In this article you will find a lot of useful information and practical tips on summer and winter keeping chickens in the country, and you will also learn how to properly equip a room for raising birds.

Chicken breeding is one of the simplest and most profitable branches of agriculture. By following certain maintenance rules, you can get not only chicken eggs, but also high-quality dietary meat.

To create optimal conditions for breeding chickens, it is necessary to take into account not only the physiology of the birds, but also the direction of productivity. First of all, you need to choose the right breed.

Note: If you plan to breed chickens for meat, you should choose meat breeds, and for eggs, egg breeds. However, for homestead farms it is better to give preference to meat and egg breeds of chickens that have high egg production, but are also suitable for producing dietary meat with high taste.

To breed chickens you need to create such conditions:

• Premises: The poultry house in which the birds will be kept is built from any materials (wood, brick, concrete), but the building must be insulated, lighting and heating installed. This will help maintain egg production in winter.
• Equipment: Feeders and drinkers are installed inside the poultry house, as well as perches and nests for laying hens.
• Stern: in the summer, the birds have enough green food, which they receive while walking. Such feeds can be supplemented with grain or wet mash. In winter, the chickens' diet should be more saturated and include feed rich in vitamins, protein and carbohydrates. For this purpose, silage, hay and grass flour, mineral supplements (crushed shells, chalk and limestone) and special vitamins for laying hens are used.

Figure 1. Scheme of construction and internal arrangement of the poultry house

An important condition for raising chickens is the availability of a free range. This is a fenced area where chickens can move freely. Being outdoors prevents excessive obesity and helps birds accumulate vitamin D.

Poultry house and range

When planning to raise chickens at home, you need to create optimal conditions for their maintenance. First of all, a poultry house is equipped, the size of which must correspond to the number of individuals on the farm. The optimal ceiling height is no more than 180 centimeters, since in winter it is more difficult to heat a large room. Figures 1 and 2 show detailed diagrams of the construction of a chicken coop indicating the main dimensions of the room. Based on this drawing, you can easily create a poultry house in your homestead. In addition, the drawing will help to correctly distribute the internal space of the poultry house and rationally place all the necessary equipment.

• Building made of wood and insulated;
• Floors made of wood, concrete or adobe. Concrete floors are considered the least acceptable, as they contribute to the spread of dampness;
• Supply and exhaust ventilation using vents or pipes with plugs;
• Window area corresponds to 10 percent of the floor area;
• Window frames made double and removable for natural ventilation in summer;
• Near the poultry house equip a closed yard for walking birds. To protect chickens from attacks by ferrets or birds of prey, it is better to make a walking yard under a canopy or trees, and there should be no holes in the fence;
• Floor inside the poultry house must be covered with bedding (chopped straw, hay, sawdust, peat, dry leaves). The presence of bedding helps maintain temperature and prevent the proliferation of pathogens.

Figure 2. Drawing of a poultry house for 10 birds

It is worth noting that it is better to prepare the litter in advance and store it in a dry place so that the raw materials do not become damp and moldy.

For a comfortable stay for chickens inside the house, it is necessary to equip perches. To make them, wooden blocks or poles are used. Perches are made close to windows, but away from drafts. For more convenient collection of droppings, it is better to install lifting perches that are attached to the walls.

Note: To provide laying hens with convenient places for laying eggs, nests are built in secluded areas of the poultry house (one for 5-6 birds). They are made from ordinary wooden boxes, inside which chopped straw, hay or wood shavings are placed. The litter is changed periodically when it becomes contaminated with droppings.

At the end of summer or beginning of autumn, the poultry house must be disinfected, dried, sprinkled with lime and covered with fresh litter. When it is necessary to change the litter, the old layer is simply fluffed up a little and sprinkled with a new one. Since most of the droppings accumulate under perches, it is necessary to install metal trays underneath them for easy collection of droppings. For a comfortable stay, there should be no more than five chickens of egg breeds and no more than four meat breeds per square meter of bedding.

Temperature and ventilation

The temperature regime directly depends on the height of the ceilings in the room. The recommended value is 1.8 meters. If the ceiling is lower, it will be difficult to ensure the flow of fresh air, and if it is higher, it will be difficult to warm the room in winter.

The optimal temperature is considered to be between 23-25 ​​degrees in summer and 15 in winter. In the warm season, windows are opened to maintain the desired regime, and for the cold season, the poultry house is insulated and heating devices are installed.

Figure 3. Scheme of supply and exhaust ventilation in the poultry house

The temperature regime is inextricably linked with ventilation. For small poultry houses, a few vents will be enough, but it is still better to equip a supply and exhaust ventilation system. This will make it easier for you to control the intensity of the fresh air flow. To do this, make two holes in the roof of the room and insert pipes of the same diameter into it, bringing their upper ends out. In this case, the supply pipe must be located below the exhaust pipe so that warm air from the inside of the room can freely escape outside (Figure 3).

Setting up a chicken coop

It is important not only to build a high-quality poultry house, but also to properly equip it inside. First of all, you need to make a high-quality floor covering so that the birds do not suffer from cold and humidity.

Necessary poultry house equipment includes:

• Feeders should not only be spacious (Figure 4) so ​​that all birds have enough food, but also safe and easy to care for (so that they can be easily washed and disinfected if necessary);
• Additional small feeders for mineral feed, gravel and clean water;
• A box for taking ash baths, which is installed in one of the corners of the room;
• The walking area is equipped with special feeders for feeding green feed.

Figure 4. Drawing for self-production of various types of feeders

If housing space is limited, chickens can be placed in cages or on mesh floors. This greatly facilitates maintenance, reduces feed consumption and increases productivity.

Lighting mode also plays an important role in ensuring productivity. Birds need enough light, but if the daylight hours are too long, egg production decreases. The author of the video will tell you everything about keeping chickens at home for beginners.

The easiest way to get acquainted with the features of raising chickens in a summer cottage is to watch a video. If you plan to keep laying hens at home, you need to take care of arranging the poultry house. This is relevant not only for the cold season, but also for the summer, since chickens need rooms to shelter from rain and sleep. We bring to your attention a video that shows in detail all the key points of keeping laying hens at home.

Keeping laying hens at home

It can be difficult for beginners to decide how best to keep domestic chickens - in cages or free-range (poultry house floor). In fact, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so we recommend that you familiarize yourself with each of them and choose the one that suits you.

Floor

In this case, the birds can move freely around the house, the floor of which is covered with deep litter made of loose materials with low thermal conductivity. This method has an undeniable advantage: chickens can move freely, which has a positive effect on their health and egg production (Figure 5).

Note: But it should be taken into account that the consumption of bedding materials will be quite large. The coating layer must be at least 15 cm, and if many individuals are raised on the farm, such maintenance will be unprofitable from a financial point of view.

Figure 5. Raising laying hens on deep litter

At the same time, the use of deep litter makes caring for birds much easier. The material is placed before the chickens are introduced into the house and is not removed until slaughter. In addition, suitable bedding materials are not expensive. For this purpose, you can use ordinary straw, sawdust, wood shavings or peat. You can add some grain waste. Then the chickens will independently rummage through the litter and fluff it up, preventing the formation of crusts and the development of harmful microorganisms.

Cellular

This breeding is practiced on large poultry farms that specialize in selling eggs. At home, this method is rarely practiced, since it requires the purchase or manufacture of special cages, as well as feeders and drinkers (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Drawing and photo of cages for breeding laying hens

The advantage of the method can be considered a fairly high egg production and rapid gain of live weight. Since the birds move much less, the fattening time for meat can be significantly reduced. But it should be taken into account that cellular maintenance entails increased consumption of feed and nutritional supplements.

On the mesh floor

This method of maintenance is great for households for several reasons. Firstly, it allows you to double the number of livestock: if on a regular bedding per square meter of floor area you can keep no more than 5 heads, then on a mesh floor this number increases to 10-12 individuals (Figure 7).

Secondly, this method greatly facilitates caring for birds. The mesh laid on the floor is located at some distance from a special metal tray. For cleaning, it is enough to remove it and clean it of waste products. In addition to maintaining cleanliness in the poultry house, this helps prevent the spread of certain dangerous diseases.

Figure 7. Arrangement of mesh floors in the poultry house

To make a poultry house with mesh floors, you first need to make wooden frames measuring 1.5 * 2 meters. Under the frame, at a distance of 30 cm, small transverse strips are attached, on which the mesh located on top will rest. It is better to use galvanized mesh with a cell size of up to 3.5 cm.

Raising chickens in the summer is not difficult, especially if there is free space for walking on the site. In the warm season, birds will independently look for food and eat greens or insects in the garden, but this does not mean that they can be left unattended.

Care

The basis of bird care is the arrangement of the poultry house and run. If you don't want to let your chickens into the garden, you can fence off a small area in your yard. It is desirable that it have a ground cover and at least some vegetation. This way the chickens will be able to search for food on their own (Figure 8).

The poultry house can be light, for example, made of boards. But inside it is necessary to equip perches and nests, as well as feeders and drinking bowls. Otherwise, there are no special requirements for summer care, with the exception of feeding if you want to get a lot of eggs from laying hens.

Feeding

Despite the fact that birds can search for food on their own, they need to be given other fortified foods to increase egg production and gain weight.

Figure 8. Features of summer bird breeding

For example, the basis of the diet can be wheat, which contains a lot of protein. It can be supplemented with barley, which improves the quality of meat, or corn (has a positive effect on egg production). In addition, you can feed any green and juicy food that is on the farm: young nettles, chopped sugar beets, vegetables and tops. Also, do not forget about mineral supplements: crushed shells or chalk should be placed in special containers while walking.

In winter, raising chickens in the country is much more difficult than in summer. Several factors are at play: limited food supply, short daylight hours and low ambient temperature (Figure 9).

Despite the fact that chickens normally tolerate a decrease in temperature, in winter their egg production is significantly reduced.

To prevent this from happening, you need to properly maintain the bird in winter:

• The housing area must be insulated, and the chickens are kept on deep bedding. A greenhouse equipped with a supply and exhaust ventilation system can be used as a storage room.
• Feeders and drinkers are deepened into the litter so that water and food are at room temperature. Simple and convenient options for making homemade feeders and drinkers are shown in Figures 10 and 11.
• In winter, the duration of daylight is extended artificially by turning on lamps.

Figure 9. Raising laying hens in the cold season

Since winter growing has several important features, let’s look at the key points of this process in more detail.

Care

The most important thing is to provide the chickens with a warm room, since to maintain egg production the temperature should not fall below 15 degrees.

Figure 10. Homemade feeders from scrap materials

To do this, you can carry out external insulation of the poultry house or install heating devices inside. You should also take care of the bedding. First, the floor is sprinkled with slaked lime for disinfection, and then covered with a layer of straw or sawdust about 15 cm thick. As it gets dirty, the litter is not removed, but only fresh layers are added, gradually increasing the thickness to 25 cm.

Note: A prerequisite is the presence of ventilation, since fumes from bird waste products will pollute the air and can cause diseases in the livestock. The best option is supply and exhaust ventilation, which will provide a uniform flow of fresh air without reducing the temperature.

The length of daylight hours also plays an important role. To preserve egg production, it must be at least 12 hours, so you must hang several lamps in the poultry house for additional lighting.

Feeding

Another factor that influences the success of winter raising of laying hens is the correct composition of the diet. Traditionally, chickens are fed three times a day. In the morning, they give you wet mash, to which, if desired, you can add special vitamins to increase productivity.

Note: The mash must be crumbly, since the sticky mass clogs the nasal passages of birds.

During the day, you can provide roughage with mineral supplements (crushed shells, lime or chalk), and it is advisable to provide separate feeders for each type of food. You can also provide chopped vegetables and root vegetables fresh.

Figure 11. Types of homemade drinking bowls for chickens

In the evening, the chickens are given whole grain: this way the birds will be full until the morning, and the type of crop should be changed daily (wheat on the first day, barley on the second, corn on the third, and so on).

If you have a greenhouse on your property that is not used in winter, it can easily be converted to keeping chickens. Such a room is easy to heat, and the temperature inside is kept at a stable level (Figure 12).

Figure 12. Raising chickens in an old greenhouse

The only difficulty that may arise is ventilation. The influx of fresh air should be gradual, and to prevent the chickens from getting sick, drafts should not be allowed to occur.

Otherwise, the equipment of the greenhouse is no different from the arrangement of the poultry house. You need to install perches and nests in it, put feeders and drinkers, and cover the floor with a layer of bedding.

Maintenance in the winter at the dacha

Beginning poultry farmers often have questions regarding winter breeding of chickens. In the video below you can find answers to questions about the arrangement of the premises and the feeding schedule for birds during the cold season.

Unusual keeping of laying hens

In some cases, it is allowed to keep laying hens in winter on the balconies of ordinary city apartments. Externally, the device for keeping birds resembles a cabinet, inside of which there are perches and nests.

Additionally, it is necessary to make feeders, the volume of which will allow the birds to eat all the food within half an hour. To provide the required level of heat, electricity is supplied to the cabinet.

Under such conditions, feeding occurs twice a day. Any kitchen waste is suitable for this: vegetable peels (peeled from rot and boiled), cabbage leaves, raw carrots. You can also feed meat and fish waste, eggshells, leftover flour or cereal. The mineral supplement is shell rock, which is crushed in a meat grinder and added to wet mash. Separately, small jars with gravel or coarse sand should be installed.

In these conditions, the main thing is to comply with all sanitary and hygienic standards. First of all, it is necessary to clean the closet of bird droppings daily, and once a week to disinfect it and change the litter. For such maintenance, it is recommended to select calm laying hens that will not disturb the neighbors. You will learn practical recommendations for making compact and convenient cages for keeping chickens on the balcony of a city apartment in the video below.

If a household has kept chickens for more than a year, then some of them can serve as brood hens, which hatch eggs and replenish the flock with young animals.

Chickens are also hatched using small household incubators. Most often, owners purchase day-old chicks at poultry markets or at industrial hatcheries. When buying young animals, you need to make sure that they are chickens of the egg-laying breed.

Now the most famous are, and.

In the life of little chickens there are three very important periods for their further development:

• first eight weeks (0-8);
• next five weeks (8-13);
• age from thirteenth to twentieth weeks (13-20).

In the first stage, the chicken develops enzyme, immune and cardiovascular systems, internal organs, bone and muscle tissue grows, the skeleton and plumage are formed.

In the next period, adipose tissue grows on the developed skeleton, ligaments and tendons develop. The third period is characterized by rapid development of the entire body and reproductive system. The whole body is undergoing a restructuring.

Each period in a chicken’s life is important in its own way, but special attention should be paid to the first weeks: compliance with the temperature regime, feeding ration, degree of illumination, protection from drafts, and so on.

When forming the future population of laying hens, one should adhere to the principle of herd homogeneity, when all hens have approximately the same height and weight. Weak chickens are pushed away from the feeder and pecked at every opportunity. As a result, such individuals are stunted, get sick, and then die.

Raising young animals with a hen

The mother hen not only warms the chickens, but also accustoms them to food.

At the beginning of hatching, dried babies must be taken from the nest.

This needs to be done for several reasons.:

• the hen can crush the chicken with her feet or squeeze it between the eggs;
• the chick may fall out of the nest.

In both cases, the hen will worry and may leave the nest prematurely. The chicks hatched from the eggs are placed in a box on soft bedding and transferred to another warm room so that they do not disturb the hen with their squeaks.

The shells of the eggs are also removed from the nest. The last 2-3 chicks are left in the nest, allowed to dry thoroughly, then the entire brood is carefully placed with them.

If the hatch is not of very high quality, and there are few chickens, you can add chickens purchased at the market or hatched in an incubator.

Moreover, the hatchery young are planted together with those hatched at the same time, since later the chicken will be able to distinguish between “friends” and “strangers” and will begin to peck at the strangers. Up to 20-25 babies can be allowed under a medium-sized chicken.

The hen with the chicks should be in a dry, warm and bright room. Food and water must be kept fresh at all times. From the first days, chickens are fed with crushed hard-boiled eggs and dry millet.

It is better to make a feeder with a soft bottom, since the beaks of small chickens are delicate and can be injured on a rough bottom. Experienced housewives sometimes tie a hen by the leg to a long soft rope.

The length of this rope should be such that the chicken can easily reach the drinking bowl, but cannot turn it over. Chicken is like a weed bird loves to rake everything with his feet in constant search for food, therefore, both feeders and drinking bowls can get under the rowing paws.

Raising chickens under a hen eliminates many problems:

• no need to worry about additional heating of young animals;
• the chicken independently accustoms the babies to feed by making a sound call and tapping its beak on the bottom of the feeder;
• the hen warns the chicks about danger and protects them.

Without a hen

A warm and bright room is prepared for day-old chicks.

The temperature in such a room must be maintained to 25-28 degrees Celsius. The first feeding of the young is carried out on soft bedding so that they do not injure the delicate beaks.

The food is scattered and then tapped with a finger, imitating the beak of a hen. The chickens react to the knocking and try to peck themselves.

Feeders and drinking bowls with water are installed nearby. When the chicken learns to peck food, it will also look for it in the feeder.

Feeders are made in such a way that young animals can only put their heads in there and not climb with their legs. Otherwise, the food will constantly become dirty and then scattered all over the floor. Nowadays there are a wide variety of poultry drinkers on the market.

But a novice poultry farmer can initially use a time-tested device consisting of a saucer and a glass. Fresh water is poured into a regular glass, covered with a saucer on top and carefully turned over.

Place a pair of matches on opposite sides under the edges of the glass, having previously broken off the sulfur heads. The water in the saucer will remain constantly at the same level until the glass is empty.

Such drinkers are convenient only in the first week of the chickens’ life, until they learn to fly onto a glass and turn it over. Then you need to install more stable drinking bowls.

To create a comfortable microclimate, install a lamp under which the chickens like to warm up. If the room is not warm enough, the young animals huddle together and climb on top of each other.

There is a danger of suffocation and death of chickens. At a comfortable temperature, babies move actively or sleep separately from each other.

Building a chicken coop

The grown-up young animals are transferred to a chicken coop specially prepared for these purposes.

If this is an old, previously used building, then repair work needs to be carried out there. The walls and ceiling must be whitewashed with lime to disinfect them.

Perches and nests for laying eggs should also be treated. If there is old bedding, it must be removed completely, the floor should be thoroughly treated and new bedding material should be laid.

When building a new chicken coop, you need to take into account some requirements:

• the distance from a residential building must be at least 10 meters;
• the construction site should not be located in a lowland and flooded with flood waters;
• with the chicken coop, it is necessary to provide a walking area, preferably with large trees growing on it that create natural shade;
• If there are no trees on the walking area, then you need to build a canopy to protect from the sun and precipitation.

The size of the chicken coop is determined based on 3-4 chickens per square meter. The material for construction is chosen according to financial capabilities and established traditions in the area.

It could be brick, wood, stone. Sometimes the walls are made of slag concrete. In any case, they should be warm, not freeze in the winter and not warm up in the hot summer.

The chicken coop must have:

• a window in any wall except those facing north;
• perches;
• nests for laying eggs;
• manhole - exit to the walking area;
• place for feeders and drinkers and sand baths;
• lighting.

Perches are made from poles or wooden planks cleared of bark. Wooden perches should be smoothly planed so that the chickens do not injure their legs.

If poles are used for perches, they should be thick enough so that they do not bend under the weight of the chickens, and also so that the paws grip them tightly and do not slip. The distance between the slats must be at least 0.5 meters so that the droppings of chickens sitting above do not fall on the ones below.

For timely and convenient removal of droppings in the chicken coop It is advisable to make perches on canopies so that they can be raised during cleaning.

Nests for eggs are placed in the least lit place. The number of nests is determined at the rate: one nest for 4-5 laying hens. It is advisable to make the entrance doors with a vestibule so that cold air in winter does not immediately enter the chicken coop.

The doors are hung at a distance of at least 20 centimeters from the floor: this allows you to open them without fear of crushing the chickens in the room. The hole is made at floor level, but not opposite the front door, so as not to create a draft.

The exit to the walking area must be equipped with a door that will be closed at night and during the cold season.

Do you need a rooster?

If the purpose of keeping laying hens is only to obtain fresh eggs and chicken meat, then a rooster is not necessary in the chicken flock.

But we must take into account that the resulting eggs will be unfertilized and unsuitable for incubation and hatching. And a chicken coop without a loud rooster crow is not a chicken coop. In order to have your own eggs for further renewal of laying hens, there must be a rooster on the farm.

Usually, one rooster is enough for 10-15 chickens. If there are more laying hens, then one rooster is not enough. This is where difficulties arise.

The fact is that males do not tolerate rivals in their chicken harem; constant skirmishes and fights arise between them. This has a negative impact on the chickens. It is advisable for the fighters to live in separate enclosures, each with their own chickens.

Have a separate house and a plot of land with it and buy chicken eggs in the store? Or put in a minimum of effort and get your own laying hens? Everyone chooses for themselves.

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How to breed and raise chickens at home if you are a beginner farmer? First of all, you need to decide on the maintenance period: only for the summer period or all year round. Based on the designated period, the chicken coop should be equipped. For summer maintenance, a light shelter and an equipped walking area are sufficient. In winter, chickens need an insulated barn with a good ventilation system.

The optimal room for breeding is a small barn in the garden and a yard next to it. Inside the house should have perches for overnight roosting, as well as feeders and drinkers. Perches should be made from smooth poles at the rate of a quarter of a meter per head.

If you keep birds for the purpose of obtaining eggs, be sure to arrange nests (preferably from natural materials - straw). Nests should be located in dark corners.

A mandatory step is high-quality poultry house equipment:

1. The room must have a pitched roof, block (wooden) walls and a clean ceiling.
2. It is important to pay attention to the location and size of the windows - dimensions 25 by 30 cm at a distance of 0.3 m from the floor.
3. Bird holes should not be large. Their optimal shape is a square of 30 by 30 cm.

The requirements for a walking pen are space and a high fence. The final area should be determined at the rate of 0.7 sq.m. for 1 individual. The soil should be sloping and there must be a slope for water to drain.

The temperature in the chicken coop must not drop below zero. The room must meet sanitary standards, be light, dry and warm (the egg production and growth of chickens depend on these parameters). It is recommended to install a bath of ash and sand in the chicken coop to naturally cleanse the chickens.

ATTENTION! When kept in cages, birds gain weight and develop faster. There should not be more than 6 heads in one cage. Special requirements are put forward for the arrangement of feeders.

They should have 3 compartments:

• for dry food;
• vitamin supplements;
• wet mash.

What breeds and how to buy?

First, novice farmers should decide for what purpose they are growing. In poultry farming there are 3 main groups of breeds:

They also distinguish the fighting breed and ornamental chickens. Such individuals require warm chicken coops (due to weak plumage) and balanced food. It is not economically profitable to breed representatives of both breeds. They are practically never found on private farmsteads.

IMPORTANT! It is advisable to buy chickens at poultry markets or poultry farms. When choosing, it is important to look at the appearance and activity of the chicken.

Raising chickens

Instructions for Beginners

For normal development and preservation of productive qualities, it is important to form a balanced diet. Chickens must receive mixed feed. It contains 65% protein and protein supplements, which is important for maintaining health.

Feeding

A lack of vitamins and minerals affects egg production and leads to poor overall health. In such a situation, the chicken cannot provide maximum performance. In order for the diet to help grow healthy individuals and enhance productive properties, you need to saturate it with the following components, such as:

REFERENCE! Some farmers advise adding crushed eggshells to food. This advice is erroneous, as chickens can begin to obtain the supplement on their own by destroying their own eggs.

Reproduction

The main requirement for home breeding is the presence of a rooster (1 per 14-16 hens). When selecting a hen, you should take into account her health and egg production. How many eggs should be placed under a chicken depends on the time of year and the size of the bird. The optimal number is 10-15 pieces. Regardless of the breeding option (natural way or incubator), eggs must undergo careful selection:

When breeding in an incubator, you need to write the date of laying on the shell. Hatching begins at 20 days. Broken shells must be removed immediately. After all the babies have been born, the nest is cleaned and covered with straw (sawdust).

Diseases: diagnosis and treatment

Even under good hygienic conditions, infection can occur through contact with other birds (pigeons) or rodents. Sick individuals are immediately noticeable. They are apathetic, sit ruffled, and lose their appetite. A sick chicken should be immediately removed from the population. The list of common diseases includes the following:

Other problems

Frequently asked questions include why birds peck each other. There may be several explanations:

• the hen drives the hens away from the nest;
• young animals were added to the old individuals;
• The house is too small.

Any of the presented phenomena is temporary. It can be solved by expanding the size of the chicken coop (or selective slaughter). The hen needs to be moved into a separate cage.

Do chickens molt? Yes, birds renew their plumage in late autumn or early winter. During this period, individuals look sick, but molting is safe for health.

What causes poor appetite? The list of causes of illness includes stress or temperature changes.

Breeding chickens at home is an interesting and cost-effective process. By adhering to the basic rules of maintenance and care, you can raise healthy offspring and provide yourself with healthy meat and eggs all year round.

Useful video

Watch a video about breeding laying hens.

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A home farm can be very profitable if you provide proper care for laying hens. At the same time, breeding laying hens at home or in the country has a number of nuances. Therefore, you should first study everything about keeping birds. And if you raise chickens correctly, this business can be quite profitable.

Creating the right conditions

The peculiarity of laying hens is that they have an increased egg production. And if you know how to keep chickens, creating all the conditions for them, one individual can produce up to 200 eggs per year. Particular attention should be paid to the equipment of the room and the feeding of laying hens at home (a video or photo of the process will help to better study it).

Before you start raising laying hens at home, you should properly equip the premises. Breeding and keeping chickens can take place in different types of premises: an animal barn, an outbuilding or in a specially equipped chicken coop.

At the same time, it should be dry, warm and clean both in summer and winter. Raising chickens and breeding laying hens for eggs should take place in different rooms, due to different diets. In addition, when equipping a room, the following instructions are important:

• There is a need to walk the birds. They need a walk all year round, even in winter. The walking yard must be of sufficient size for laying hens. In this case, you need to calculate approximately 1.2 square meters per bird. m.
• The chicken coop must be at a normal temperature. Laying hens are characterized by increased productivity if they are kept in conditions with a constant temperature of 23-25 ​​degrees Celsius. You should not make high ceilings, as the room may be too cold in winter. Egg production will decrease, so raising laying hens for eggs will be unprofitable.
• Great importance should be paid to ventilation. It is recommended to install grilles through which air will penetrate. In the summer, you can leave the chicken coop door open all day.
• Lighting. A home farm with chickens will only be profitable if they are provided with sufficient light. Therefore, in winter you need to take care of the lighting of chicken coops so that egg production does not decrease. It is necessary to watch laying hens, especially the nests, so that they do not eat eggs. If this happens, you will need to dim the lighting.
• If you are interested in how to breed birds, you need to pay attention to the perches. These are perches 5-6 cm wide on which laying hens sleep. For one chicken there must be at least 20 cm, so the size of the perch is calculated from the number of individuals.
• It is also important to pay attention to creating a sufficient number of nests. For 10 chickens, it is necessary to make 2-3 nests, because laying hens lay eggs on a daily basis or at least every other day. Small boxes with straw bedding can be used as nests. They need to be placed in a secluded place so that chickens do not peck the eggs.
• It is also recommended to make an additional hole through which the chickens can leave the chicken coop and return to it at any time. It is desirable that its size be at least 35 cm.
• The best feeders for laying hens are small containers from which 5-6 hens can feed at the same time. It is advisable to place them so that birds cannot get their paws into them. Otherwise, a large amount of food will be dug up and thrown out of their feeders. Drinking bowls should always be clean and the water in them should be fresh.

Adult chickens need at least 0.6 square meters. m. free space

The density of chickens in the coop should be such that the birds have enough space while sleeping.

For one bird you need to allocate at least 50-60 square meters. see. It is better to give preference to a clay or wooden floor, which is covered with straw.

Concrete is not suitable for flooring, as it is cold and leads to the formation of increased dampness in the room.

Twice a year you should carry out a general cleaning of the chicken coop, raking out all the garbage and waste from the chickens. For disinfection, it is recommended to whitewash the walls with a limestone solution.

Feeding chickens

It is necessary to ensure constant conditions for keeping chickens. To do this, you should develop a daily routine for them. There is a scheme according to which the chickens’ feeding schedule goes:

1. Birds should wake up early, around 6 am. You shouldn't feed them right away. It is better to let them out for a walk so that they work up an appetite.
2. The animals should be fed for the first time at 9 o’clock. You should carry enough food to last for 30-40 minutes. During this time, all feeders should be empty. If all the chickens are full and there is a lot of food left, you may need to reduce the amount of feed you feed. Any remaining food in the feeders should be removed to prevent the development of harmful microorganisms in it.
3. Lunch is given to the chickens at 15:00. After an hour and a half, you need to wash the feeders and remove droppings from the litter in the chicken coop.
4. The last meal is an hour before bedtime. At approximately 21:00 the lights are turned off and the birds must be herded into their roost.

If you want to make money from eggs, you need to know how to raise chickens correctly. To do this, you need to provide them with an optimal diet. Usually, to increase egg production, they are given not only dry food (in the morning and evening), but also wet food (in the afternoon).

In the first year of life, it is recommended to give laying hens more protein food, due to which they will rapidly gain weight. The mash should be crumbly, as sticky food can lead to intestinal blockage. You can learn more about bird nutrition by reading the article “How to feed laying hens?”

Caring for hens and chicks

You can breed and raise chickens right at home. To do this, you need to ensure normal fertilization of the eggs. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be 1 rooster for every 5-6 hens. Since laying hens are poor hens and rarely sit on eggs, you can buy several chickens of other breeds.

You can also buy or equip an incubator yourself. But you need to know how to use it, otherwise all the eggs may be spoiled. You should also study the question of how to raise a chicken so that it develops normally.

Chicks begin to hatch from eggs after 3 weeks. The process can last 2-3 days. In the first days of life they are very weak, so they need to be provided with sufficient heat and light.

They need to be fed dry food with added vitamins and minerals. Over time, they can be released for a walk, because young chickens need to move for rapid development.

Caring for chickens and chickens involves regularly cleaning the chicken coop and area. It is necessary to change the bedding on the floor at least once a week. Otherwise, bacteria will spread, leading to diseases in chickens. All equipment must be clean. To do this, you need to wash it with a solution of water and soda.

Walking chickens

If it's warm enough outside, you can let the laying hens out for a walk. At the same time, you should make sure that they are outside for the maximum amount of time. It is advisable to release them early in the morning. It is recommended to organize chicken walking in the winter season. Chickens can be raised right at the dacha

Care for laying hens must be correct. After all, it is necessary to ensure that they produce the maximum possible number of eggs. But sometimes it is not possible to achieve optimal conditions without the use of special equipment. Therefore, we need to install lamps and make heating.

There should also be good air ventilation. After all, high concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide in the air should not be allowed. In such an environment, caring for chickens will be much more difficult. By the way, home conditions are much better suited for raising poultry than industrial ones.

Choosing a location: at home or in the country?

Laying hens can be raised both at home and in the country. However, both options have their pros and cons. If you can make good money on eggs, then you can use the proceeds to buy feed. It is added to the main food, due to which the productivity of individuals improves.

True, summer residents are most often only interested in how to raise chickens from spring to autumn. After all, in winter they do not have the opportunity to devote sufficient time to this process.

Therefore, raising chickens makes no sense. It is better to purchase adult laying hens. At the dacha, they quickly adapt and begin to lay eggs.

In addition, this breed has high reproductive qualities. You can easily raise laying chickens at home. They grow very quickly, and after 4-5 months the hens begin to lay eggs. If necessary, you can watch a video about keeping laying hens on YouTube.

The table below describes how laying hens are kept in the country and at home.

	Nutrition	Mode	Smell	Purity	Walk
At home	Chickens are given food scraps and slops.	Can be fed 3 times a day.	The unpleasant odor from chickens can enter the house.	The entire yard needs to be cleaned regularly.	It is necessary to make a special poultry yard.
In the country	Chickens can add grated products grown in the country (potatoes, carrots) to their food.	To comply with the chickens' regime, you need to go to the dacha 3 times a day.	You don’t have to worry about an unpleasant odor if no one lives at the dacha.	You can do cleaning less often, since no one lives in the dacha.	Birds can be released throughout the summer cottage.

People who are not well versed in farming are often interested in whether different types of animals can be kept in the same room. In particular, the issue of joint breeding of rabbits and chickens is being considered. There are both supporters and opponents of this phenomenon.

And this will affect not only their health, but also their reproductive abilities. When chickens are kept outdoors, there is a risk that they may peck small rabbits. Therefore, it is better to keep chickens and rabbits separately.

There are different breeds of chickens. They mainly include laying hens, meat and broiler chickens. Of course, you can keep them together. But different breeds of chickens require different care, diet and living conditions.

After all, if you feed laying hens like broiler hens, they may lay eggs worse. Conversely, meat chickens may gain weight worse if they are not fed properly. You can read more about how chickens of different breeds behave and how to care for them in the article “Keeping broilers and laying hens.”

The most common animals kept in households are chickens, geese and ducks. But if you place all these birds on one run, it will be very noisy. This sometimes worries farmers. But this is not the only reason for concern.

After all, geese and ducks are waterfowl, so they develop well only if there is a sufficient amount of water. But breeding laying hens will give more results in dry conditions. Moreover, high humidity can only harm their health.

Moreover, rivalry may arise between different species of birds. This especially applies to male representatives. Keeping chickens, ducklings and goslings at home from childhood will help avoid negative contact between them.

• Dangerous dampness for birds. Wet floors cause bacteria to develop that affect the health of birds. You can, of course, increase ventilation and heating, but this is an additional waste.
• I have to clean more often. If the litter gets wet, it gives off an unpleasant odor. Therefore, it needs to be changed almost daily.
• You have to make high and low nests/drinkers.
• Fights are possible between birds of different species.
• The feeding regime and diet are different, so birds need to be given more time during the day.
• Chickens need light for greater egg production, while geese, on the contrary, need darkness.

Is the chicken business profitable?

Of course, one of the most important issues in the chicken business is its profitability and profitability. Is it profitable to keep chickens at home? It depends on how you make money: only from laying hens or only from eggs. After all, if you sell both, you can get a good income.

So is it possible to make money from chickens?

One chicken eats no more than 100 grams of feed per day. This means that 5 chickens require about 500 grams. This is approximately 3 rubles for 5 chickens. An egg costs 8-10 rubles. And if each hen lays eggs, you will get 5 eggs - 40-50 rubles.

Therefore, raising laying hens at home is a fairly profitable process. Recoupment of all costs during their breeding is guaranteed.

After all, you can sell not only eggs or chicken meat, but also feathers, chicken droppings, and chickens. But you need to pay attention to how to care for laying hens to reduce the likelihood of illness and mortality.

Video

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Living in rural areas is a favorable opportunity to start your own household. The most suitable poultry for keeping at home are laying hens. Rapid growth and development make it possible to get your own eggs in the first year of purchasing young animals. Properly selected chicken breeds can serve as a good source of meat in the future. Keeping laying hens at home is not fancy, but you need to create suitable living conditions in order to have fresh eggs on your table all year round.

The main task of keeping laying hens at home is high egg production. In order not to be disappointed in breeding hen poultry, you need to choose the breed wisely. She must actively lay eggs and be in good health, able to withstand the harsh climate in winter.

Laying hen Loman Brown

One of the most common breeds of brood hens among Russian breeders. Valued for its high egg production, capable of laying up to 315 eggs per year. The reproductive system reaches maturity by 5 months and maintains high rates up to 3 years of life. Possesses good health, up to 98% of all chickens survive. Resistant to diseases and severe cold in winter. The eggs are large, reaching a weight of 80 grams. Feed costs are low; the hen eats up to 130 grams per day.

Hisex

The breed originates from Holland. The chicken weighs up to two kilograms. The readiness to hatch eggs is formed by 6 months; over time, egg production rates increase. The number of eggs laid varies depending on the color: white eggs lay up to 290 eggs per year, while gray and brown birds lay up to 320 eggs. This is due to the higher sensitivity to cold in winter among whites: they spend more energy to heat themselves, so they take rest days more often.

The egg reaches a weight of 65–80 grams and has a strong shell, which has a beneficial effect on its transportation properties.

Pushkin motley

It has a bright decorative color and will easily decorate any courtyard. The number of eggs per year reaches 315; the weight of one piece is approximately 75 g. The character is self-possessed, without unnecessary fussiness, but overly proud, so keeping it with other breeds can lead to conflict situations.

With good care, the survival rate of chickens reaches 99%; among adults, the mortality rate is slightly higher - 95% of the entire flock survive.

Kuchinskaya Yubileinaya

The chicken breed is adapted to harsh climatic conditions. It develops and grows quickly, is versatile: suitable as a laying hen, capable of producing up to 240 eggs per year. Profitable as a meat breed due to its ability to quickly gain body weight. With good care and sufficient care, up to 99% of chickens survive. The reproductive system matures by 5 months.

Leghorn

Representatives of the breed begin laying eggs at 5 months. The number of eggs per year reaches 230 pieces. The weight of one copy is 60 g. The shell is strong and white in color. Chickens are sensitive to temperature changes; when it gets colder, they reduce the number of eggs laid, so it is important to provide comfortable conditions for their keeping.

Keeping laying hens in a poultry house with walking

Breeds of brood hens bred for difficult climatic conditions are not fussy about caring for, but comfortable and convenient placement will provide the owner with good egg production. Birds are often placed indoors with other animals, and they feel comfortable there. But taking into account sanitary and hygienic standards, a more correct solution would be to organize a separate poultry house.

Separate finished chicken coop with dimensions

The poultry house consists of a main poultry house and a walking pen attached to it. The location of the building is chosen to be a dry place, sheltered from the wind by other buildings.

The poultry house should not be located in low-lying areas where there is a high risk of flooding. The pen is enclosed with a wooden fence or mesh to prevent birds from wandering around the yard. This will also serve as an obstacle to the entry of predatory animals into the chicken room.

Design of a summer chicken coop for a summer residence

The height of the building should not exceed 1.8 m so that the air temperature inside in winter does not fall below 15°C. Conventional vents can be used as a ventilation system. A more convenient option is to create a hood with the ability to close, which will help control the flow of cold air and prevent drafts. Litter is used as a floor covering. It is made from dried grass, straw, leaves and wood shavings. A rarer option: a floor made of wood or clay. Please note that additional insulation may be required in winter. If additional heating of the building is not provided, then the thickness of the litter should exceed 50 cm. The fermentation processes occurring in the thickness of the litter material will heat the air.

Wooden nesting racks in a chicken coop

When building a chicken coop, it is necessary to take into account that 5 individuals are placed per 1 m2.

For high egg production, chickens require good lighting. With the reduction of daylight hours, it is necessary to take care of additional lighting so that its duration is at least 13 hours. An important condition for increasing illumination is that all birds must complete their molt.

The original way of arranging sockets

In the poultry house itself, it is necessary to equip perches made of poles, the diameter of which is from 4 to 6 cm. They are located opposite the window, approximately 80 - 120 cm above the floor. The length of the perches is calculated based on the fact that one bird will need 20 cm of perch. The distance between the perches should exceed 35 cm. Wooden boxes are used as nests for laying hens, which are installed on a slight elevation above the floor. Dry hay and straw are used as filling.

In addition to the main door for the owner, the house should have a loophole for birds through which they can freely enter the pen. It is enough to make a hole with a diameter of up to 40 cm. Small sizes will help retain warm air in the room.

Loophole in the chicken coop for free range

A mandatory attribute of the poultry house and pen is feeders. To do this you need to build long narrow boxes. The number of feeders is determined by the number of individuals in the flock. There should be 10 cm of box per bird. For drinking, take small containers - 5-6 liters is enough. They must stand in the room itself, as well as in the pen.

The method of keeping poultry in cages in private yards was borrowed from large poultry farms. Backyard chickens are usually intended to produce a small number of eggs for personal use, so building a large poultry house is not practical. It is much more economical to keep them in a utility room, or in a barn with other animals.

Constantly living in cages helps protect birds from infections because it reduces the possibility of contact with other animals to a minimum. The birds are compactly housed in a small area and are under the constant control of the owner.

Unlike free-range keeping, the owner does not have to search for laid eggs throughout the paddock. Feed costs will be reduced as chickens will expend less energy. It will be possible to quickly identify and isolate an infected individual.

But keeping chickens in cages also has its downsides. Due to a sedentary lifestyle, birds' immunity decreases, metabolism is disrupted, and bones become fragile. This leads to extinction and poor health of the individual, and egg production often decreases. Without natural sunlight, chickens do not get enough vitamin D, which reduces the quality of their eggs. Natural nutrition disappears, and there is a lack of nutrients that chickens receive in the process of absorbing insects and fresh herbs.

To minimize the negative consequences, many owners resort to mixed housing: they keep birds in cages in the winter and leave them to free-graze in the summer. Sanitary standards stipulate that the size of a cage for 7 chickens should not be less than 60x45x50 cm. Each cage is equipped with a separate feeder and drinker.

A convenient option would be structures with a sloping floor. This will make it easier to clean and will help the eggs roll into a pre-attached chute, making them inaccessible to the hens.

Features of keeping chickens in winter

Winter often becomes a test for the poultry farmer. To prepare for this difficult period, keep your flock intact, and prevent egg production from decreasing, you should consider several rules for caring for chickens in winter:

In winter, laying hens must be allowed to go for a walk.

• during the molting period, you should take care of an additional complex of useful vitamins and microelements;
• the poultry house is insulated for the winter, the loophole for the chickens is closed, and a thick layer of bedding is laid;
• during frosty winters, you need to take care of additional heaters;
• ensure daily ventilation without drafts;
• put artificial light;
• water for drinking bowls should be heated;
• in the first half of the day in winter they give succulent food, in the second - grain;
• at moderate air temperatures, poultry is allowed to walk;

In winter, laying hens can be released into the greenhouse during the day

Increased attention to the breeding conditions of laying hens in winter will help to survive this period. It is important to carefully maintain hygiene to prevent an outbreak of the epidemic.

Chicken diet

To obtain a large number of eggs from laying hens, you need to choose the right and balanced diet for them. The process of feeding chickens is simple; grain, combined feed, mineral supplements, herbs, and vegetables are used for it. Laying hens are fed twice a day. To avoid painstaking selection of nutrients, it is most convenient to purchase compound feed.

As additional feeding, they give fresh greens, grass from the plot, and tops from vegetables. The quantity is determined depending on whether the chickens were on the run or spent the whole day in the poultry house.

Approximate diet for laying hens

Approximate feeding of one laying hen per day:

• grain 120 gr;
• mash 30 g;
• boiled potatoes 100 g;
• cake 7 g;
• chalk 3 g;
• salt 0.5 g;
• bone meal 2 gr.

The first feeding occurs in the early morning, immediately after waking up or turning on the light. Evening meals are taken an hour before turning off the lights. The amount of feed is determined based on the breed of laying hens. Spoiled foods should not be used in poultry diets.

One laying hen can produce up to 200-250 fresh, healthy eggs per year

Keeping chickens at home is very simple; even a novice poultry farmer can handle this task. The bird is not picky about feeding, many breeds are resistant to frost in winter, and timely vaccinations and compliance with sanitary standards will help avoid outbreaks of infections.