How do you keep chickens?

Answer 1

I'm glad you asked because having chickens, can be one of the most rewarding pets, as long as you know how to look after them. If possible, each chicken should have around 6-8 sq feet. So when building your run, you can decide how many chickens you'd be able to keep. Obviously, in your run you'll need a ground floor - for dust-bathing and scratching a roosting pole - to roost, a nest box/s - to lay and food and water supplies. Sometimes, people may get a problem with rats although underground chicken mesh didn't help me. If you get a specialist out, you will soon get rid of most of the population. Every so often, a chicken becomes broody, she will sit on the nest day after day, even if there are no eggs. This is a brilliant time to hatch out chicks! Simply get some fertilised eggs and pop them under, unless you have a cockeral. In which case she is probably already on fertile eggs. If your hens don't become broody. You can easily use an incubator. My hens feed on pellets, grass and scraps. We often let them free-range.

Answer 2

You do not need to teach a chick how to eat, eating comes naturally and even a mother hen does not teach her young how to eat. Chicks fresh from the incubator with no other chickens around instinctively know how to find and eat food provided.