Top 25 FAQs about Backyard Chickens ANSWERED | Egg Laying Hens, Baby Chick Care, Roosters, & More 

I'm 63 years old now, but I remember in my childhood my dad had a large flock of chickens that were freeranging . One day one of the hens was attacked by a hawk which was them driven off by 7 roosters acting together.

My wife and I (both in our early 60s) decided to get chickens last May (May 2022). Videos like this helped us get started. Here's a list of our current experience: *First, we love it. Never saw that coming but they are so fun. We got 7 chicks and watched them grow (very fast). The are fun to watch for sure, but also to feed (what a blast to treat them with their favorite foods) and fun to interact with and care for and talk about in our family. *We live in a subard community 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. *They are much easier to care for than we were thinking, others also say this on videos, and it is true. *We convereted one of our outdoor sheds, which we weren't using (10x10x10) into the chicken coop. We cut a chicken door for it and put roosting boards (2x4 boards) in the coop. It is a wonderful coop, giving them lots of room. *We built a 15x15 chicken run beside the coop using metal posts and chicken fensing. *Total startup cost was less than $300, which included acquiring 3 bags of pine shavings, boards, posts, red lights, food. *Our local IFA store is where we got the chicks and materials and ideas. They are a great resourse for everything we do with our chickens. *We use the deep pine shaving meathod in our coup. It is a really good method. Our coop does not stink and I easily rake through it from time to time. *We let the chickens free range in the yard for a few hours a day (except on snow days). They love it, but they poop in the yard which you need to deal with. I've decided to use a small shovel and bag each day (10 minutes each day) to clean it up along with the dog poop. I like keeping the the yard poop-free so our family feels free to roam in it; my neighbors with chickens have decided not to clean the poop in thier yard, but neither do they use thier yard for doing anything; so everyone with chickens need to decide for themselve about this matter. *We have three dogs. it took 3 to 4 weeks to train them to not attack the chickens (make sure to use a leash while trainging them). My dogs (the largest being a border collie) are totally easy going with the chickens now, whether I'm with the dogs or not. One dog actually built a playing relationship with one of the chickens. Its a blast to watch them. I can't say everyone's dogs can be trained, but my dogs do perfectly fine with the chickens. *Ongoing cost include chicken feed (perhaps $30 every 6 weeks) and an occational bag of pine shavings. *Chicken eat regular pellet feed, kitchen scraps, bugs, worms, little things hidden in the yard. *Even during this winter, my 7 chickens produce 40 eggs per week. Currently a dozen wonderful backyard chicken eggs costs me $3.42. The cheapest eggs at the store are currently $4.99/dozen. *Luckily we have no predators in our niehborhood. This was our biggest worry becuase I have friends with backyard chickens and it is not uncommon for a fox to get in the yard and kill some chickens. Becuase we don't have predators we confidently let our chickens roam the yard when we allow them. *Our chickens generally don't like the snow, so when a snow storm drops a bunch a snow, the chickens prefer to stay in the coop, but once it warms up a bit and some of the snow melts, they spend most the daytime ouside again. *We got 7 different breeds of chickens within two weeks of each other at IFA. IFA is very good at gettnig breeds that work well in the area. We love the Buff Orpington. It's our smallest chicken but lays the largest eggs. It also loves to interact with me and my wife. Our Plymoth Rock chicken also loves interacting with me and my wife. Out of 7 chickens, 2 love to be held, 2 others don't mind to be held, and three of them prefer not to be held, but I still have no problems with any of them. *They do like to cackle in the morning but that has not bothered me. *My chickens take the cold very well. A few times this winter the temp got down to 20 degrees in the coop (my coop stays 10 degrees warmer that the outside temperature) and they didn't seem to mind it. *I'm surpised at the learning experience having chickens has been. What an interesting animal I've discoverd, plus I like the easy-going chores that are now part of my daily or weekly routine. Perhaps it's simply been a new thing for us as I've entered into my 60s. Good luck if you choose to get chickens, It's been a blast for me and my wife.

So funny during the last solar eclipse all of the crickets and peepers and tree frogs woke up in my pond and started making their usual night time noise and my chickens stopped what they were doing and went back in their coop and got up in are their roosts until the eclipse was over and then came back out and really looked kind of confused 😂

We watch so many chicken videos and yours continue to teach us things none of the others have. We feel so well prepared to start homesteading from watching your videos. Super thankful.

My neighbor hated our rooster and he demanded we get rid of him.... so we now have 6.

Just got 6 chicks yesterday and I’ve been binge-watching your channel for days!! Thank you for the thorough content 🥰

We let a broody hen sit on an ice pack for a day or 2. It's worked so far!

We picked up our first 10 chicks about 4 weeks ago As a carpenter I tend to come acquire a lot of scrap lumber my partner and I were able to build our hen house and run with our only cost being chicken wire, feed, feeders and watering station aswell as the chicks. Total money invested to today is $160 I will also add that your videos are the most educational ones I’ve come across and you are very informative thank you

Totally agree that each chook (chicken) is different, their personality is unique.

We started keeping chickens in July of 2020, in the thick of the pandemic. We built our own run and coop from some plans I found online. I think it cost us around $600 dollars total to get started. I live in the city so the number of chickens we can keep is low and it doesn’t cost much. I would say I probably spend about $100 on their food, bedding, and snacks every 2-3 months. We feed them pelleted bedding, scraps from the kitchen, black soldier fly larvae, seed mix and fresh veggies from the garden on occasion. If you are thinking about getting chickens, I would say do it! I love keeping chickens and they are generally easy to keep.

One of our roosters was bullying the hens, he ripped ones comb off so we ate him, problem solved.

I was surprised when I went outside one night to put my chickens in their coop for the night and they were already all huddled up together in the coop and all I had to do was close the little door and that’s it. I had only shown them how to get in their coop at night the night before and they learned it from one night to another.

We have 3 chicks coming next month and I’m so excited! I’ve been prepping and learning for over a year now!

Those sound like some crazy spending numbers... I got my chickens just when they were starting to lay for 20€ each, and that has been my biggest cost so far xD Built the coop out of pallets and other free scraps, bought a mix of huge bags of bird feeder feed (sunflower seeds, pellets etc) from clearance when winter was over, a bag of calf fodder (I was told in the farmer store that it's essentially the same stuff with the same nutrients as chick feed) Also bought an old dog fence from my neighbour for cheap, and that's it... The 3 chickens with their feed and infrastructure have cost me about 250€ so far.

We got some chicks a few weeks ago. You’re videos have been super helpful! We love our chicks and are enjoying watching them grow. P.S. You’re hair is so pretty!

We are getting ready to retire in a year. We are building a chicken coop and raised boxes for a garden. Have 2 chicks arriving in a month. Can't wait!😊 Love your videos ❤

Thank you so much for your help! I'm a new chicken owner... my daughter always wanted to rise chick (she's10)...so far they're doing great 🤞#spoiledchick 😆

The pen / shelter I set up, for a single rooster/hen pair that I'm fostering, cost around $60-$70. With that said, it is practical and works very well, but it looks ghetto fabulous. The only thing I bought was 3 rolls of 3'x50' chicken wire and a pack of staples. It's an enclosure that's roughly 7' by 15' nestled between four tulip trees that are used as corner posts. The cross braces are out of branches cut from the same tree variety. The gate is simple and made of local bamboo. The chicken wire goes fully around and on top of the 6' tall pen, with another 18" of fence buried as a "skirt" all the way around. An old tarp is stretched across half of the top as shelter. There's an old rubbermaid bin laying on it's side with a hole cut in the lid where the hen lays. Otherwise, the duo likes roosting under the tarp on a branch that's about 3' off the ground. They seem very happy, active and the hen has been laying an egg daily since late March. 75% or more of their feed is kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, pulled weeds and bug zapper droppings. Once the pair goes back to their owner, I will take down and repurpose the fencing for elsewhere.

My daughter and I live in the suburbs and have just got three chickens and one is sick but honestly your videos have helped me heaps with alot of stuff so thank you!! 😊

I love how organized your videos are! I try to follow your style in my channel!

Love your videos! You have officially convinced me to get chickens I like in New York City and am lucky enough to have a back yard I got 3 teenage chickens should get eggs in two months or so but me and my 3 year old son love them! They are so cute and we are trying to spend as much time with them so they won’t be scared of us anymore

cost: I built my coop based on your plans (but cut in half so a 4x4 instead of 4x8) in April this year, and it cost about $700 in supplies. We’re building a 12ft run on it now which was an additional $400 in lumber, hardware (door hinges, gate latches etc) and hardware cloth. For growing out the chicks, I used a 42” wire dog crate with hardware cloth zip tied around the outside. It was like a palace for them! I have 2 salmon faverolles and 1 barred rock, 14 weeks old. Also just picked up a RIR and olive egger chick a few days ago. :) Your videos are all so immensely helpful and I’m very grateful for all of the info you’ve provided!

We have 23 Rhode Island Reds in a run type environment. They're 17 weeks and 15 weeks. Today we found our first egg. And, for the record, they are really pretty quiet. We live on 40 acres, so isn't an issue anyway. My wife and I really appreciate your videos. Thanks. Greg

Just ordered some chick keeping items off one of your other videos, going to fix up the old chicken coop on our property and get our chicks in a couple weeks. Thank you for the info!

TULLE preferably dark green (for looks), from the Internet, is how we protect our garden food from chickens. Buy bolts. They were not expensive the last time I bought it. Cut and spread pieces over rows, or surround your tomato and pepper plants.

Love your videos; I have been chicken mom for week and a half now lol have 4 leghorns that are a week and half old now; they are now becoming little Mexican jumping beans, it is crazy how active they are in just a week 😂

Started (spring 2021) with 2 Rhode Island Reds + 2 Barred Rock in a mobile A-frame coop/run (8' x 6'). Worked well and kept our startup costs to ~$500. ($400 coop/run build materials + $100 for initial food, lamp, 4 chicks, wood chips, etc.). A-frame was pretty heavy to move, and have since moved on to a stationary, but much larger and more expensive coop/run to expand to now 15 chickens. Will probably erect a larger electric fence area off 1 door to run for more free-ranging during the day. The mobile chicken tractor was good for the chickens....they loved to get to new grass/weeds. Now with a stationary coop, I often instead opt to bring the grass to the chickens...use a little electric mower with bagger and dump a load of grass/weeds on run floor. Becomes chicken food and compost later. Keeps run area smelling great, and never have to clean it out.

We just got our 6 chicks 5 weeks ago from Meyer Hatchery. They were pre-sexed laying hens 3 different breeds. Cost was $100 delivered. I Built a nice Carolina Coop style 6x12 just wood and materials was $1600, Brooder plate, feed, waterer, pen etc was $300 about so figure $2000 all in at this point. But thats just me. and I can say they have a nice home that is preditor proof. We are in Washington State (Puget Sound area) so fairly mild climate although it's been 30-35 here that last week with a bit of snow. But anyway Thanks OakAbobe for your channel. Very good information to help me get started.

Thank you for continuing to always be strait foward and sharing your experiences!! Tremendously helpful!! Thank you!!

I absolutely love this channel! We’ve now got five chickens & it’s all your fault 😂 Our laws are slightly different here (illegal to give kitchen scraps & mealy worms - anything pre-packed from that country above Aus 🤭) but we’re following all your amazing, common-sense advice & also picking up great hints & tips from the lovely comments. Today we went out to a country fair to see what chicken accessories we could buy. First job on return - hubby went to check the chickens. He came back with the biggest beaming smile ever! “We’ve not got one, two or three eggs… we’ve got four!!!!” Until today, after several weeks, we’d only had one egg from five chickens. Hubby returned to interrogate which hen hadn’t coughed up an egg but failed to obtain a confession - secretly he doesn’t care as he already loves them all - gets up at 5:30 to let them out & checks they’re all in & locked up by sundown. Got the grandkids for a week, they’re equally obsessed, so hubby will get a break but I bet he’ll still be out there supervising his girls are safe. I’m more of a dog lady (rescued/re-homed countless) but loving the interaction of those around me whom have a new passion in their lives 🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔 Thank you! ❤️

Love you Videos. I have over 100 hens - different variety and sizes, All my girls are pasture raised and when I know a hens become broody , I remove her from her nest and place her in "Chicken Jail" (Which is a covered, fenced in area 12' x 12' ) for 3 full days ( food and water furnished of course). Then I release her back into the flock and keep a close eye on her to make sure she does not have the urge to sit on a nest. If she passes the (Probation period). Success. If she returns to broody, then back to chicken jail. This has worked for me 99% of the time This also works with Bully hens only difference she is place in complete isolation from everyone. for 3 days. Take care-

I'm in the research phase, and after finding your channel yesterday, I'm binge watching. I'll be starting from scratch, with 20+ years of experience raising parrots. Just bought land in the Missouri Ozarks, and I'm building a small homestead. Thanks so much for all this useful information. I hope to get started with chicks in March.

I'm not disagreeing with you but all 4 of my buff Orpingtons are so quiet and friendly definitely a recommendation for any one watching nice looking as well🐔🐣🐤🐥🐓

Every chicken newbies like me should watch this video.

Thank you my hubby and i were going round and round over how many nest boxes, magic number 4. Thank you.

I’m a new chicken mom of 7. Thank you for your videos. 🥰

I got 5 hand me down chickens from my sister. 4 hens and 1 silkie we were told was a hen only to learn he’s a rooster but I love him so we will keep him. Start up cost was just the cost of food, snacks and an enclosure about $300 because my sister gave me the coop and litter. However, we are upgrading their coop because it’s cheaply designed and was falling apart when we got it so my husband is building one more durable and expanding their enclosure another 20 feet or so. With the expansion and new coop we are looking at another $600 rough estimates. Not bad. I got them Oct 8th 2022 and we are almost finished with the upgraded coop maybe another week and it’ll be ready

You have beautiful hair. This was very informative. Thanks for an excellent presentation

You are a natural,!! Thanks for the advice

Love your personality!! “But we love her”/quick jump cut. 🤣🤣 Just doing research right now. My hubby had chickens for pets when he was younger so want to have that experience for him again plus eggs and maybe meat (once we’ve moved of course) Thank you so much!!

I’m getting chickens for the first time this summer and I’ve really enjoyed your videos. Thank you. Looking forward to seeing more. I just wish I saw them sooner.

Really love your videos. Learning a lot. Thanks. 🐣

I got 3 Wyandotte chicks in March and I’m in love with my girls!🥰I’m in the suburbs and my neighbors are ok with it ,although I’m not sure about roosters and I won’t press my luck.Love your videos and have gained so much knowledge.Thank you!!

Great video. I'm putting our chicken checklist together. I'm very excited to finally get chickens going in our suburban area home. You're my favorite down to earth chicken info channel. Keep up the awesome work.

My buff Orpingtons are definitely not quiet lol. They like to sing the chicken song really loud when another hen is laying … pretty funny

Oak Abode has become my premier source of chicken coop information on RU-vid. I’ve been enjoying this channel. Thank you for the great content!

We had a building already, and my husband cleaned it out. So I paid 150.00 for the fencing and nails heaters and feeders. My husband wasn't thrilled with my chickens lol but he loves me and puts up with them. I have even caught him talking to them .😂

this has made me decide chickens aren't for me simply because i would be keeping them for eggs... and i don't know if i could deal with the sorrow of having to say goodbye when they stop laying. that said. you've earned a loyal viewer despite it, i will be watching your flock from a distance.

literally binge watching your videos

Wow! I loved your video. I've been thinking about getting chickens for a while and you answered most if not all of my questions and concerns. My neighbor keeps chickens 🐔 and I never hear them making any noise, so I naturally thought they were quiet 🤫. I will research breeds now. Thank you for being such an informative resource.

I have been caring for 4 hens for about 4 months, since they were chicks! My neighbor bought them and pretty much left me to care for them! I love them now, of course!! What's not to love? They come to me and I am even outside and they have plenty of roam (for now) and an amazing condo for the 4 of them! Can't wait to for him to get more! Lol. I love caring for them and keeping them safe!! Thank you for your videos! 👍🐓👍 I've really learned a lot and will continue to heed your advice!! Fyi those lash eggs are horrifying! Lol

We're getting 2 hens from a neighbor to give this a try. My neighbors on the side we're putting them are completely good with our plan although technically illegal with our HOA.

Hello from Kenosha County Wisconsin! Love your videos and hope all goes well with the house! It helps having ONE chicken person from Wisconsin on RU-vid! 😉😊

Chickens are great for CLEANING UP THE GARDEN AFTER HARVEST.

Thank you very much you are doing a great job. Your videos are very impactful to me. God bless you and keep you safe always. Afolabi from Nigeria

Super! Good information as always👍As a beginner your videos makes me calm. Me and my chicks live in a suburb to Stockholm, Sweden. 🥰

Very nice videos. Kinda funny that you need to tell people 'Consult a vet or read up online if your chicken is sick'

We just started our chicken journey about a month and a half ago. We were supposed to only get 6 tops but chicken math kicked in and we ended up with 12 total. Just finishing up their run and coop and total We are about $450 in right now but will be closer to $600 once we add on to their run. After that it should hopefully just be maintenance costs monthly/yearly (hopefully, fingers crossed that's all it is) we have a variety of different chicks but I already love them all like an extra 12 kids. Haha. I have learned so much from watching your channel and continue to keep watching and learn. Absolutely love how indepth you are with everything!!!

I have a roo that is 7 weeks old and has started to crow it is so cute and he is also trying to breed with others the same age

I’m a new chicken mother of 6… 3 barred and 3 blue Plymouth Rock chickens. I find them to be very quiet! Our neighbors didn’t even know they were in the coop til we got their run built.

If you have a bully take the bully out for a couple days. This will knock them down a bit in the pecking order. Put them back,if they restart take the bully out again for a couple more days. Keep doing it until it stops.

Thank you! Interesting!

I built a 10'x12' coop with a 10'x40' run attached to it last year. Cement block footer, treated lumber and 1/2" coated hardware cloth for the run, rough cut lumber from the local farmers sawmill for the coop. I rented a mini excavator and did all the work myself. It took me over 3 months and cost me almost $4000 to do it, but I'm really happy with it and the hens love it.

Thanks!

We used to keep chickens when I lived in Oregon. We were told that all of the chicks were hens. Nope, we got one of the 10%...LOL The way we figured it out was that the rooster foraged far more aggressively than the hens.

My project for this spring is to make a separate space for my “retired” girls. 😊 I just love them too much. I’ve got to keep them around. ❤

You can't beat copper marans Best layers and multiple uses

I got 30 pallets and was able to create a stable coop with about 20 dollars in nails and 40 in gas and 10 for hinges

I love your videos cuz I'm gettings chickens since 50 years ago. Maybe I will become an expert like you, either way keep on with your videos

Nice informative video for farners 😊😊😊

Great info, thanks. Of chicken oddities, I once had a hen who would attempt to crow, hilarious! (Pre cell phone video times) and aren't who laid a faceted egg, the shell had a series of flats converging at the ends. Never figured that one out. Sadly lost my girls to marauding weasels. Thanks again.

In WI too, started this spring and we already had a shed for coop...so cost was roughly $1000.

When I get chicken bullys I change the coop all around and most the time that has help. Or the other on is something is stressing them out like a duck or a dog. Look out for that

I have 22 and 6 nesting buckets and they use them all or the floor haha under the bucket is the favorite which I have a broody hen sitting atm

I have the same automatic door, absolutely wonderful, the chickens are always inside on time and it is super handy. The only problem we had was when we switched to summer time and we did something wrong and the chickens did not survive the night.

This is a great video thank you

About breaking broody hens, I've got one that is a serial brooder. She went broody 4 times last summer, first time I pretty much left her to it, second I tried the cage briefly, but she was so distressed and noisy I let her out, and just settled on closing nesting boxes after others had laid. Third time she got fertile eggs. Fourth I heard about locking them out in a run where they can't get to the nesting box or anywhere else good for brooding (she had her own rather large area separate from the other chickens until they had laid for the day, then allowed with the rest with nesting boxes closed off). She broke out of it after 5 days. Was mostly worried about her health rather than lack of eggs.

The employees at tractor supply are my number one call when I have a sick chicken. But my tractor supply employees all have 20 to 50 chickens each in their personal flocks.

Love the information you share because I'm New to raising chickens. I bought 8 chic's on clearance at North40 store they look like black copper Moran chick's but dono for sure. 2.00 each what I paid and normal price was 3.85

Love your videos. Thanks for doing them. We are at the very beginning so just ordered the chicks today. But so far we are out about $1200 for a large coop, indoor care and one month of food

My mum grew up on a farm.For broodie hens they would dunk there underneath in cool water (quickly).It apparently cools their system.Not sure if this works but mum said it did whenever she had to do it.

When our hens get broody I will just take the eggs away from under her. I pet her back to let her know I am there and then wait until she stands up and I take the egg. This helps me avoid being pecked lol

Thanks

I bought the grub terra with your discount holy cow our chickens go crazy for these

Your awesome,thanks for the great video

love you all

Great video. We had a Jelly egg, it felt gross, so I threw it away. Thanks for explaining this, I didn't know that was common, or what it was called.

Me and my friend run a chicken buisness you helped us with tips and tricks thanks❤️🐓

I've only been on the lower end of everything from most of my lumber was from left overs from the houses, I build! Everything else is under $500 so far! Still have to go outside in a few weeks!

We are embarking on our second chicken adventure with 21 chicks, 4 different types. We also have 5 almost full grown Ancona ducks. The prior flock succumbed to aerial predators, hawks. I may try one of those dancing floppy arm waving advertisement things to discourage aerial predators.

I had a broody hen and a whole bunch of snapping turtle eggs. She hatched 31 eggs. So weird seeing turtles in a coop

We just started our poultry flock a week ago when my mom suddenly gifted me with 6 Khaki Campbell mix ducklings. We had a half built coop, so we finished it and added a run, then I bought two Easter Egger chicks on impulse from tractor supply. I think I spent about $600 on everything and the birds were by cheapest thing by far. A lot of stuff was donated or repurposed in building the coop, but the lumber was expensive.

In 2014 we were able to do a really good chicken run, coop, and all our start up costs for around $600. Now in 2022 when we moved and started a new chicken flock (no worries about our old chickens, the people who bought our house paid extra for us to leave them there 😂) it cost us around $1500. It’s crazy how expensive things have gotten!

I am preparing to get chick's this spring. Was going to do it earlier this year but got 2 German Shepard pups, and chick's on top of that would be way too much!! 🤪 I just found your channel in search for info on chickens and wanted to say thank you so much for your detailed information.. It has been and continues to be such a great education in raising chickens from chick's to hens. We are looking for layers/meat birds. And if anyone out there has some suggestions it would be greatly appreciated!! 🙏☺️

I think a bully chicken might be best served as dinner.

It makes sense that the chickens (or other small animals) will only trust 'their dogs', but would the dogs be comfortable around other chickens (or other small animals) that are not 'theirs'?

Well I live in North Dakota it’s gets below freezing way below freezing for half the year. Like negative 20 and more

I just started on backyard chickens, we got 12 of them because they weren't sexed. I spent a little over 500.00 but I had been given an old playset that I converted into the chicken coop.

Been ordering Hello Fresh for a minute.

I spent about $200, maybe $300 dollars if you count my young hens and the first month's feed in 2020. I built a small pallet wood coop I sled around the yard so all the wood was free, just paid for hardware cloth and nails, feeder, water bucket, etc. My coop isn't pretty but it otherwise works well, it's also small, I just expanded from 3 to 5 hens in my flock, but still for budget conscious folks recycled materials can make a fine coop, the hens don't care for ascetics.