How to breed laying hens at home. Breeding and raising chickens at home

We are what we eat. This common truth is familiar to everyone, but not everyone understands how important healthy food is for the body. Store shelves abound with semi-finished products and products containing preservatives, dyes and other components harmful to the body.

In the era of "junk food", the use of natural products is of particular importance. Dishes prepared on the basis of home-made products have always been not only tasty, but also famous for their nutritional properties. Breeding laying hens will help make your diet better and enriched with valuable elements.

At home, such an activity can turn into an exciting process. You do not need to use any complex technology or large capital investments. And at the exit, you will always have fresh chicken meat and eggs at your disposal.

Breeding laying hens at home will allow you to get fresh eggs and meat.

A chicken is a rather unpretentious creature, it does not make high demands on its care. If you're wondering where to start, the first step to take is organizing a chicken coop.

A small shed on the territory of a summer house or a country house is perfect for these purposes. If such an extension is at your disposal - the case is small.

You should take into service a few practical tips for its device:

the house must always be warm and dry;
correct light mode;
cleanliness and hygiene.

There are 5 directions for breeding chickens: decorative, fighting, meat, egg and universal. Beginners tend to opt for the latter, benefiting from both tender chicken and delicious testicles.

Many farmers prefer the Kuchinsky Anniversary breed of chickens.

You can either buy a laying hen that is ready to lay eggs, or you can purchase chickens. If you prefer option 1, then it is better to start pullets at the age of 5-6 months. They are distinguished by a beautiful red crest, soft tummy and bright earlobes. They are quite hardy, unpretentious and suitable for breeding in almost any conditions.

In addition, they are calm, not curious, and their maintenance does not require the installation of high fences. The most common breeds for breeding are Poltava, Sussex, Wyandot, Kuchinsky, Plymouthrock and Pervomaisky.

Meat breeds are large in size. They are excellent hens, although they differ in average egg production. Brahma, Kokhinhin, broilers are the most common breeds of this type.

Egg hens have a relatively small mass: their weight reaches only 2.5 kg. Leghorn, Rhode Island, Oryol and Russian White are favorites among this variety.

If you decide to start with the basics and become the proud owner of small fluffy lumps, you need to think about how to provide them with competent care. Mother hens, especially those of the egg direction, do not always give full-fledged care to their babies. In this situation, you may need an incubator.

In the first 10 days, small chickens can be kept in an incubator.

It is quite compact in size and is presented in a variety of options suitable for home breeding. The capacity, shape or size of the chicken house is only a matter of taste and goals. In their first days, chickens should be kept at a temperature of at least +30 ° C. They can be kept in an incubator for no more than 10 days.

Reference. You should start this enterprise with the purchase of 20 chickens. They are sold at fairs, poultry farms, bird markets. Home-raised chicks are especially popular.

In order for babies to grow quickly and be healthy, it is necessary:

always give them water during feeding;
before going to bed, feed with kefir or cottage cheese, and also add river sand to food;
for breakfast, make a dish of green onions, boiled eggs, crushed shells and wheat porridge;
enrich food with cereals and mixed fodder.

It is important to organize the correct feeding regime for chickens up to 1 month old.

Keeping laying hens at home

There are 2 ways to breed chickens: intensive, in which the birds are kept on deep litter or on cage batteries, and walking. The first method involves cage breeding of laying hens.

To avoid crowding, chickens must be placed 5 individuals in one cage. If you want to keep them separately, then an area of 0.5 sq.m. enough for one female. In order to make it convenient to collect the litter, trays are placed under the floor, which slide out for cleaning.

The key point in this process is the rooster! It is his presence that ensures the fertilization of the laid eggs. One male can care for an average of 10 or more hens.

In the herd of laying hens, there must be a rooster; without it, fertilized eggs cannot be obtained.

If you have correctly selected chickens for breeding, then following these simple rules will achieve the maximum effect.

It is necessary to distinguish between winter and summer care. At the end of autumn, it is necessary to insulate the chicken coop by creating a layer of straw or sawdust at least 20 cm thick. For these purposes, corn cores, sunflower husks, sand or sphagnum peat are useful.

It will not be superfluous to increase the number of lamps for heating. Food and water must be warm to avoid colds.

Before winter, the floor of the chicken coop is insulated with a deep bedding of sawdust and straw.

And in no case do not allow hypothermia of liquids! In the cold season, it is useful to build a kind of greenhouse near the poultry house. For these purposes, you will need to make a fence with a canopy and cover this structure with a film. First wrap the earth with straw and pour grains into it.

Regardless of the season, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the litter. It should be changed as it becomes dirty, because. Hens love to lay their eggs in clean straw. And do not forget that the nesting place should be slightly darkened.

In the summer, chickens should be provided with a fenced range, the litter in the chicken coop is regularly cleaned.

If you raise chickens for eggs, you should take their nutrition seriously. . A complete diet must necessarily contain mineral supplements in the form of charcoal, salt and hay. Also, for the production of good offspring, hens need calcium, which is contained in large quantities in chalk: it makes the eggs stronger and more durable.

At the end of the winter period, treat your pets to pre-prepared nettle leaves: they improve the immune system of birds. In addition to increasing reproductive abilities, this simple potion will make the plumage of birds more magnificent and beautiful.

Attention. In the cold season, give the hens sprouted grain - it is rich in vitamins that are so necessary during this period.

The diet of laying hens should be complete and balanced.

There are several effective recipes to achieve greater egg production:

grind the potatoes to a paste, mix with the flour mixture and add to the main food;
avoid eating moldy bread;
soak and steam legume grains in water;
add baker's yeast to feed formulations;
grind grain mixtures well;
preserve fish and meat waste in whey;
add salt to food once a week.

With proper feeding, chickens begin to lay as early as 4-5 months.

chicken diet

It is based on proteins - the main building material for the bird's body. The feed should contain both vegetable proteins found in soybeans, legumes, rapeseed, oilcake and sunflowers, as well as animal proteins found in shellfish, bone meal, fish waste, earthworms.

Fats. This is the main energy reserve of laying hens, part of it is also spent on egg formation. They can enrich the body of a bird if given corn and oats.
Vitamins. Especially important for chickens are vitamins A, D and B contained in green herbs during the budding period, baker's yeast, silage, fish oil and pine flour.
Carbohydrates. They are responsible for the activity of all organs and muscles. It is found in large quantities in potatoes, pumpkins, fodder beets, carrots and whole grain husks.
Minerals. The main element for the skeleton of the chicken and the egg shell. Birds can get it from chalk, lime, gravel, wood ash, or crushed shells.

The feed should contain both vegetable and animal proteins.

When constructing a poultry house, wood, slate, brick or cinder block is suitable as a building material. It should also be noted that in winter you will need to insulate the “Ryaba Hen's house”. A cold snap can negatively affect the laying of laying hens.

They love natural bedding: sand, straw, sawdust will be as cozy for them as your favorite cashmere blanket. You will also need ladders, cleaning tools, drinkers, feeders, nests, perches and cages for further breeding of young offspring.

Chicken coops are made of cinder block, wood, brick and slate.

The poultry house should have two doors: one for the chickens to go outside, and the second, located at the top, for ventilation. It should also be equipped with nests.

For beginners, it will be useful to find out the signs inherent in a healthy female before buying chickens. For example, the egg breed, unlike the meat breed, is small in size and light, their weight at 5 months should reach 1.5 kg. Excessively fat or thin individuals are not suitable as laying hens.

Important. There are varieties of hybrid breeds. They are quite productive, but their next generation loses these qualities, therefore, they are not suitable for breeding.

The hen should look clean and well cared for, with no bald patches, growths or other damage, with smooth, shiny plumage. The skin should be pale pink and elastic. Yellow indicates liver problems.

The hen should appear clean and well-groomed, with smooth and shiny plumage.

Good laying hens are distinguished by late molting. Sticky feathers around the cloaca signal the presence of intestinal infections.

Diseases of laying hens

This species of birds, to the delight of the owners, does not get sick so often. Infections, as a rule, bypass them. Poor care and unbalanced nutrition can lead to the death of the chicken.

The most common - diseases associated with improper diet:

goiter inflammation: limited mobility, weakness, sluggish appetite, enlarged goiter;
pasteurellosis: rapid, hoarse breathing, nasal discharge, high fever, blue combs and ruffled feathers;
salpingitis: chickens lose activity and stop laying eggs, or they appear without a shell;
gastritis: diarrhea, disheveled feathers, apathy;
gout: malfunctioning of the legs, bloating, loss of appetite, inflammation of the goiter;
alopecia: feather loss, skin lesions, itching.

We offer you to watch a video in which the farmer talks about his experience in keeping and breeding laying hens.

Chickens have high reproductive qualities, besides, the profitability of the enterprise for their breeding is 100%. The prosperity and well-being of your poultry yard depends only on you. Competent care, care, attention and affection will make your birds more prolific and productive.

The content of the article:

Chickens are a good help for any family. Breeding them at home on your site, it is quite possible to provide yourself with such important products as meat and eggs. An important positive point can be considered not difficult care for this bird. It is perfectly permissible to allow children to help care for them.

In rural areas, in almost every yard you can find the presence of such a farm. This is because chickens do not demand too much attention, that is, a place to live and feed. In the summer, they can be kept in the wild, where there is a lot of food for them, in the form of insects and grass. But this option is suitable for simple chickens that are not thoroughbred.

In addition, it is also important to get meat and eggs, these products should be in the refrigerators of every family, moreover, they are dietary and healthy. Chicken meat is considered to be low-calorie due to the lack of a large amount of fat, and there is enough protein here for good nutrition. It is also known about the content of useful vitamins and amino acids.

On a note! The meat of home-grown chicken has significant differences from those grown in poultry farms and get on store shelves. It is much tastier and more aromatic. The same cannot be said for those that are grown in huge volumes and are kept in cramped cages and receive little food.

A chicken egg is an indispensable source of protein for humans. It also contains many vitamins and minerals. Nutritionists call it an important component in human nutrition.

On a note! If we compare the yolks of domestic chickens and those purchased in the store, then the former will be much yellower. This indicates the largest amount of such a substance as carotene, which is important for any organism.

As it became clear, there are many benefits from breeding chickens at home, but many do not understand how and where to start this process. Now, you need to understand what to do for a beginner in this field.

Breeding chickens for beginners. Where to begin?

So, the decision is made, it is necessary to start breeding chickens. The first thing to do is to gain knowledge, that is, to collect enough information about this whole process. If, in general, then we can say that it is not difficult, but looking deeper, it comes to the understanding that this is a costly business and requires some effort. It is better to find out in advance which breeds are best to breed, how to properly maintain these birds, how to feed them, how you can breed your offspring and, of course, the cost of all these components.

Information can be obtained from the following sources:

Agricultural magazines
Sites
Opinions of experts.

If there is a desire to do this professionally, then you do not need to expect that all costs will pay off quickly. It is better to start this whole process with a small number of chickens and it is advisable to choose the most unpretentious breed.

After that, it is important to decide in what conditions the chickens will live, that is, in cages or in the wild, or maybe just under a canopy or bedding. If these are cells, then decide what size they will be, they can be made by yourself having suitable material for this.

If the litter is chosen as an option, then anyway a place for walking should be made for them, there is no way without it. For bedding, it is better to choose sawdust or dry grass. Now you need to plan and build a chicken coop.

This birdhouse must be planned in advance, if the chickens are kept in it during the cold season, then it is better if it is heated. This condition is also mandatory for young animals. Before you buy them, it is better to heat the finished room. How to build it, there is a lot of information everywhere: books, the Internet, and just recommendations from people who have already done this. Now a few important recommendations for the structure.

So the sizes will depend on how many chickens you plan to have. Let's make a calculation for ten domestic chickens. This process has its own peculiarities and nuances that need to be taken into account.

Before starting construction, it is better to make a drawing and think over all the features of this uncomplicated structure. It is impossible to do everything without preliminary calculations, since the conditions in the chicken coops will directly determine how the chickens will grow and lay the egg. So it is better to immediately prepare for the fact that the work is to be serious. And you don’t need to listen to the prevailing opinion that such a structure can be made from unnecessary and old materials.

How to choose the right place? This should be a lighted and dry area. No need to start building under a tree or in a lowland. It is better to make a place for walking at an angle so that when it rains, the water does not stand, but flows down and the soil remains dry. It is better if the chicken coop is located so that the sun's rays fall on it all day.

One chicken will need one square meter to walk, so a correct calculation can be made from this. The house itself is based on one square meter for three chickens, the width of the house should correspond to the width of the range. This is the best option.

Stages of building a chicken coop

Once a decision has been made about the size of the house and the walking area, the construction itself can begin. It is not recommended to build a house for chickens on the ground, for a bird this option will be cold and damp, and pests and rodents will be able to freely visit their housing. So it is necessary to build a foundation first. To do this, you can do this:

Standard concrete foundation.
A slight rise from the floor with the help of a columnar foundation.

The foundation is made in the following stages:

Marking is done with the help of suitable things (cord, pegs),
The top layer of earth under the future building is removed, half a meter deep,
We make a pillow using sand and gravel, up to 15 centimeters thick, it is advisable to tamp it all down,
A standard formwork is made using boards,
Now it is necessary to strengthen all this, steel masonry is made and poured with standard strong concrete,
Now an important stage, complete drying of all this masonry will be required, for this you need to wait three weeks. And only after that start building walls.

This process is not difficult, but you will have to try. Now comes the hardest part, which is the construction of the walls. They should be as dense as possible so that the wind does not penetrate inside. For this, you can even use blocks, but light ones, i.e. aerated concrete. The frame is also well suited for such buildings, which is filled with a special mixture, which is commonly called adobe. But the choice will always be yours, it also depends on how much money you plan to invest. It is important to make everything as warm as possible.

Do not forget about waterproofing, for which roofing material can be used. It is better to make a paddock from a grid; if desired, you can also make a roof for which polycarbonate is suitable. After the walls are erected and the roof is made, it is necessary to insulate the walls. So there are a lot of options on the building counters of stores. You can also use a simple beam.

If the chickens live in this house even in the winter season, the floor will also need to be insulated. This process is not too complicated and there can be many suitable options, all this information can be found in books and other sources. Polo insulation may not be done, but additional bedding in the form of sawdust or dry grass will definitely be required.

Now you need to decide on the shape of the roof. The most suitable option can be called a gable, it saves on building materials in that the walls do not need to be made too high and there is no need for ceilings. The coating can be any material.

Now the important step is to properly equip the interior space. There should be ventilation so that dampness does not gather and, of course, lighting. To do this, install opening windows, there can be many or one, it all depends on your plan. But the window or window cannot be open all the time, so there must be an additional hood. It's not hard to install.

Another important point is to make the right exit for the bird for a walk, that is, a hole. It should be at least half a meter wide and a little more in height. This extra move can be slotted into the door.

You can read more about building a chicken coop in the article:.

So, everything in the chicken coop should be prepared and adapted. The following buildings are required in this room:

Lamps for heating and light,
Ventilation,
drinkers,
Feeders, nests for carrying,
Perches, no way without them.

To clean the chicken coop, you need to have a pitchfork and a shovel, as well as a broom and a scraper, you will need this equipment to clean and feed the bird. These are also important steps.

There is housing, now you need to understand what and how to feed them. It also happens that a certain breed is fed with something specific. And in another case, it can be compound feed, it is completely suitable; it has all the components for full growth and development. You can also feed other mixtures of grain.

They also do not refuse their own prepared mash. This is a composition that includes any food, boiled potatoes or any other vegetables, grass or hay. They eat much better food like this.

Future offspring can not be bought, but brought out on their own in an incubator. But this process is quite complicated and you need to have a little knowledge in order to succeed. So for starters, it’s better to still buy day old chicks or buy already grown offspring with them is much easier and less hassle.

In order to know exactly all your costs, it is better to preliminarily draw up an estimate, but after purchasing everything, you can know exactly how much was spent. All acquisitions are taken into account without exception:

Building a chicken coop.
Purchase of necessary equipment.
Feed.
Buying a bird.

All this is very important, each stage must be accurately calculated and planned, then there will be an understanding of what awaits in the future.

What breed to choose?

An important point is the choice of a suitable breed. This must be decided at the very beginning of breeding chickens at home. This is in order to have an idea of the whimsicality and preferences of the immediate breed.

Everyone should know that he wants to receive meat or an egg from his farm, or maybe both. Based on these parameters, it is determined which breed to choose. Many of these birds want to get an egg, which means that the breed should be chosen accordingly (egg orientation).

Such chickens will carry eggs quite actively, they are not considered high whimsical. In such breeds, there comes a moment of so-called "rest", when egg production drops, and during this period they can be completely put on meat. If the goal is only meat, as many now do, they acquire a breed - broilers, grow them during the spring and summer, and slaughter them in late autumn. This time is enough to gain the necessary mass. Meat is considered good and low-calorie. But there is also a minus, it is difficult to breed them on their own, that is, in an incubator or with a hen.

Egg breeds:

Russian whites,
Red whitetails.

Meat breeds:

Broiler,
Cornish,
Plymouth Rock,

But these birds can also be just a decoration, that is, there are a lot of decorative breeds of this option, now it’s not difficult to even get to exhibitions. They may differ in small size, but they also carry an egg. More about breeds:.

After this issue is resolved, the crucial question comes, where to make this purchase. Here, as in breeds, there can be several options: a poultry farm, a market or a breeder, there are quite a few of them now. It is better if the purchase is made from a professional, i.e. a breeder, in addition to chickens, he can tell in detail about many things, how to properly feed, where it is better to keep, and this is important knowledge, especially for beginners. Moreover, there will be an exact certainty that the chickens will be healthy and vaccinated, which is important.

When buying in other places, pay attention to the price, if it is too low, then this may indicate fraud and some kind of "pitfalls".

Pay attention to the age of the chicken. If you get young animals, then they should be about five months old, we calculate when they were bred. If your purchase falls in April, then it turns out that the chickens were bred in the winter season, which means that these are additional costs for poultry farmers, which is not profitable, which means you will be offered last year's broods.

Determining the age, approximately, is not so difficult, this is done by plumage, it is smooth, dense and uniform. If the chicken is already “worked out”, then it has a frayed feathers and a heavy body. Another indicator is paws. In young people, they are even without additional growths and bumps, which cannot be said about the old conclusion. And just the mood in life should be positive, that is, active chickens respond to people.

It will be much more difficult to deal with chickens, this is due to age, as well as what breed and how offspring were bred. If the choice fell on these babies, then the main external condition and their behavior. They must respond to knocks and voices, as well as external factors. Feathers should also be smooth and even, they should react to food by running wildly around the cage.

At first glance, it seems that all this is easy and simple, but in the process itself there are many difficulties and questions that everyone faces. Of course, finding the answer to them is not difficult, especially since there is enough information everywhere, but it is better when advice and recommendations are heard from experienced people.

Everyone considers the first important point to be preliminary calculations and the so-called calculation, because after receiving the numbers, someone may refuse this idea. But if everything suits you, then be sure to proceed with all the steps.

Proper feeding can be considered an important indicator, farm experts believe that fresh grass is very useful for chickens, it contains a lot of vitamins that affect the growth and process of laying eggs. So it is necessary to do walking so that they have enough of this healthy food. But sooner or later, grass will run out in their enclosure, so they will need to bring it from other sites. There is no difficulty here weeding the garden, give this grass to the bird. Also choose the right food, there is a specially designed for laying hens and other species. Remember that cereal foods are not only healthy, but also more nutritious.

But weight control will need to be constantly carried out; it is not necessary to allow both obesity and thinness, this will all have a bad effect on the general condition. Drinking water should be changed and fresh.

The nest should be as comfortable as possible, it also happens that the chicken does not like her place for laying eggs and she begins to clog into different corners and rush there, which, firstly, is not convenient for everyone, and can also lead to damage to integrity eggs. So, you don’t just need to put an unnecessary box and calm down, give it enough time as well. In addition to the correct and convenient design, there must also be the correct dimensions, a height of half a meter, a depth of 10 centimeters more, and the width can be equal to the height. This option will appeal not only to the chicken, but will also bring convenience to the owner at the time of cleaning. The calculation of the amount of space for laying eggs should be as follows: for three hens, one nest is on average.

But not all of them need to be done in the house, take some out into the street, but make a cover and a hole on them so that no one destroys them. Also, such places are more convenient for collecting products and cleaning.

As it became clear to everyone, the place where the bird lives should be dry and warm, and most importantly, exclude the possibility of a draft. They will need to be fed a couple of times a day, but at the same time, if they have fresh grass for the entire period of wakefulness. They also use quite normally and waste from the table.

If you have day old chicks, they are a little more difficult, as care must be more meticulous so as not to lose future chicks. They should have even and smooth plumage, stand firmly on their feet, and be active.

Smaller chicks will need more acceptable and milder conditions. A special room where it should be warm, light and no wind. The percentage of humidity also should not be high for them, it is harmful. Many keep them in a box or drawer in the house at first. But if it is planned to constantly start growing chickens from the daily livestock, then it is still better to prepare a special room. Also know that chickens of different ages should not be kept together.

Now many do not purchase day-old chicks, but hatch them on their own using an incubator, which now has all sorts, not only on a production scale, but also for personal use.

So, you have placed the young in a suitable place, now they need constant additional heat, up to about six months of age. This is about thirty degrees, but gradually it must be lowered so that they get used to it, up to 20 degrees. After that, additional heat can be removed, it may be needed only in winter frosts.

To prevent hypothermia or, on the contrary, excess heat, install a thermometer. All this will need to be strictly observed so that as many young animals as possible grow up healthy and strong.

Nutrition for these kids is balanced and correct, the water is clean and fresh. Here there is also a separation of laying hens and meat. You can use already developed special feeds that are sold in specialized stores, or you can, on the recommendation of agricultural workers, independently make their diet correct and complete.

But these kids need to grow up and eat right. All experts in this field recommend purchasing reared chickens for the first time, since it is easier without experience with them. It will be a pity if it starts, you will fall daily babies, which often happens, because somewhere they have become little warm or, on the contrary, overheated, not properly fed or watered.

After a little experience with big chickens, you can try with babies, but you should not buy a lot right away, start with a small amount so that everyone is under your attention.

The article clearly and in detail describes all the stages of caring for a bird, and it’s not as easy as it seems at first glance, but everything starts gradually and after you grow the first worthy chickens that will bring eggs and meat, everything will go like clockwork .

Breeding chickens at home video.

Breeding chickens on a personal plot is a great help for every family. This occupation will not cause much trouble, but it will provide meat and an egg. Children can be involved in raising chickens, for them it will become an interesting and exciting activity.

Chicken meat and eggs are very important foods for every person. They belong to the category of dietary and healthy products. Chicken meat contains a small amount of fat, but it is rich in proteins, vitamins and amino acids. The meat obtained from breeding domestic chickens is distinguished by a special aroma and taste. It cannot be compared with chicken meat bought in a store.

Chicken eggs are the main source of protein. The yolk of a domestic egg is rich in carotene, vitamins and other useful substances. Nutritionists recommend that you eat eggs.

Breeding chickens at home does not cause much trouble. During the summer months, they can be kept outdoors, where they can swim in the ground, get worms, insects, and peck grass. For keeping chickens in the winter, completely different conditions are needed. Beginners should start by breeding simple breeds of chickens, and later it will be possible to move on to thoroughbreds. There are differences in their content requirements.

First of all, you need to decide on the breed of chickens. They are divided into:

egg,
meat,
meat and eggs,
decorative.

Each owner must decide what he wants to get in the end. If you want to get only an egg, then you should start breeding egg breed chickens. Such chickens are considered unpretentious, resistant to diseases, actively laying eggs. During the fall of egg production, such a breed can be put on meat.

The most popular egg-bearing breeds are:

russian white,
red whitetail,
Kuchinsky anniversary,
Rhodonite,
Loman-Brown.

These breeds of chickens begin to lay eggs at the age of 5-7 months. During the year, egg-bearing breeds bring about 300 eggs. The average weight of one egg is 60 g. Egg breed chickens weigh from 2 to 4 kg.

If the purpose of growing domestic chickens is meat, then it is worth starting meat breeds. They grow pretty fast. You need to buy chickens of meat breed in the spring. Until the end of autumn, they gain sufficient weight. Meat breeds also carry eggs, but the number per year is much less - from 100 to 130 pieces. And they begin to lay eggs at the age of 8-9 months.

The most popular meat breeds:

Broiler,
Plymouth Rock,
Brama light,
Brama dark,
Brama Palevaya,
Cornish,
Dorking.

Chickens of these breeds grow from 4 to 5 kg by the end of autumn, the largest individuals reach 7 kg. They have a calm nature and are very fond of greenery.

Bress Gallic belongs to the meat and egg breeds of chickens. They begin to rush quite early - at the age of 5 months. During the year they give 190-220 large eggs weighing about 80g. By the end of autumn, chickens of this breed weigh about 3.5 kg, and roosters - 5 kg. They are hardy and tolerate winter well. When free-range in the summer, you need to know that these chickens fly very well.

Decorative species include:

bantamka,
Shamo,
Seabright.

These birds can often be found at exhibitions. Some are quite small in size, but still, each breed lays eggs, albeit in small quantities.

Where do you buy good chickens?

Having decided on the breed of chickens, the question arises about the place of purchase. There is a wide choice here. You can buy at a poultry farm, from a breeder or in the market. It is advisable for beginner poultry farmers to make a purchase from a professional breeder. He can immediately advise on feed, vitamins and preparations for chickens.

For the cultivation of meat breeds, day-old chickens are purchased. From egg breeds, it is better to buy young animals that have reached four weeks of age. When buying, you should always pay attention to the appearance of the chickens and their behavior. Day old chicks are covered only with down. In no case should it be wet or dirty. When buying older young animals, you also need to pay attention to plumage. You also need to pay attention to the paws. They should be even, the chicken should stand firmly on them.

Arrangement of a chicken coop

If the plans are to keep chickens only until the onset of autumn, then you can build a canopy to protect against rain and the scorching sun, and equip the nests. But if the cultivation of chickens will be year-round, then it is worth taking care of the capital arrangement of the chicken coop. Chickens should not be crowded. One individual needs an area of 0.5 m 2. From this area, it is worth calculating the area of \u200b\u200bthe chicken coop.

You need to choose the right place for construction. It should be well lit and protected from drafts. The chicken coop cannot be built on the ground. Such a structure will be unreliable in terms of rodents. In addition, in winter, chickens will be cold in such a room. Therefore, a prerequisite is the construction of the foundation.

The depth of the foundation should be at least 50 cm. It is also desirable to make a pillow about 15 cm thick, consisting of sand and gravel. Walls can be built of brick or cinder block. The roof is erected single or gable. The windows in the chicken coop are made small. A convenient exit to a corral measuring 30x30 cm is also required. Walls, floors and roofs must be insulated. It is necessary to close up all the cracks around the windows.

In the chicken coop, be sure to build perches and nests. Nests must be fenced on three sides, and inside they are covered with straw. Dirty straw should be periodically replaced with new one so that the nest is always clean. So the chicken will get used to laying eggs in one place. On the floor, for additional insulation, lay sawdust, hay or straw.

Be sure to have lighting and ventilation in the chicken coop. It is possible to carry out heating. In a warm room, even in a cold winter, chickens will continue to lay eggs. The walls must be whitewashed with lime. This will kill the infection, and also serve as a prevention of diseases.

Video - breeding chickens, personal experience

Preparing a place for chickens

Having built a capital chicken coop, you need to think about where the little chickens will be kept at first. A place for them can be taken away in a built poultry house, fencing off a small area on the ground, but it can be cold for young animals there. Therefore, it is better to build a large box and put it on supports, lifting it 0.5-0.7 m above the floor.

The bottom of the box must be lined with papers, so it will be easier to replace them. The floor must always remain dry. Otherwise, the young may get sick, which will lead to their death. It is important to keep the chick box clean.

They also need constant ventilation of the room, but the main thing is to avoid drafts and observe the temperature regime. The temperature in the room with young animals, in the first week of their life, should be kept at 30 ° C. In order to monitor the temperature, it is necessary to install a thermometer in the room.

You need to know that chickens of different ages should never be kept in the same box. Older young will peck at younger ones.

Feeding chickens and hens

It is necessary to take the feeding of young animals very seriously. It is best to purchase ready-made starter food. Such food should be given for the first 10-14 days. After this period, you can gradually introduce chopped vegetables, and after another 10 days - greens and mixed fodder. Water in the drinker must always be present. It needs to be replaced as often as possible.

For full development, good weight gain and egg laying, chickens need good nutrition. You can buy ready-made poultry feed. The compound feed contains about 65% carbohydrates, the rest is protein supplements. Ready feed differs in composition and is intended for different ages. There is a special food for laying hens. It is rich in minerals and highly nutritious. Mineral supplements can be added to the feed yourself.

Feed for chickens is given both in dry and wet form. In the morning and evening, it is best to use grain for feeding. At lunch, chickens need to be fed wet feed. In addition to grains, potato peelings, cabbage or beet leaves can be given. Adult chicken per day should eat:

Table 1. Sample menu for chickens

No. p / p	Name	Unit.	Quantity
1	oats	G	20
2	barley	G	30-50
3	corn	G	60
4	wheat	G	60
5	fish flour	G	10

Birds should not be overfed, especially egg breeds. With abundant nutrition in chickens, fat builds up on the internal organs, which prevents the laying of eggs.

Salt should be added to the grain no more than once a week. It helps the food to be well digested. But the main thing is that thanks to salt, helminths (worms) are destroyed.

Sand or crushed shell rock can be poured into a separate feeder. This will provide the eggs with a strong shell, as well as protect against. There should always be a drinker with clean water in the bird pen. In winter, the water should not freeze in the drinker. Therefore, the temperature in the poultry house, even in the most severe frosts, should not fall below +2°C.

In summer, feeders and drinkers should be in a pen that is adjacent to the chicken coop. And in the winter months they need to be brought indoors.

Disease prevention

Recently, breeds of chickens that are resistant to diseases have been bred. But still, for the prevention of diseases, it is necessary to perform:

If one individual does not eat well, her comb color has changed, then she must be isolated from the rest. In the case of an infectious disease, the isolation of one individual can save all the others.

Use of bird droppings

The bird house needs to be cleaned periodically. Chicken manure can be used as fertilizer. It can be called the most valuable organic fertilizer. It is rich in nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus. It is in chicken manure that the content of these substances is 4 times higher than in other fertilizers.

In the soil, useful substances are stored for 2-3 years after fertilization. This is due to the fact that the release of nutrients from chicken manure occurs gradually.

To prepare fertilizer, it is necessary to pour chicken manure with water, a ratio of 1:20 is applied. This mixture should stand in the open air for 10-14 days. After that, water the beds with settled litter.

It is necessary to provide chickens with good living conditions, observe temperature and light conditions, and also use high-quality feed. In the summer, feed with grass or release on free pastures. By observing all these rules of care, you can achieve good egg production of egg breeds of chickens and a large weight of meat breeds.

If chickens have been kept in the household for more than a year, then some of them can serve as hens that incubate eggs and replenish the herd with young.

Chickens are also bred using small domestic incubators. Most often, the owners acquire day-old chicks in bird markets or at industrial hatchery stations. When buying young animals, you need to make sure that these are egg-laying chickens.

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 the thirteenth to the twentieth week (13-20).

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

In the next period, fatty tissues grow on the developed skeleton, ligaments and tendons develop. The third period is characterized by the rapid development of the whole body, the reproductive system. There is a restructuring of the whole organism.

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

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

Growing young stock with a mother hen

The mother hen not only warms the chickens, but also teaches them to feed.

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

This is necessary for several reasons.:

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

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

The egg shell is also removed from the nest. The last 2-3 chickens are left in the nest, they are allowed to dry thoroughly, then the entire brood is carefully planted next to them.

If the conclusion turned out to be not of very high quality, and there were few chickens, they can be planted with those purchased on the market or bred in an incubator.

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

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

It is better to make a feeder with a soft bottom, since the beaks of small chickens are tender 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 freely reach the drinker, but cannot turn it over. Chicken like a weed bird loves to rake everything with his feet in a constant search for food, therefore, feeders and drinkers can get under the rowing paws.

Rearing chicks under a hen eliminates many problems:

no need to take care of additional heating of young animals;
the chicken independently teaches the babies to feed by a sound call and tapping with its beak on the bottom of the feeder;
the mother hen warns the chicks of danger and protects them.

Without mother hen

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

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

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

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

The feeders are made in such a way that the young can only put their heads in there and do not climb with their feet. Otherwise, the food will be constantly contaminated, and then scattered all over the floor. Now on sale there is a wide variety of drinking bowls for birds.

But a novice poultry farmer can use at first a device made of a saucer and a glass that has been proven over the years. Pour fresh water into an ordinary glass, cover with a saucer on top and carefully turn over.

A couple of matches are placed under the edges of the glass from opposite sides, having previously broken off the sulfur heads. The water in the saucer will be constantly at the same level until the glass is empty.

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

To create a comfortable microclimate, a lamp is installed under which chickens like to warm themselves. If the room is not warm enough, the young grow together, climb on top of each other.

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

Building a chicken coop

The grown up young animals are transferred to a chicken coop specially prepared for this purpose.

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 processed. If there is old bedding, it must be removed completely, the floor should be well treated and new bedding material should be laid.

When building a new chicken coop, some requirements must be taken into account:

the distance from the residential building must be at least 10 meters;
the place of construction should not be located in a lowland and be flooded with flood waters;
at the chicken coop, it is necessary to provide for a walking area, preferably with large trees growing on it, which create a natural shadow;
if there are no trees on the walking area, then it is necessary to build a canopy to protect from the sun and precipitation.

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

It can be brick, wood, stone. Sometimes the walls are made of cinder-block. In any case, they should be warm, not freeze in winter and not warm up in autumn in hot summer.

The chicken coop must have:

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

Perches are made from bark-free poles or wooden slats. Wooden perches should be smooth planed so that the hens do not hurt their legs.

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

For timely and convenient removal of manure in the chicken coop it is desirable to make perches on awnings so that they can be lifted up while cleaning.

Nests for eggs are arranged in the least lit place. The number of nests is determined on the basis of: one nest for 4-5 laying hens. Entrance doors are preferably made with a vestibule so that cold air does not immediately enter the chicken coop in winter.

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 hens in the room. The manhole is performed at floor level, but not opposite the front door, so that a draft is not created.

Access to the walking area must be done with a door that will be closed at night and in 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 in a chicken herd is optional.

But it must be borne in mind that the resulting eggs will be unfertilized and unsuitable for incubation and incubation. And a chicken coop without a loud cock's cry is not a chicken coop. In order to have their own eggs for further laying hens, the farm must have a rooster.

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

The fact is that males do not tolerate rivals in their chicken harem, there are constant skirmishes and fights between them. This has a negative effect on chickens. It is desirable that the fighters 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 a store? Or make a minimum of effort and get your own laying hens? Everyone chooses for himself.

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When a new wildlife lover masters the garden, he will think about getting animal products. Breeding chickens at home for beginners is the first experience in the commercial production of meat and eggs. Chickens are the most tolerant of lack of care, almost omnivorous and friendly. This is almost waste-free production - litter, eggs, meat, feathers - everything goes into business.

Livestock keeping conditions

First of all, it should be determined whether a seasonal or year-round bird flock will be kept. For summertime, light shelter and a walking area are enough. In winter, a warm shed is required. In summer, in order to eat eggs, you need to buy pullet hens. For beginners, raising chickens at home year-round determines the quality of the chickens. It is better to buy a batch of day-old chicks at a poultry farm with a guarantee that the livestock will be thoroughbred and zoned.

With floor content, the room should have an area at the rate of 5 chickens per 1 square meter. The temperature of the content is not lower than 5-7 degrees. The room should be warm, bright, dry, egg production depends on it. At night, regardless of the season, chickens should be indoors, equipped with perches. On the perch, each chicken is given 20 cm and they should all be placed on the same level.

In the cellular content, the bird develops faster, rushes and puts on weight. 5-7 individuals are placed in one cage. A rooster is needed in the herd if fertilized eggs are needed in the future to hatch chicks. In country life, a rooster is needed for beauty and a flooding announcement of a new day.

A walking area for chickens is necessary, they must be in the fresh air. A canopy is needed so that the herd can hide from the rain.

For beginners breeding chickens at home, it is important to determine the number and place of residence of birds.

What breeds of chickens are suitable for home breeding

Not all chicken breeds are suitable for farming. Therefore, you need to choose chickens for home breeding, taking into account the specifics of the content, simple or thoroughbred. Simple are less demanding on the balance of food, on the conditions of detention. There are breeds of meat or egg orientation. So, meat broilers can be grown in a season for a full-fledged slaughter with a carcass weight of 3-4 kg. Egg breeds of chickens rush plentifully, but during the molting period they can be slaughtered, the soup will be rich. For a personal farmstead, it is recommended to breed chickens of egg breeds:

Russian whites;
Red white tails;
leggorny

We got day old chicks, what's next?

You need to take a large warm box. Day old chicks will knock on the wall with their nose, if it is cardboard or foam, they will prick and die. Cover the bottom with newspapers, place a drinking bowl and a feeder on them. Place an incandescent lamp on a tripod from above, adjusting the height so that it is 30 C on the floor. A brood is placed on the bottom of the box and illuminated on the first day, even at night, later daylight hours are reduced from 17 hours to 8.

Food and drink should always be available. Remove the newspaper with riddles 2 times a day. If the chickens make a "bunch-small", they are cold, the lower ones can be crushed. If sprawled away from the light - hot. From the fifth day, the temperature is reduced to 26 degrees and every week another 3 degrees, so up to 18. From the box, the chickens are transferred to the litter, gradually increasing the area.

By 4 months, the chicks are slightly smaller in size than an adult chicken, at 5 months they begin to lay.

While the chickens were growing up in a cramped but warm room for the first two months, a chicken coop was built for them. A chicken house can become a decoration of the estate. The main thing is that it should be without cracks so that there is no draft. The floor is covered with a thick layer of sawdust or straw.

Feeders with three compartments are arranged:

dry food;
mineral supplements;
mash.

The feeder should be separated by rod bars so that the bird can peck and not trample on the feed. A drinking bowl is installed separately. It is necessary to arrange an ash-sand bath in the old trough. By the time the hens mature, nests should be prepared - deep boxes lined with dry grass with a recess. Install them in a secluded place at the rate of a nest for 3 chickens.

During summer maintenance, the house can be built of plywood with paddock, fenced with a chain-link mesh. For winter, you need an insulated, ventilated, heated room with electric lighting and a walking area. With good care, chickens rush in winter as in summer.

chicken diet

How to breed chickens at home will tell any villager. Only one neighbor sells an excess of eggs year-round, and the other scolds her lazy people. To recoup the cost of maintaining a livestock, good care and balanced feeding of birds from birth is required.

Chickens need twice as much water as they need feed. Therefore, there should be fresh water in the drinker. The first time the diurnal need to drink 5% glucose solution.

Feed is poured onto pieces of cardboard until the age of seven, then feeders are installed, preferably hanging. The first feeding of chicks consists of:

small grains crushed;
hard boiled egg;
dry fat-free cottage cheese.

Later, the egg is no longer given, the cottage cheese contains calcium, promotes plumage. From the second day, the addition of finely chopped greens to the feed is welcome. In winter, when there is no clover, you can sprout cereals and add greens to the feed.

From day 3, the mash can be cooked on yogurt, meat broth. They feed only fresh mash, after an hour the remains are thrown away, the feeder is washed and rinsed with potassium permanganate. A weak pinkish solution of potassium permanganate should be fed to chickens in the morning twice a week. Five day old chicks are already viable. They gradually increase the amount of feed, add vitamins, fish oil, from the first day they need fine gravel, eggshells, coarse sand. Until the age of two months, only crushed cereals are used from cereals.

Compound feed for an adult chicken is necessary in the composition:

corn - 40%;
wheat bran - 8%;
barley flour - 20%;
sunflower cake - 10%;
fish meal, meat and bone 1:1 - 10%;
fodder yeast - 3%;
mineral additives, table salt - 5%.

This mixture in its pure form and mash is given 2-3 times a day. For good stomach function, chickens must be fed with dry grain, it is better if there are fewer films on oats and rye.

A home-made egg always tastes different from a factory-made one due to a variety of feed. The presence of carotene contributes an orange color, this is due to the large amount of vitamin greens in the diet of laying hens.

It is impossible to overfeed the laying hen, it will be difficult for her to rush, the insides will get fat. Eggs will begin to be covered with a thin film instead of the shell, pour out, polluting the nest. This circumstance will allow the birds to recognize the taste of the product, and pecking will begin in the future.

You need to feed the laying hen:

mixers - 65-75 g;
dry grain mixture - 30-45 g;
germinated cereals - 10-12 g;
root crops - 20-25 g;
fish oil, yeast, gravel, shell 1-2 g each.

You can add leftovers from the table to the feed, diversify the menu. The more ingredients in the feed, the tastier the egg. The menu depends on the season. However, if you visit the base, then chickens can eat vitamins all year round - often wilted greens and fruits are thrown into waste containers. Chickens especially like mangoes and oranges.

The golden age of the laying hen is up to 15 months, later it rushes less often, the meat coarsens. By this time, a new brood of chickens should be ready - this is how chickens are bred in the compound. Usually the first eggs of pullets are brought at the age of 110-120 days.

Signs of disease

It is necessary to warn, for beginners breeding chickens at home, to know the main signs of disease. Despite good hygienic conditions, pigeons stealing food, rodents can bring the disease. Sick birds can be seen immediately. They are lethargic, do not go to the feeder, do not stand up, convulsions are observed. A sick bird should be immediately separated from the flock.

A sign of beriberi is lethargy, lack of appetite. Feed herbs, irradiate with ultraviolet lamps, give fish oil and everything will work out. It's scarier to deal with chicken cannibalism. If a wound appears on the body of a bird, it will attract the attention of the comrades. Therefore, the light in the chicken coop should not be bright, a muffled and reddish color hides fresh wounds.

You need to be on your guard, expect pecking and understand the causes of this ailment:

chickens peck their fingers in the blood - they are hungry:
they peck at the head - a hierarchy is being established;
pecking the cloaca - when it is inflamed from improper feeding;
when the cloaca is inflamed and falls out from wearing very large eggs;
pluck feathers - there are few minerals in the feed;
the presence of insects - peroedov, lice, ticks.

Video about breeding chickens at home

Foreword

Growing laying hens at home is quite different from the process of breeding broilers for meat, since the main thing here is to ensure the maximum egg production of the bird, to create comfortable conditions for it. It is especially important to pay attention to the prevention of diseases, the creation of proper nests and their placement, nutrition with curia, vitaminization and saturation of the body with calcium. How to equip a chicken coop, what, when and how much to feed laying hens, how to make nests and much more you can learn further in the article!

Choosing the best egg breeds

If you want to get a lot of eggs and make an extremely profitable production, then you need to choose the right chicken breed. It is not always worth choosing only from foreign options, since domestic poultry farmers also grow worthy chicken breeds that are in no way inferior to the best "Europeans" in egg production. Consider the most acceptable options for our climate zone:

Laying hens Loman Brown. One of the most popular breeds in Russia and neighboring countries. For decades they have not given up the first positions in the ranking and surprise every poultry farmer with their egg production - about 315 eggs per year. The puberty of an individual comes in 4-5 months, after which the chicken is productive for 2-3 years, and the number of eggs laid will increase every month. They are resistant to diseases and have a very high vitality - almost all chickens survive (98% safety of young animals). The testicle is large in size - up to 80 grams, moreover, one chicken consumes food no more than 130 grams / day.
Dutch layers Hisex - small individuals weighing only 1.5-2 kg, come to puberty after 120-130 days, after which they rapidly increase egg production for 1 year. Egg production of white hens - 290 eggs per year, gray and brown - 320 eggs. This difference is due to the fact that the former have large energy costs for heating the body in the cold season, so they rush a little worse. The testicle is relatively large - up to 65-80 grams, has a hard shell, which significantly increases its transportability.
Pushkin's motley. One of the most "bright" chickens, which not only rushes remarkably, but also pleases the owner's eye. Many of them are kept only to decorate and diversify the household yard (especially since such decoration still brings a good profit). The egg production of this species is 315 eggs per year, the weight of one egg is 75 grams. Chickens have a Nordic, reserved character - they are strong, stand firmly on their feet, walk importantly around the yard and do not fuss at the slightest noise. Survival of young animals - 99%, adults - 95%. It is not recommended to combine this breed with another in the same area - the bird is proud, does not like companies and may conflict.
Kuchinsky Anniversary. Universal chicken - you can keep it on an omelette, and chop it into soup if necessary. One of the best meat chickens, which carries up to 240 eggs per year and quickly gains live weight. The chicken is already beginning to please the owner with eggs at the age of 5-6 months (or immediately turns into a meat breed), begins to carry small ones - weighing 60 grams. With proper nutrition and care, the survival of young animals is 99%, the variety is well acclimatized, feels great in any conditions of detention.

You must immediately decide for what purposes you will keep the chicken coop, since the difference between egg-bearing breeds and meat breeds is very large (up to 100 eggs per year). If it is important for you to receive only a secondary product, then it is better to give preference to foreign breeds. If you still prefer to use or sell chicken meat, then it would be better to give preference to meat-and-egg breeds that have an optimal ratio of mass and egg production.

Caring for chicks under 1 month of age

Caring for chickens is quite complicated, but buying a mature individual rushing is very expensive and will cost you about 400-500 rubles per 1 piece. That is why it is much more profitable and easier to take chickens from an incubator and feed them for 3-4 months until adulthood. Moreover, if the chicks grow constantly in the same environment and become accustomed to the coop, they will begin to lay much faster than if they are placed in a new habitat.

You need to choose the most active and clean individuals - then your chances of buying healthy chickens will greatly increase. Each chick should be noisy, active, respond to any sound and move towards it. If you knock on the box, the Chickens should quickly run up to you and show extreme interest. Buttocks must be dry, and the fluff on the tummy is light and fluffy.

The first step is to bring the bird home. To do this, you will need a cardboard box with holes on the sides and on the lid to ensure good ventilation. Chickens love high temperatures, but the supply of oxygen must be maximum, otherwise they may suffocate. In the process of transportation, it will be necessary to make a stop every 15-20 minutes, open the box in the fresh air and let the chicks breathe a little (5-10 minutes).

From the first days of growing chickens, it is necessary to provide maximum comfort and favorable conditions for growth and development, namely:

For the first 15 days, set the temperature at +28 0С, while monitoring the behavior of chickens in a box, room or other room where you plant them. If the bird gathers in large groups and gathers all in one place, it is cold, it is necessary to raise the temperature a little. If the kids are sitting separately, have a lethargic appearance and are inactive - they are hot, lower the temperature. They must be active, run and squeak.
It is best to feed the first few days with egg yolk, then switch to millet, and when the chicks grow up a little - with cereals or grain waste. It is best to add corn grits to the diet, which is healthy and contains all the vitamins necessary for the normal development of the chicken.
A hedge, a large box, a room or a box (depending on where you keep them) should be draft-free and with a warm bottom. Toddlers can catch a cold if they sit in the cold or be in a draft - make sure that there is no cold and do not allow young individuals to become hypothermic.

It is necessary to control that the room is dry, the smokers are always full (the easiest way is to put a feeder) and have constant access to water - they often want to drink at first and they cannot be denied such pleasure.

Choosing the right diet for adults

After the chicks have lived with you for 3-4 months, they will begin to mature and lay. Gradually, all chickens will become laying hens, and they require a special diet. Unlike broilers, which are raised for meat, laying hens require a balanced feed that will contain not only nutrients, but also macronutrients necessary for the proper development of the chicken. The eggshell consists almost entirely of calcium, which is taken from the body of the chicken - it must be constantly replenished and given to the bird a lot of vitamins.

If the shell becomes soft, this is the first of the reasons indicating a lack of vitamins, more precisely, calcium. It is necessary to drink the chicken with Rotstar or Foros. The traditional diet of each laying hen is quite diverse, it should contain: fish meal, phosphates, sunflower, rapeseed and soybean cake, a grain mixture of barley, wheat and nit. It is best if you add 200-300 grams per month of fodder chalk - this is one of the most useful minerals for the formation of eggshells.

You can also buy nutrient mixtures that have already been developed specifically for laying hens - they contain the optimal amount of the most necessary feed. Such food is just perfect for them, but it is quite expensive - 450-500 rubles per bag of 50 kg. When buying a large lot (from 1 ton), you can save up to 50% of money. If you make simple arithmetic calculations, then you can determine that on average for a year it will take 3 rubles a day to keep 1 chicken. Whether it is worth using full-fledged combined feeds or trying to feed with cheaper mixtures that you can complete on your own - each poultry breeder decides for himself. But, in any case, simply feeding with grain will not work - the addition of bone meal, fish, chalk, minerals is necessary, otherwise the chicken will be much less rushed, and the egg size will be smaller than expected.

Design features of the chicken coop and nests

You can make absolutely any nests regarding the shape and place them in a place convenient for you, the main thing is to always follow the following placement rules:

Never place the nests in a draft - the hens will not lay until you eliminate the discomfort. The chicken should feel warm and cozy, then it will delight you with a good “harvest”.
Install each nest separately, it would be better if it is protected from the room from all sides. In this case, the bird will rush more often and more.
Place the chicken coop away from noise, provide an acceptable temperature for laying eggs at + 23-25 0С. The chicken coop should be compact.
The perch should be no more than 40x40 centimeters, and preferably 30x30 cm, while the height of the side should be at least 6 cm so that the testicles do not roll out when the chicken climbs in and out.

It is important to understand that instinctively the bird rushes to get new offspring, so it will only be productive when it feels the maximum safety, comfort and safety of future chickens.

The floor in the chicken coop is best made of clay, as concrete and other similar materials will be very cold in winter. You can make a wooden floor, pour up to 5-6 centimeters of wood shavings on top of it, so that the chickens have somewhere to dig and spend “active” rest. To create a "friendly" team in the chicken coop, you need to organize the nests correctly - they must all be at the same height, otherwise your chickens will begin to divide themselves into different "classes". The higher the chicken is, the more significant it feels. They will fight for a higher place, throwing the eggs of their predecessors from the nest.

The chicken coop must have:

Several small windows through which light will enter during the daytime. The bird is much more comfortable if there is a bright area in the room near it, and its nest is in the shade.
Feeder to be able to eat in the chicken coop during bad weather.
Heater. It is especially relevant in the cold season - it will significantly increase egg production if it provides a temperature of at least +15 0С in the room.
A door for laying hens through which they will go outside. It should be small (25 cm high will be enough) to keep the heat in the room as much as possible. You can hang a tarpaulin or other material on it, which the chicken can push back and crawl through - this design protects the room from wind and cold.
Drinker. Liters for 5, no more, so that you can constantly fill the chickens with fresh water, especially on a summer day, when they can come to the watering place 10-12 times.

If everything is done correctly and the interests of chickens are taken into account, they will certainly please you with their productivity.

Prevention of diseases and how they can affect the egg production of a bird

On the way to an effective business, big problems can lie in wait for you - diseases of chickens. Unfortunately, no one is immune from this, since viruses are everywhere and the only thing you can do is increase the immunity of laying hens and eliminate breeding centers of harmful bacteria. If, nevertheless, it happened that the bird fell ill, it must be cured as soon as possible and the spread of the virus should be prevented. The main diseases of laying hens:

However, if you always feed chickens with fortified supplements (ready-made mixtures are sold), add greens to their diet, and also monitor dryness and good ventilation in the chicken coop, chickens almost never get sick.

The main "commandments" of the poultry farmer

In order for the business to be profitable, you get a lot of eggs throughout the year, you need to remember the basic rules of a successful poultry farmer:

You can't overfeed chickens. Well-fed "balls" will not please you with good egg production, on the contrary - they will often get sick, walk sluggish and lazy. And who benefits from being obese anyway?
Provide a "quiet hour" for chickens from 8 am to 4 pm and do not disturb them needlessly - they are busy with important work. If you make a lot of noise and disturb the intimate atmosphere, the chicken will not lay an egg that day.
Provide a favorable temperature in the chicken coop at + 20-25 0С. If it is very hot, the bird does not feel well, it will constantly run to drink water and try to escape into the street. If it is very cold, it will wait until an acceptable temperature for masonry.

In fact, the egg production of chickens is 80% dependent on the conditions that you create for them, and not on a specific breed or other, less important factors. Dutch farmers very often turn on music in chicken coops, mainly Mozart, and in practice they have proven that individuals give 11-14% more eggs than those that simply sit in a soundproof barn under the same conditions of stay. On the territory of the Russian Federation, such methods of increasing egg production have not yet been practiced by factories, but the connection between the comfort of the bird and its productivity has long been proven.

Growing chickens at home for beginners

Chicken eggs are the main source of protein. The yolk of a domestic egg is rich in carotene, vitamins and other useful substances. Nutritionists recommend that you eat eggs.

First of all, you need to decide on the breed of chickens. They are divided into:

egg,
meat,
meat and eggs,
decorative.

The most popular egg-bearing breeds are:

russian white,
red whitetail,
Kuchinsky anniversary,
Rhodonite,
Oryol laying hen,
Loman-Brown.

Oryol laying hen

The most popular meat breeds:

Broiler,
Plymouth Rock,
Brama light,
Brama dark,
Brama partridge,
Brama Palevaya,
Cornish,
Dorking.

Chickens of these breeds grow from 4 to 5 kg by the end of autumn, the largest individuals reach 7 kg. They have a calm nature and are very fond of greenery.

Brama partridge

Decorative species include:

bantamka,
Shamo,
curly chickens,
Seabright.

These birds can often be found at exhibitions. Some are quite small in size, but still, each breed lays eggs, albeit in small quantities.

curly chickens

Where do you buy good chickens?

day old chicks

Arrangement of a chicken coop

If the plans are to keep chickens only until the onset of autumn, then you can build a canopy to protect against rain and the scorching sun, and equip the nests. But if the cultivation of chickens will be year-round, then it is worth taking care of the capital arrangement of the chicken coop. Chickens should not be crowded. One individual needs an area of 0.5 m2. From this area, it is worth calculating the area of \u200b\u200bthe chicken coop.

In the photo, a equipped chicken coop for birds

Video - breeding chickens, personal experience

Preparing a place for chickens

You need to know that chickens of different ages should never be kept in the same box. Older young will peck at younger ones.

Feeding chickens and hens

The process of feeding chickens and hens

Chickens should be fed a variety of foods.

Table 1. Sample menu for chickens

1	oats	G	20
2	barley	G	30-50
3	corn	G	60
4	wheat	G	60
5	fish flour	G	10

Birds should not be overfed, especially egg breeds. With abundant nutrition in chickens, fat builds up on the internal organs, which prevents the laying of eggs.

Salt should be added to the grain no more than once a week. It helps the food to be well digested. But the main thing is that thanks to salt, helminths (worms) are destroyed.

Sand or crushed shell rock can be poured into a separate feeder. This will provide the eggs with a strong shell and will also keep the chickens from eating the eggs. There should always be a drinker with clean water in the bird pen. In winter, the water should not freeze in the drinker. Therefore, the temperature in the poultry house, even in the most severe frosts, should not fall below +2°C.

In summer, feeders and drinkers should be in a pen that is adjacent to the chicken coop. And in the winter months they need to be brought indoors.

Disease prevention

Recently, breeds of chickens that are resistant to diseases have been bred. But still, for the prevention of diseases, it is necessary to perform:

Use of bird droppings

In the soil, useful substances are stored for 2-3 years after fertilization. This is due to the fact that the release of nutrients from chicken manure occurs gradually.

Bird droppings can be used as fertilizer on the site

Organizing poultry farming at home is not so difficult, the main thing is to properly equip the birdhouse and take care of a full diet.

Let's start with the premises:

For the full development and good egg production of chickens, proper nutrition should be provided:

Cereal crops. Grain contains a small amount of protein, it should be mixed with protein feed. In the summer, it is recommended to give oats, millet, barley - they improve egg production. In winter, to gain mass and save energy - wheat, corn and buckwheat. A good protein supplement is cake and meal, beans.
Green fodder. Contains many vitamins and minerals. It is supposed to give no more than 20% of greens per day, since most of the birds are eaten on the run. With a bezgulny content, dill, clover, young peas, and alfalfa are introduced into the diet. Nettle is considered the most valuable.
Roots. It is recommended to add carrots and beets, pumpkin and turnips, potatoes to the diet. Vegetable crops are boiled and added to wet mixers. You can also put waste from the table in them.
Food of animal origin. Dairy products are given to chickens for full development. Earthworms, crushed bones, fish and meat and bone meal will serve as good additives.

ATTENTION! Chickens must be given mineral supplements: ash, gravel, chalk, shell rock.

DIY bird cage

You can build a cage for chickens at home as follows:

We make a frame. Mostly they use a corner made of metal, but wood is also suitable.
For construction, you will need vertical racks - 4 pieces, long bars - 6 pieces, short bars - 6 pieces.
The crossbars are interconnected - the frame is ready. For stability, you can add a pair of vertical racks in the middle.
The height of the compartment is about 60 centimeters, the width is 2 meters, and the depth is about 65 centimeters.
The bottom is made of a strong mesh, a slight slope is made so that the eggs roll into the egg collector.
The roof and back wall are made of plywood.
The side walls are mounted on hinges, bolts are added - the door is ready.
Feeders and drinkers are attached outside.

Laying hens

The size of the cage directly depends on the size of the chicken. For comfortable living, one laying hen should have approximately 0.2 sq. m, planting density - 5-6 goals.

With a cellular content, a laying hen will need artificial lighting for good egg production. It should be distributed evenly throughout the cage room. Strongly bright light is prohibited so that the bird does not experience stress. Initially, the light period lasts 13 hours, then it can be extended to 17 hours. The increase is done gradually.

The diet of laying hens with a cellular content:

wheat;
sunflower cake;
calcium carbonate;
vegetable fats;
vitamins and minerals, salt.

Broilers

The stocking density of a broiler in a cage should be 1 sq. m for 10 heads.
For such care, it is better to give preference to cellular batteries.

Basically, broilers are raised for meat.
In pursuit of this goal, the light regime lasts around the clock for 3 weeks. By the end of cultivation, it can be reduced to 17 hours.

The diet of broilers with a cellular content:

crushed and whole grains;
cellulose;
fats;
calcium;
vitamin complex.

Grain should make up about 65% of the total feed. To gain weight, the bird is provided with free access to the feeders around the clock.

IMPORTANT! With cage keeping of both laying hens and broilers, cleaning is carried out every 2-3 days, feeders and drinkers are washed daily.

chicken coop

When building a chicken coop, you should follow certain rules:

place the room on a hill so that it remains dry and warm;
the area is chosen quiet, calm, in a noisy environment, the productivity of laying hens decreases;
there should be no road nearby;
no closer than 3 meters from the residential building.

A vestibule is required in the chicken coop. In winter, the amount of cold brought in by the farmer will be much less.

The poultry house is built with the expectation of 1 square. m - 4 chickens of egg breed or 3 meat-and-egg chickens. For example, a chicken coop for 50 birds should have an average size of 15 square meters. m. Nests are built near a wall 6 meters long.

For construction, you can use foam blocks, brick, wood, shell rock. The chicken coop is equipped with nests, perches, drinkers and feeders, an ash container, ventilation, lighting, and heaters. It is recommended to insulate the building itself so that in winter the chickens feel comfortable.

Disinfection

It will not be possible to grow a productive and healthy livestock without observing sanitary rules in the chicken coop. Clean and disinfect as follows:

They sweep ceilings, walls, clean perches.
Change the floor mat.
If the content is cellular, the metal surface is fired with a blowtorch.
Stone and concrete surfaces are treated with lime (copper sulfate can be added to it to prevent the development of fungal infections).
The entire chicken coop is sprayed with a disinfectant solution, according to the instructions.
The room is ventilated.
Drinking bowls and feeders are washed.

Ventilation

Special attention should be paid to ventilation. Bird droppings contain harmful ammonia fumes, so access to fresh air is vital for birds.

Ventilation can be done in several ways:

Window equipment, but in no case should a draft be created. The best place for a window is under the door.
A couple of holes are made on the roof, a large pipe enters one, and a smaller one enters the second. This option is more suitable for the winter period.
Installation of a ventilation system. This method is more common in poultry farms.

paddock

For proper organization of walking, it is necessary to adhere to the following recommendations:

When keeping chickens in a chicken coop, walking is organized. Usually the aviary is built on the south side.
To do this, the territory is fenced with a net (for example, a chain-link).
For laying hens, the height is 2 meters, for meat breeds, 1.8 meters is enough.
Drinkers and feeders, a container with fine gravel are placed in the walking yard.

ATTENTION! In the fresh air, food deteriorates quickly, especially wet mash. Feeders should be washed out immediately after the hens are fed.

The productivity of chickens in the fresh air increases, they rush more often, the meat is of high quality.

Also walking can be free. Chickens go out for a walk when they want, and also come back. This method allows the farmer to save on feed, but the garden will be at risk.

Brooders for raising chickens

Newborn chickens are quite susceptible to the environment. Temperature fluctuations, changes in humidity, poor lighting, drafts are unacceptable for them. Brooder will help solve all these problems. Design features:

Small size, length - meter, width and height - 0.5 meters.
It is made of dense material to provide thermal insulation. Shouldn't get wet.
A removable pallet is added to the structure, which is filled with a layer of sand. So it will be easier to change the layer contaminated with litter.
Feeders and drinkers are equipped in such a way that the chickens cannot turn them over or stomp inside.
Installed incandescent lamps of 40 or 60 watts.
The temperature regime is maintained at about 20-26°C.

With a 100x50x50 brooder, the population can be up to 60 chicks.

Litter processing

With proper maintenance and proper feeding, chicken manure is saturated with trace elements. Its large amount is a poisonous suspension. Processing chicken manure is an important task that needs the right solution.

The best option is to make compost. To do this, the litter is mixed with various waste of plant origin (the remains of vegetables and fruits, foliage, weeds), straw, sawdust, peat, shavings. Do not use fresh plants for compost.

REFERENCE! Peat is used only if the compost will mature throughout the year, and it will have time to decompose.