have a little slice of agriculture right in your own backyard. Chickens are relatively easy to maintain, are great at eating your kitchen scraps, produce manure that is great for your garden, and best of all, they give you fresh eggs every day. Raising chickens requires just a little bit of preparation in terms of building a coop and learning how to care for them, so take the first step on the road to owning your own chickens, check out the Instructables in this guide and start raising some chickens of your very own today.

20 comments

Feb 4, 2012. 9:36 PMThe Homestead Homeboy says:

Man, I should post a few pictures of my coop on here. It is completely from scratch with no plans, just found materials. It works great though.

May 23, 2011. 7:50 PMclance says:

I've build several chicken coops in my years. I normally use proper chicken coop plans but I substitute new materials for materials I already have laying around my house.

I've used fence palings for walls and floors and I've used a set of drawers for nesting boxes. quick and easy!

Jan 2, 2011. 11:14 AMtaquipariu says:

I raise my chicken and I love to eat their eggs.

I have no problem eating them, but I raise them to get daily eggs, since they are from a breed that give me eggs everyday. Actually I ate two of them since the start of raising, it was a delicious surprise to eat them, but the blood is very nasty and hard to clean afterwards!

Actually, have a surrounded place for them, but I prefer to keep them free, since they eat most of the insect in my yard. The problem is that they are not very clean, and they do their ugly job everywhere they want...

Apr 9, 2010. 7:24 PMcodongolev says:

that's so weird.... me and my family went to tractor supply co. because they had a sign outside saying they had chicks, and we were discussing how to raise them if we got some. then right when I get home this is on my igoogle homepage. I swear, the internet is spying on me.

Nov 23, 2010. 7:41 PMcalicos says:

Well, it obviously cares about you and wants to help. ;-)

It is weird when things like that happen!

Nov 2, 2010. 5:56 AMnagarajugajula100 says:

Growing chicken is good leisure work and eating is some what bad work

Aug 1, 2010. 9:42 AMmagic1969 says:

to crush them use a burlap bag and a hammer get the finest that you want for oyster shells

Apr 11, 2010. 9:43 AMmagic1969 says:

hi i am not too good on the pc,BUT. if you have a way to obtain oyster shells you can crush them and feed it to your chickens and it will greatly improve your birds health they will lay eggs much better and they wont peck at each other..you will not be sorry of the results.it makes for a much better healthy chicken.. It is the calcium and other things in the oyster shells.try it you will love the results.

Jul 31, 2010. 7:37 PManairuiz says:

how can you crush oysters? i can get them at the beach and my chicks will love them. what tool is used?

Jul 21, 2010. 6:29 AMShippygirl says:

My mom has given oyster shells from the feed store to her chickens before. She now has included a meal that has seaweed in it.

Apr 18, 2010. 2:07 PMthink3000 says:

They sell crushed oyster shells at local farming stores like IFA where I live and it is a daily routine to feed it to my chickens. By the way if you don't feed it to them they might have small or shelless eggs.(the ones with only the membrane like when you put them in vinegar)

Jul 21, 2010. 10:12 PMDragon Shades X says:

There's a guide for this? Cool. I guess you really can find anything on Instructables.

Jul 19, 2010. 1:01 PMStealth007 says:

I can't help it, but I have Zac Brown Band's song, "Sic 'me on a Chicken' going through my mind right now. :-)

Apr 12, 2010. 10:38 AMtyride says:

Funny, I'm looking at a guide to raise chickens, and all the instructables on the side are about cooking them.

Apr 14, 2010. 4:37 AM

bowmaster says:

They're telling you what to do with them when your done raising them.

Apr 15, 2010. 8:49 PMEnigmaMax says:

I personally don't think I could ever eat a chicken I've raised and cared about.

Apr 16, 2010. 12:25 PMtyride says:

The love makes them taste better.

Apr 16, 2010. 1:31 PM

bowmaster says:

Exactly!

Apr 15, 2010. 9:07 PM

bowmaster says:

It's meat, and not very intelligent. Eat it.

Apr 11, 2010. 12:49 PMeblisster says:

My standard poodles would love it if we had chickens in our back yard! I don't think I'd be too happy about it after they all met though.
I still remember my older dog chasing my friend's last hen zig zagging up her back yard hill into the trees, the chicken screeching furiously. Then things got really quiet.
The dog came down the hill cheerily panting. No chicken. She didn't show up until much later.
Seriously, it was like watching a cartoon. I can only imagine what he would have done if he'd caught her.
I have a feeling if I had chickens, I'd want to name them and making Lizzie Soup would make me feel kind of sad.