Keeping Chickens As Pets

Keeping chickens as pets has actually become quite popular these days. But if you are someone who lives in an urban area you need to check the rules and regulations with the local zonal authorities, so that you don't have any difficulties with the law in the future. There are some cities which have strict rules and regulations against it.
People usually want to keep chickens as a hobby nowadays. You can also keep a few hens, if you have children as these provide excellent sources of entertainment for them. If you keep your chickens as pets and give them a little training, they will even start to peck food out of your hand. You can even talk to them and they will listen. Often these chickens even learn to follow you wherever you go.
Moreover if you keep a chicken as a pet, your children will play with them, learn to give them food and older children will even help you raise chicks. There are various advantages to keeping chickens at home, you get a fresh supply of eggs everyday, throughout the year. A chicken will usually produce eggs for 4 to 5 years and they will live for almost 15 years!
On top of this, the chicken manure you get is full of nitrogen so you can use it as a fertilizer in growing small gardens. There are a few disadvantages to keeping chickens as pets, especially in a city. The first being lack of space. Again the manure which we have talked about needs to be utilized or else disposing it turns out to be quite a headache. There may just be some laws which won't even let you keep chickens in gardens.
But let's look on the bright side. It's very easy and simple to keep chickens, unlike other pets. You barely need a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes to play with the chickens' everyday. Now when you go for buying a chicken, make sure that you get a good breed which has all the vaccinations given.
You should also try and avoid roosters as they are impossible to take care of. They are also quite loud and very aggressive. You children can even help you with your chickens. They can feed them and change the water everyday. You can give them table scraps, wheat, corn or even soaked bread.
Another thing you could do, if you want to keep chickens as your pets, is read up books on them. Go in for some research and this will help you out a lot.
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What to Consider Before Keeping Chickens at Home

For a very long time, man has been keeping chickens at home for various reasons. Chickens are an outstanding delicacy in many communities across the continents. In spite of this fact, others keep chicken for different reasons like eggs, as pets among other reasons.

Depending on whatever reason you want to keep chicken, there are several factors to look into before venturing into chicken keeping. Although many people believe that keeping chickens simply means keeping them in a coop at night and letting them out at dawn, this is not the case since chicken need attention too. Among the most significant aspects to consider the following should be included:

Is there enough room for the chicken?
Even though they do not need much space, it is necessary to make sure you provide the little space they require. If the birds are to stay in a coop permanently with no space to roam around in your yard, then your coop should be able to give each bird about 10 square feet per hen. In cases where the birds have a free roaming area, which is the most preferred system, then your coop can allow about 2 to 4 square feet per bird.

How much time are you willing to dedicate to the birds on a daily basis?
This is an important aspect to consider bearing in mind that you may need at least a minimum of 20 minutes per day depending on the quantity of birds in your care. This time will help you in running simple daily errands like cleaning the birds' coop and giving them new feeds and water not forgetting the sweetest part of it all; collecting eggs if any.

Are you comfortable around chicken?
This question may seam so simple yet in reality the answer to these question may greatly determine your success rate at keeping chickens at home. Chickens get messy and it is important to consider this fact before getting into this exercise. If you cannot tolerate chicken droppings or the sound of a cock crowing repeatedly at dawn, then it is advisable to stay away from keeping chicken other wise you will end up leading a miserable life due to the eminent frustration that will result from having to tolerate the above mentioned factors among others.

What is the local authorities take on keeping chickens?
Depending on your residential location, it is very important to find out whether the local authority permits the keeping of chickens at individuals' backyard. You cannot afford to overlook this factor because some local authorities especially in urban centers do not allow backyard chicken rearing. Verifying this fact will help you in avoiding any conflict with the neighborhoods bylaws.

What do your neighbors think?
This factor may affect your chicken rearing venture especially if you are residing in a metropolitan neighborhood. If a simple fence separates your properties, then the activities in your garden may easily affect your neighbors. To be on the safe side, it is advisable to approach them upfront and try to gauge their opinion on your plan. If they don't mind, then you are very safe since you may even bank on their support at times. They may even assist you when you are away besides buying eggs and poultry meat from you.

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Top Tips on How to Keep Chickens

There are many stories on how to keep chickens, some of them are true and others are simply rumour. Chickens can be very easy to keep if you know the right things to do and when or how to do them. Depending on the method you are using, it is very easy to formulate a regular routine and to stick to it.

Some people like to keep chickens for their eggs or meat, others for both meat and eggs and others simply as pets. Out of all these reasons, one thing is certain; you must know how to take care of your chickens if you are to co-exist well.

If you are keeping chickens in a free-range set-up, you need to know how-to chose your flock well. It is for instance advisable to know that it will not be very safe to keep two fully-grown roosters in one coop. They are likely to fight to their death.

In addition to giving them the space they need to roam around, it is very important to observe safety precautions as you build the chicken coop. Predators like rats and mongoose or squirrels will go that extra mile especially in the night to get a good chicken meal; they will go as far as digging through the ground to get through, if you have fenced the coop.

In such cases, it is advisable to extend your fence to about 6 inches or more into the ground to keep out burrowing predators like mice so that if they try to dig through the fence, they will run into the same below the ground.

When keeping layers, the coop needs to have a good airflow and a low roost for the chickens to sleep. The bedding should be lined with wood chips and not hay, and the cleaning of the coop can be carried out on a weekly basis. The birds also need nesting boxes where they can get comfortable and lay their eggs; a single nest box should comfortably serve about four chickens.

Keeping an adequate supply of feeds in advance makes it easier, but keep an eye on the use-by-date, chickens don't like stale feed. It is crucial to ensure your birds do not come into contact with garlic or onions because their traces often end up affecting the flavour of the egg. You must also learn how to keep chickens away from possible infections, stuff like chocolate, raw potatoes and avocados are very toxic to birds, therefore need to be avoided at all costs.

Chickens enjoy table scraps and any baked items like cakes, bread, biscuits etc. Other green stuff like weeds and leaves are a good vitamin source for your birds, fresh or cracked corn is a delicacy to them not forgetting fruits like guavas, tomatoes, papaws and apples.

It is common to hear people complain of bad smells coming out of chicken coops. This happens when you leave chicken feed for too long without cleaning; you should always try to give enough feed that the chickens can consume within a few days so that it does not get stale. If it gets stale, the chicken will decline to eat it and you make losses and loose time cleaning it up. Dirty coops will also expose your birds to infections.

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