About seven years my wife and I debated about raising backyard chickens. Our daughter had her own backyard chicken coop and while it had only two chickens they enjoyed the whole process. The two boys named the chickens and had them sort of like pets. The chickens laid a few eggs which was an added benefit. So we thought “maybe we can do this too” We had entered a steep learning curve

For us we felt we would be tied to the home more and that’s the reason we have no pets in out early retirement. We want to be out and about without having to get back in time to feed livestock. However eventually we succumbed and now raising backyard chickens is a way of life and more than a hobby

Building the chicken coop took a little time and effort because I am not a great handy man but I read a few articles and got a few illustrations and that gave me the guidance I needed. There were several things that I could see were important and I pass the tips to you the reader

I made sure the coop was well ventilated but at the same time not subject to drafts for when the colder winter months came upon us. Chickens need good air but will suffer in the winter if they are roosting or nesting in a draft. While raising backyard chickens in open windy areas they cope well because they can strut around but in the confines of the coop cold drafts can make them ill.

I learned too that a sloping floor towards the door was important because when you want t o clean the coop you need to be able wash and hose all the mess out and gravity is important with all the flow going to the open door rather than stuck in corners of the coop.

I also made sure that the roosting timbers were in a good position and not in the way of cleaning or interfering with the nesting boxes. And the nesting boxes were not to be over big otherwise the chickens will start laying eggs all over the place.

There are lots of other tips on raising backyard chickens that I collected from all over the place. The funniest one of them was the advice to place a plastic egg in the nesting box to encourage the chickens to lay their eggs in the Backyard Boxes if they were recalcitrant enough to be laying them elsewhere. Strangely when we faced this problem it actually worked.

Best of all we now have fresh eggs most days and the taste of them is far better that the stored eggs purchased from the supermarket and we save a little money too.

Well there it is – by no means have I given you an exhaustive treatment of raising backyard chickens but rather have given you a few tips. However I invite you to visit my site for an in depth information source on raising chickens.